Revolutionary Road

Introduction

Richard Yates’s novel Revolutionary Road was published in 1961 and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1962, along with Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer, which won the award. The book was Yates’s first novel, though he had worked as a journalist and ghostwriter, writing some of John F. Kennedy’s speeches following his service in the US Army during World War II. In a 1976 interview for the literary journal Ploughshares, Yates commented about the underlying theme of the novel as an indictment of American society in the 1950s, when there was a strong urge for conformity and desperation for safety and security at any price. In 2008, Sam Mendes directed a film version of the book also titled, Revolutionary Road, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. This guide follows the 2007 Vintage Classics edition of Revolutionary Road.

Content Warning: The novel’s female protagonist, April Wheeler, dies as a result of a self-induced abortion. Thus, the topic of abortion is discussed within a narrative context.

Plot Summary

Frank and April Wheeler are a young couple with two kids. They have recently moved to a suburb in Connecticut. Frank works in New York City for Knox Business Machines, a job that was supposed to be temporary but has become increasingly permanent. His father used to work for Knox, which reveals a strained relationship not only with his father but with the rest of his family. April’s familial background is even more strained. She grew up living with various aunts and only seldom saw her parents. She was going to school to become an actress when she met Frank. Frank was studying, too, and was interested in the humanities. They enjoyed living a bohemian lifestyle, but this was interrupted by April’s first pregnancy, which she wanted to abort, but Frank talked her out of it. Their daughter’s birth was the reason Frank got the job at Knox.

The first chapter introduces the Laurel Players, a local amateur theater group of which April is the lead actress. The troupe is rehearsing for their rendition of The Petrified Forest by Robert E. Sherwood. The play establishes itself as a juxtaposition to the events in the novel.

The night of the first show, the entire community has come out to support the group. Everything begins well. April is ravishing in her role, and she speaks a line that reverberates through the male audience and the novel: “Wouldn’t you like to be loved by me?” (13). Nevertheless, the amateur nature of the other players begins to show. Lines are forgotten and cues are missed. Even April’s performance begins to falter and then ultimately fails. When the play ends, the audience isn’t even sure it’s over until a high-school boy in charge of lighting climbs onstage and shuts it down.

Frank goes backstage to find his wife. The other players are there with their friends and families, and the general notion of the night’s events is that it was a lot of fun anyway. April is alone in her shared dressing room. Frank doesn’t know what to do to console her. April doesn’t want to talk about it and wants Frank to cancel drinks with their friends, the Campbells. She just wants to go home and to bed. On their way home, Frank and April have a terrible fight along the side of the road that, in essence, highlights the problems in their marriage: Frank feels April is ungrateful, and April feels trapped by Frank in a life she doesn’t want to live. April spends the night on the couch.

April is angry with Frank for several days. Partially as a result, Frank seeks an affair with a secretary at work, Maureen Grube. During a lunch break, Frank takes Maureen out to eat. They end up making love in Maureen’s apartment. Frank feels exhilarated afterward and like a “real” man. When he arrives home, he is greeted by April and his two children, Jennifer and Michael. It’s his birthday, and they have a surprise dinner waiting for him. April is apologetic and has a new plan to change their lives. After the kids are in bed, April tells Frank how she wants them all to move to France.

The idea is nothing new. They had discussed moving to Europe back before they had kids. Over the next few days, Frank and April discover a new serenity and love for one another while they plan for their new life. The idea is that April will work for some overseas government agency, and Frank will finally have the time to find himself. As part of their plan, they need to sell their house, which brings them into closer contact with their neighbor and real-estate agent, Mrs. (Helen) Givings. This also brings them into contact with her son, John, who possibly has schizophrenia.

Their first meeting with John goes well enough. John is quickly established as a jester archetype who points out the ills of American society in the 1950s. At first, his role is collaborative, giving justification and support to Frank and April’s plans. However, he becomes antagonistic as their plans begin to unravel.

The first problem arises when Frank tells one of his superiors at Knox, Bart Pollock, about the plan. Bart was impressed with the work Frank recently produced and wants to promote him. The recognition and promise of advancement are enticing to Frank, and he quickly no longer wants to go to Europe. He begins undermining April’s desire to go. His plan receives tremendous impetus when April learns that she is pregnant. She wants to abort so that they can still go. Frank, as before, doesn’t want that, even more so now because it strengthens his argument to stay. Their relationship deteriorates to the point that Frank accuses April of being emotionally disturbed to undermine her arguments.

One evening, the Campbells, Frank, and April go out to a local restaurant with live music. They dance and drink a lot. Milly Campbell gets sick and has to go home, but because the Campbells’ car is boxed in and Frank needs to relieve the babysitter, he drives Milly home while April and Shep remain behind. For a long time, Shep has harbored a secret love for April. April reveals parts of her past, to Shep and says she feels she really missed out on something. Eventually, when the car is free, April and Shep have sex in the backseat. He tells her he loves her. April tells him she can’t love him because she doesn’t know who he is or who she is.

As things get worse between Frank and April, the situation is aggravated by their last meeting with John, who verbally cuts Frank to the core when he realizes why he and April are no longer going to Europe. His parting riposte is that he is happy not to be their unborn child. Frank reveals later to April his affair with Maureen Grube, which he restarted and recently, irreversibly ended. April reveals that she doesn’t love Frank, which is why she isn’t hurt by his affair. In fact, she never really loved him.

The following day, after the worst fight they’ve ever had, April behaves like the stereotypical loving wife. She makes breakfast for them, acts interested in Frank’s job, and gives him a kiss when he leaves for work. The kids are with the Campbells. After Frank is gone, April prepares the equipment for an abortion. She writes Frank a note, telling him that no matter what happens, he shouldn’t blame himself. The abortion is met with complications, and April calls an ambulance. Milly Campbell watches as the ambulance drives away and calls Shep. Shep calls the hospital and then Frank. They go to the hospital together. When they arrive, April is in surgery. She doesn’t make it.

After her death, Frank sells the house and moves back to the city. He works for Bart Pollock Associates now. He is a shell of the person he once was. A new couple moves into Frank and April’s old home. Mrs. Givings likes them better and tells her husband, Howard, all about it. He doesn’t listen, however. He turns his hearing aid off, something he often does when Helen talks too much.