Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Stepford Wives, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sexism and Power
Equality and Societal Change
Secrecy, Doubt, and Uncertainty
Female Ambition vs. Societal Expectations
Summary
Analysis
Ruthanne Henry goes grocery shopping. She hasn’t been out of the house much recently, since she has been working so hard on her next children’s book. She hates grocery shopping in Stepford, since all of the women move so slowly down the aisles and fill their carts in an orderly fashion. As she tosses things in her own cart, Ruthanne passes Joanna Eberhart. She looks incredible. Ruthanne comments on how pretty she looks, but Joanna just says that she has been caring for herself a little better recently. When Ruthanne asks what Joanna has been up to these days, Joanna says that she has been busy with housework. Ruthanne asks about her photography, but Joanna says she gave photography up—she wasn’t that good, anyway, and she now feels that doing housework is fulfilling enough.
It’s now revealed that Joanna has been turned into a subservient robot. She didn’t used to care about housework, preferring to concentrate on her semi-professional photography career—now, though, she not only says that she has been very busy with housework but also says she has given up photography altogether. This revelation is a surefire indication that the members of the Men’s Association ultimately succeeded in turning her into a robot designed to serve her husband’s needs.
Themes
Joanna insists that she’s much happier lately, adding that her family is also better off now that she’s devoting more time to her home life. Somewhat perplexed, Ruthanne suggests that they should have lunch soon, since she’s close to finishing her book. Joanna noncommittally agrees and then says goodbye. That night, Ruthanne tries in vain to work on the book, but she doesn’t get in the right headspace until late in the evening. Wanting to work more, she asks her husband if he can take the kids out for dinner. He doesn’t mind, he says, and she thanks him for giving her the time to work. “I want to get it done with,” she says. “Otherwise, I won’t enjoy next weekend.”
The implication at the very end of The Stepford Wives is that Ruthanne Henry is only a few days from succumbing to the same fate as Joanna, Bobbie, and Charmaine—and, of course, all of the other women living in Stepford. It’s clear that she and her husband have plans to spend the weekend alone, which is when she will be turned into a robot. The unsettling thing about the novel’s ending, then, is that it seems to suggest that escaping an oppressive, sexist community like Stepford is nearly impossible. Joanna even figured out what was happening, and she still couldn’t save herself, which is an uncomfortable reminder of how hard it can be to challenge systems of power founded on sexism and inequality.
Themes
