The Whispers

Blair, the novel’s protagonist and one of four point-of-view characters, is a loving mother but insecure about her choices, second-guessing her decision to give up her career. Blair knows her mother lacked control over her own life, maintaining willful ignorance of her husband’s indiscretions, and is therefore determined not to fall into the same trap. Nevertheless, Blair has absorbed the lesson that a “good woman” suffers in silence and consequently employs coping strategies similar to her mother’s, refusing to allow herself to “spiral” when she’s uncomfortable and keeping up a charade that all is well in the face of her husband’s infidelity and her own frustrations. As a child, Blair saw her mother go from fun-loving and cheerful to reserved and emotionless; she became “small” and “weak.” As an adult, Blair fears she is succumbing to the same fate.

Despite her insecurities, Blair readily criticizes others, emphasizing the theme of Female Rivalry and revealing its connection to self-hatred. In particular, Blair notes how characters like Whitney deceive themselves, but she cannot recognize the same behavior in herself—e.g., how, when she fears her life is trivial, she does things to convince herself that her choices are the “right” ones.