Small Pleasures

Duty operates as a repressive mechanism to demonstrate the strict gender roles and modes of decorum in 1950s England. Jean’s dedication to obligation inhibits her from enjoying pleasure; she worries that forsaking her duty in favor of enjoyment will bring scorn from society. Jean is so blinkered by what she perceives as her responsibility that she doesn’t even seek solutions for making space for herself. For example, she believes she must be with her mother at all times, so when her colleagues invite Jean out, she declines so often “because she hadn’t cleared it with her mother in advance and now they didn’t ask anymore” (38). However, it is eventually clear that Jean’s duty does not need to be so harsh: Asking for help from friends like Mrs. Melsom could have freed Jean up to go out for libations after work. Jean’s concern about giving the wrong impression to the men with whom she works is also somewhat unfounded.

Duty therefore becomes a motif for the theme of Repression and Self-Sacrifice and is reflective of the gender restraints of the period and the enforcement of decorum. The process of enculturation starts early. When Margaret and Lizzie feel that adults can do whatever they please, Howard tells the girls that adults have duties, which Jean defines as “doing the thing you don’t want to but know you must” (87). This self-denying idea explains many of the decisions Jean makes throughout the novel, including staying with her mother instead of going out for drinks, telling Howard he should reunite with Gretchen, and keeping the secret of Margaret’s conception to herself at the end of the narrative.