A Classy Trip

Reading through The Price of Salt, I was struck by Highsmith's representation of class and its relation to women. To begin with, Therese's experience in the department store shows how alienated she feels from her work, but also how dependent she is on it. She resents Richard's dilettantism and the support that his family gives to him, freeing him to study art despite his lack of talent. The fact that Therese works selling expensive dolls is a representation of the commodification of women within society, and Therese's precarious position. Even her “experimental” set designs indicate a personality that wants to resist utilitarian values. Without the ability to save $5000, she has no way of entering the set designer's guild and remains trapped in the service industry where even raw meat gets stolen from the coat room. Therese also expresses resentment towards Abbey's lack of work experience, and she initially is put off by Carol's luxurious life. When Carol offers Therese a check, she rejects it several times, refusing to be commodified. To Therese, their relationship's value lies in its escape from purely monetary forms of exchange. She continues to express anxiety about living off of Carol's money, choosing to pay for things out of her own savings when Carol is not looking.

Carol's money (presumably earned by Harge) does support them on their journey across the country, but this turns out to be a double edged sword. Harge also pays for a private detective to chase them, who Carol then pays off to give her some of his tapes. This is a bizarre monetary exchange, where Harge's money is cycling around and going nowhere. I think this is Highsmith's critique of heteronormative marriage in the 1950s, especially in the upper class. While marriage did support many women economically, it ultimately became a trap whereby men dominated and controlled women. At the end of the novel, Carol goes to work as a furniture buyer, thus becoming economically independent. Carol fails to gain her independence while still using Harge's money, but it is only when she also begins to work that she can truly be free.