I don't know what to comment on first ...
I scored 10 for 10, btw.
Flaws in PM ... the bit with the station manager coming back to life bothered me ... and did you notice the two kids in the book both were car fanatics with no sense of morals? One connived Sam into giving him a joyride, the other was playing with the controls while Sam was in the St. Louis house.
As far as women ... in 1951, women were in the middle of a revival in domesticity. During WW2, they broke through many sexist barriers (Rosie the Riveter), but after the war, they left the workforce in droves to become "simple housewives" again. [Me, I'm a complex housewife
] Women
were acting foolish and childish then, because they had the societal freedom to do so.
But RAH had seen women pull through during the war. He knew we were capable of more than crying over fallen souffles and garden club politics, when we had to.
Still, it was a cultural assumption that once a woman got married, her husband would call the shots. Mary is an excellent example -- once she decided to marry Sam, she let him take the lead. Not when he was being a damned fool, but in all other things.
Now ... did RAH think marriage was a lifeboat situation? That there could be only one captain in a marriage?
Oh, the bit about the masters, sex and pregnancy wasn't in the edited version. I'll want to read that.
--Liz
http://www.printfection.com/cartesianbear