Valley of the Dolls

Readers may find from the outset that the attitudes of virtually all the characters reflect a male-dominated society in which women’s roles are established by men. Each of the three protagonists defines herself and her career based on her relationships with men. Jennifer, who appears from the outside to be the freest of the main characters, expresses an underlying core desire to be loved by a man with whom she can have children. When she realizes that the man who professed to love her is actually in love with the breasts she is about to lose, she despairs and dies by suicide. Neely, at 17, professes that she will always place a loving husband above her career. However, intoxicated by stardom as well as her addiction to drugs and alcohol, she self-destructively forces all the important men from her life. Her psychiatrist, friends, and rivals assert that she has doomed herself—implying that alienating the helpful men in her life has led to her downfall. Anne arrives in New York intent on building a career, believing that she might one day settle down with the right man. Within a few months, she has changed her mind, begging Lyon, a notorious playboy, to marry her.