Peyton Place

Metalious uses pathetic fallacy, depicting summer heat and a raging wildfire to evoke an atmosphere of passion, tempest, and chaos in this section of the novel: Just as “the fires raged, unchecked and uncontrollable” (256), events spiral outside of the control of various characters, and simmering tensions come to the surface. Nellie’s suicide and Kathy’s accident heighten elements of the gothic and the grotesque, as death and the maiming of bodies literalizes the violence inflicted by gossip and public shaming. Nellie’s death means that Selena and Joey are now essentially orphaned (Lucas has vanished), but despite this traumatic reality, the suicide is treated as a source of public speculation. In the town, “there were three sources of scandal: suicide, murder and the impregnation of an unmarried girl” (241); Metalious depicts all of these events in her novel and highlights how events that spell real emotional trauma and suffering are dissected as mere fodder for entertainment.

While Selena’s pregnancy remains secret, the experiences of Betty and Allison reveal the stakes of illicit sexuality. Because she is herself engaging in a secret relationship, Constance polices any evidence of Allison’s sexuality all the more strictly, thematically supporting both Shame and Ambivalence Towards Female Sexuality and Passing Moral Judgment and Hypocrisy. She becomes panic-stricken when she convinces herself that Allison is having sex with Norman, and rages: “[A]fter the way I’ve sweated and slaved to bring you up decently, you go off into the woods” (237). The woods are juxtaposed with the town as a space that is less policed and less subject to rules where nature and instinct are left unfettered; this is also the place where the fire breaks out, symbolizing how natural forces such as sexuality resist even the strictest attempts at containment and control. Constance and Evelyn both project their fears and trauma around sexuality onto their children, and Norman and Allison are ill-equipped as a result. Norman in particular is traumatized by the confrontation between Constance and his mother; when he later experiences sexual stirrings while watching an encounter between Mr. and Mrs. Card, he manifests the urge to annihilate his own desires by strangling Hester’s cat. Because the town requires so much repression and self-regulation from its residents, acts like Nellie’s suicide, Constance’s revelation, and Norman’s violent act reflect what happens when individuals have no other outlet for processing shame and trauma.

Also in this section, Allison discovers the truth about her origins and Nellie’s body almost simultaneously, uncovering a metaphoric skeleton in the closet and a literal corpse. Nellie’s suicide takes place in what is otherwise an idealized domestic space, revealing how the MacKenzie home maintains a façade of perfection but also hides secrets below its surface. These two events, in addition to the cruel accusations Constance makes towards her daughter, complete Allison’s gradual loss of innocence. Metalious uses foreshadowing to anticipate these events, warning that Allison “had no premonition that this was the last day of her childhood” (227). While Constance’s honesty ends up being somewhat cathartic and healing for her relationship with her daughter, it is shocking and upsetting at the time.

While many characters are grappling with unforeseen consequences, this section also illustrates the theme of The Intersection Between Privilege and Protection through the plotline around Rodney Harrington impregnating Betty Anderson. Rodney has the option, due to his gender and also to the wealth and status of his family, of simply abnegating the consequences for this action; Leslie Harrington ensures that his son will be protected and pays no regard to what Betty might want. Betty’s experience of being publicly shamed for her pregnancy reflects the fate that Selena narrowly avoided and reveals the lack of options for young women. While Tom seems pragmatic when he argues that “I also know that in addition to a child being physically ready for sex at fifteen or sixteen, his mind has been educated and conditioned to sex and he feels a tremendous, basic drive for sex” (217), he doesn’t account for the social context in which adolescent sexual activity occurs, and the inequity of the consequences for heterosexual couples. The obsessive and status-driven focus of characters like Constance and Evelyn isn’t valorized, but the narrative also makes it clear that their fears are not unfounded. With a few exceptions for wealthy and powerful male characters, individuals (especially young women) are at the mercy of the social ostracism they risk if they violate social and sexual taboos.