Willa Cather Short Story Project – April 2024

Our story this month is “The Bookkeeper’s Wife” published in May 1916.

One of the things that popped into my mind after reading “The Bookkeeper’s Wife” is a scene from the movie, The Devil Wears Prada. The movie is based on a novel, but I couldn’t get into the book; however, I adore the film.

What is the primary relationship?

The scene that came to mind is when Andy and her boyfriend Nate are arguing in the street when Miranda (her narcissistic boss) calls. As Andy looks torn between her phone and Nate, he says to her, “You know, in case you were wondering – the person whose calls you always take? That’s the relationship you’re in. I hope you two are very happy together.” Andy takes the call.

Percy made me think of Andy, he’s in a relationship with his ledgers, not his wife Stella. He spends more time with his ledgers and is always touching them, even when he isn’t actively working them. In five years of marriage, Percy has not taken a day of vacation nor did he and Stella go on a honeymoon. He never calls in sick and apparently did not take time off after he and Stella lost their baby. Can you image?

What kind of life has this been for Stella? Near the end of the story she makes it clear that unless she drags him along to play bridge with friends, they’d have no social life. And then she finds out he’s been lying to her since before they were married. He lied about his income to outshine another suitor. Stella’s mother, who has five daughters, doesn’t seem as aggressive as Mrs. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, but she is looking out for the best interests of her daughter, as mothers do. And Stella is not in the same position as the Bennett daughters. She has a solid job as a stenographer.

Who is weak for what?

Stella has many suitors and she knows Percy “won’t go far” in life, but she is “weak to Percy” and chooses him over Charley Greengay, a man who is already making good money and apparently will go far. That decision of hers, we are told, “was all the good her clever business brain did [for] her” (91). Percy, on the other hand, seems to want Stella because she’s a hot commodity. He’s more in competition for her, than in love with her. He only get’s “faint and weak-kneed” when touching his ledgers. I don’t think it was an accident that Cather used the word “weak” in neighboring paragraphs to describe who or what these two have strong feelings for.

Critics have taken this story to be Cather’s critique of the New Woman. Specifically, the wife who is also a “woman in business,” meaning a middle class woman who can make a good wage. James Woodress calls her a “man-eating monster” and calls the story a “parable of the corrupting power of money” (278). Stella Brown is described as cold and not viewed with much empathy by people like the Remsens, who think they know the story of Percy’s marriage.

I think the perspective the reader is supposed to take is that of Oliver Remsen, Junior, Percy’s boss. He’s a man implementing new ways of doing business. It was surprising at first that he does not judge or fire Percy when he comes clean. Instead, he gives Percy a personal loan to clean up the falsified ledgers because he thinks Stella made him resort to stealing money. Abusers rarely paint their victims in a sympathetic light.

Blame the woman. Of course.

Everyone in this story blames Stella for what Percy has done to himself. Stella is judged by her looks. They see her face as cold and therefore think she is cold and must be cruel to Percy. In the scene when the Remsens run into Percy and Stella at the theater, they slam her for his nervous, fearful disposition.

I recently heard author Xochitl Gonzalez talk about reactions to a scene in one of her novels. A professional critic called it implausible. Yet for many readers, it is a profoundly relatable scene. It was something that actually happened to the writer.

Gonzalez shared her thoughts about why there is such a disparate reaction to the scene. She distinguishes three types of reactions. The definitions for the three reactions below are from my notes and in my own words, not Gonzalez’s:

• Sympathetic: you’ve been there
• Empathetic: you haven’t been there, but you can imagine/feel the pain
• Denial: you are clueless that other people deal with things like racism and sexism, or a lying spouse

These distinctions make so much sense, yet I’d never heard anyone put it so succinctly. I thought about these three types of reactions while reading “The Bookkeeper’s Wife.”

It am surprised that critics think Percy is the victim in this story. Is it because they’re overlooking the emotional toll of Percy’s actions on his wife in order to fit the story into their argument? Percy is a chronic liar and thief. Remsen is a proverbial nice guy and caring boss, but he helps the reader see Percy as a victim and Stella as the villain.

Old style might be the problem.

But look at the story from Stella’s perspective. She’s been living with Percy’s lies, evasions, and workaholism for five years. She accuses him of being “old style” and asks, “What did you go and pretend to be a spender and get tied up with me for?” Interestingly, while some consider Stella’s “New Women” identity to be at odds against traditional values, it is easy for Percy to steal from his company precisely because it was using “old-fashioned working methods.” Percy is only honest when he knows he will be caught. So much for the man who allegedly found pleasure in being “scrupulously honest even in the most trifling matters” (87). Is it money that has corrupted him? Has he been corrupted?

Percy betrays his wife and employer. His boss and the boss’s wife judge Stella. Stella reaches the final straw with her husband who turned out not to be the man she thought she was marrying, because, again, he lied and has been lying for five years.

But then Stella also blames a woman for a man’s actions. She attributes Charley’s bad behavior to his wife, calling the woman “a pill” (96).

Patriarchy hurts everyone. Almost.

Isn’t this a foundational deception of patriarchy? Women get blamed for literally everything by everyone, even for things they did not do. Men are also harmed by the system. Percy competes for the trophy wife who is out of “his class” against a man who can out-earn him. That he knows he cannot “win” without cheating is a symptom of dysfunctional patriarchal desire with a twist of late stage capitalism and a dash of youthful illusions and delusions. Percy is a victim of his own actions for which he does not take accountability. But the lie of patriarchy and capitalism is that as a man, you can and should be “on top.” There’s something wrong with you if you can’t make it. So instead of self-reflection, blame the woman. But Percy does not blame Stella, does he?

In the end, Percy continues to lie to himself or at least to his boss. He tells Remsen that he’s living in a boarding house with other men in the same situation: “Their wives went back into business, and they drifted apart” (97). The truth is that he lied to his wife from the beginning of their marriage. He betrayed her and she left him because she has options.

Because Stella has earning power, she had choices and can move on. The only one who is not harmed in this story is Mr Remsen. Even though his employee stole from him, he stands by his man out of a sense of paternalism and misogyny. He won’t do a vague “something” for Percy, but he will maintain the status quo.

This Quora question and response that I stumbled upon is a fitting end to this response post:

(source)

I’d love to hear your response to this story! Please don’t hold back if you completely disagree with me.

You can read “The Bookkeeper’s Wife” and see the accompanying original illustrations by Arthur William Brown on the Willa Cather Archive: https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss047

Works cited
Cather, Willa. Uncle Valentine and Other Stories : Willa Cather’s Uncollected Short Fiction, 1915-1929. University of Nebraska Press, 1973.

Woodress, James Leslie. Willa Cather: A Literary Life. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987. Print.

---

New to this blog? Learn more about the Willa Cather Short Story Project here. In a nutshell, we read one Cather short story a month. I remind everyone of what story we’re reading on the second Wednesday of the month and then share a response on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Jump in anytime!