Introduction
The Space Merchants extrapolates the highly capitalist world of the 22 century driven by consumerism and greed. The privileged class consists of top traders, business people, and “star class” copywriters who continuously deploy tricky advertisement campaigns to manipulate others, so-called ordinary consumers. The authors mainly show and criticize the vicious power of excessive advertising that manipulates people’s minds and will (Ryder 2). Moreover, the book printed in 1953 gives insight into the gender problems back then and their future development. Although authors apply the main stereotypes regarding women at the workplace, they subvert them by showing an active female character who has the power to decide the future of others.
Main body
Several extrapolations like debt slavery, abusive worker-company relationships, and oil depletion turned to be wrong or dated. Nevertheless, the novel is still creepy close anticipating the power of advertising (propaganda), commercial meat farming, and junk food promotion. Similar to other satirical and dystopian novels, Pohl and Kornbluth exaggerated social and environmental problems of the 1950s to forecast the future and show its absurdity.
The gender issues of that time were also aptly addressed by the science-fiction writers. Although there are few female characters in the novel, they are essential representatives of the female gender. In general, men are powerful; they are in top positions making far-reaching decisions regarding their enterprises and staff. For instance, Fowler Schocken and Taunton are embodiments of capitalism representing two rival advertising companies. They both successfully lead their workers, encouraging them to sell as much as possible, and continuously desire more money. In the world of excessive consumerism, they turn to be the most powerful human beings affecting the social and physical lives of consumers.
Moreover, Mitchell Courtney, the novel’s main protagonist, appears as a knowledgeable and talented copywriter who is appreciated and promoted by his boss. He becomes the one to head the important Venus program expected to multiple the company’s wealth. Other essential posts are also taken by the men, including the US president and the local Consies’ cell head. On the contrary, the novel preserved the central stereotypes regarding women’s role in the household and workplace.
In general, females have lower social status and play a subordinate role in business life. In the novel, most women mentioned performing the typically female jobs, such as administrative assistants, secretaries, nurses, or cashiers. For instance, Hester represents a commonly employed woman of that time (Hladká 43). She is a diligent and loyal secretary of Courtney who perfectly does her job and is ready to do everything possible for him. Hester always assists Mitchell, arranges his meetings, and even supports him as a close friend. She helped the protagonist meet Shocken on the Moon and even rescued him from being poisoned. As a perfect American woman, she anticipated the threat and did her utmost to save the man she secretly loved. The secretary warned Courtney, saying, “The Coffiest. Poison. Your rations. I’ve been tasting them ” (Pohl and Kornbluth 126). Hester ultimately died on his hands, proving her loyalty and care.
Another remarkable woman is Tildy Mathis, who is Chief of Copy Services. Despite Tildy’s essential role in the agency, her voice is often neglected as the boss “didn’t ask women to speak at Board sessions” ( Pohl and Kornbluth 5). She is the best in writing slogans for advertisements, the prominent poet of her time. Nevertheless, she is also the obedient woman submissive to her female coworkers. Hedy is another female character that gladly fulfills the will of her evil boss. She appears as a crazy secretary of Taunton, ready to torture and executes his opponents. In general, it seems that the authors depicted a world where women were appreciated as professionals but were still not treated equally.
The 1930-the 50s were a revolutionary period that saw significant numbers of women entering the workforce. Married females accounted for 47% of employed women in 1950 compared to 8% in 1890 (Jacobs and Bahn). Such significant employment growth was associated with higher demands for clerical workers in offices. Nevertheless, women were still treated unequally and were primarily expected to be housewives and mothers, especially when their husbands had a high salary. Pohl and Kornbluth went further empowering women but still preserved the social barriers of that time.
Nevertheless, they tried to subvert the gender roles by adding Cathy Nevin, Courtney’s wife. On the surface, she is a professional surgeon who values her patients’ life and safety more than pleasure and time spent with her groom. Interestingly, she refuses to renew the short-term marriage contract with Mitchell, arguing that she is not ready to devote time to him instead of her work. As it becomes evident later, Cathy loves her husband, but she wants him to change his attitude. She is not a typical woman as she is a kingpin conservationist who fights against consumerism. Her ultimate goal was to inhabit Venus to save humanity from extinction due to environmental problems and resource scarcity caused by capitalism.
In order to do that, this brave woman administrated the crimping of her husband, who was sent to the Costa Rican plant to work as an ordinary scum cleaner. The reader finds out later that she just gave him a chance to change and manipulated him throughout the novel to receive control over the Venus Project (Hladká 43). She ultimately changed Mitchell’s mind and successfully fulfilled her role as a high-level social rebel. The authors break gender stereotypes by revealing her second life. Cathy has significant power and agents throughout the world, including senators and Courtney’s coworkers. It was she who changed the life of the men and the world she loves.
As was earlier mentioned, the fictional world was also out of natural products. Chicken Little is the meat substitute, an ever-growing living blobs of meat sliced by plant workers to feed humanity. When Herrera showed it to Mitch for the first time, he said, “this is her nest” (Pohl and Kornbluth 85). To my mind, the authors did not coincidently give it a female name. This invention can be seen as a symbol of a predominately neglected female contribution to the world’s well-being. Whereas Chicken Little saves the world from hunger on the spoiled Earth, Cathy leads 1800 Concise to a new life on another planet.
Conclusion
To conclude, authors who experienced consumerism’s birth by themselves made some claims that are still viable. It seems that Pohl and Kornbluth construct typical gender relations of the period until the main protagonist finds out who Cathy is. As an independent and rebellious person, this character strives to do everything possible to save the world, questioning the submissive female role. Hester, Tildy Mathis, and Heady are obedient and loyal women correctly doing their jobs and following the men’s instructions. They resemble the female ideals of the 1950s, whereas Cathy successfully subverts them.
Works Cited
Hladká, Dominika. American Consumerism of the 1950s in The Space Merchants. 2019. University of Pardubice, B.A. thesis.
Jacobs, Elisabeth, and Kate Bahn. “Women’s History Month: U.S. Women’s Labor Force Participation.” Washington Center for Equitable Growth, 2019. Web.
Pohl, Frederik, and Cyril Michael Kornbluth. The Space Merchants. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011.
Ryder, Mike. “Lessons From Science Fiction: Frederik Pohl and the Robot Prosumer.” Journal of Consumer Culture, 2019, pp. 1-18.