Roberta and I have been discussing this. (And hello, that means that the blog is not enough for us, we also talk about Mad Men.)
If you read a news story about a woman who didn’t know she was pregnant, maybe gives birth in a restroom somewhere, you think “psychotic break.” (Or maybe just “woo-woo nutbag.”) And the thing I’ve really disliked about this storyline is that I like Peggy; I even admire her. She’s fighting to become more than she is; “something she hasn’t seen.” She asks for the raise; asks awkwardly, but asks. She’s wrong about the radio voices, but handles it and moves forward. She doesn’t let Pete walk all over her. She’s intelligent and kind of fierce.
So, is she also crazy? I hate to think so.
She got on the pill. The doctor, who clearly wasn’t interested in her well-being or her reproductive health, didn’t tell her that the pill is not effective birth control right away. So she had no reason to believe she had unprotected sex. She didn’t gain weight in a typically pregnant fashion (round and tight and high in the belly, minimal weight gain elsewhere), and given that she was also hungry all the time, she could easily assume she was getting fat.
It’s hard to believe she didn’t recognize kicking for what it was after six months or so (the first month of kicking, for those who don’t know, feels weird, but by the end it actually moves stuff; my son knocked a teacup off my belly from underneath). We do know that Peggy is out of touch with her body in a big way (the Rejuvenator totally surprised her), but we also know she responds to sensation in a very direct and sane way.
So what happened? Is she just crazy? Is her denial sane but very thorough? Is she just totally out of touch?
Addendum: Matt Weiner addresses it in the new EW article (more on that shortly):
”People say, ‘Peggy’s so smart!’ But the truth is she’s 20 years old. She knew and denied it. She put it out of her mind.”
So, Weiner’s contention is that denial, even deep, deep denial of something huge, is not crazy. What do you all think?
May 30, 2008 at 10:27 am
Oh, I have seen soooo many weird real life examples of denial within my own circle of friends and family that I totally believe that Peggy was in denial. Denial doesn’t mean that reality doesn’t seep through, btw; it just means that when it does, the person immediately shuts her eyes to any evidence of it. So, Peggy might’ve felt the kicking and other signs but just, oh, put it out of her head, decided not to think about it, what have you. These things don’t just happen with pregnancies, they also happen with diseases, just to mention other instances of denial about what’s happening in your own body.
I don’t think it’s crazy to be in such deep denial. If anything, a refusal to face reality seems pretty much the usual response in human affairs.
I’m going to ask my boyfriend what the actual clinical definition of insanity is and also about the psychological explanation for the phenomenon of women being pregnant and suddenly giving birth in a public bathroom. For me the big mystery is how these women pop out babies all alone, without epidurals and in a couple of hours no less. How do they do it, mang? Does the cheap toilet paper in public toilets hold some magical anesthetic qualities yet to be discovered? Does the incredible filth of most public toilets have an accelerative effect on the uterine muscles? THAT’S the huge mystery to me. But denial? Totally believable.
May 30, 2008 at 10:40 am
Peggy did go to the hospital!
If she really thought it was just a bad stomach ache, I think she would have just gone home. Going to the hospital, to me, indicates she knew something was up. She did not give birth in a bathroom stall.
So, not total denial, just deep suppression of the truth.
Eme, your comments on the pain-relieving and labor-inducing effects of public restrooms are too funny!
May 30, 2008 at 10:43 am
I wonder if she was sent or taken to the hospital by someone at work.
Which would mean that someone in the office might know.
May 30, 2008 at 10:49 am
Ooh! Wild thought!
May 30, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I’ve been thinking about this…
Most of the men on this show have things that they suppress, deny or compartmentalize all the time, so that they can have the lives they want to have.
For example:
All the infidelities of the married men who then go home and play the family guy.
Roger and his poor health, who still goes around still smoking and drinking and fornicating with young women.
Roger coming back into the office too soon after his heart attack.
Don and his stolen identity.
Do we think they’re crazy? Nope! We just see them as men who will do whatever it takes to get what they want.
Peggy is as ambitious as the guys, and having a baby doesn’t fit into her lifestyle as a career woman, so she just doesn’t deal with it.
And who would she have confided in if she had to decided to admit to it? Her doctor doesn’t exactly seem like someone she would have gone to with the news. She doesn’t have any close friends, and I doubt her mother would have been understanding or helpful.
May 30, 2008 at 12:31 pm
“Peggy did go to the hospital!
If she really thought it was just a bad stomach ache, I think she would have just gone home. Going to the hospital, to me, indicates she knew something was up. She did not give birth in a bathroom stall. ”
This is a good point, actually. If she really thought she had food poisoning, she just would’ve gone home, no?
May 30, 2008 at 12:48 pm
wisefish, I agree with you in principal, but you have to remember that Roger was following medical advise. The health problems of smoking were widely and actively disputed and these guys WORK for Big Tobacco; the health problems of drinking weren’t even on the radar. Cardiac care in 1960 was actually pretty primitive.
Eme, I think people availed themselves of medical care much more often in 1960. Not because it was cheaper so much as that people placed more trust in authority, there was less do-it-yourself about health care.