"Mr. Bridge" - Trapped in His Time and Gender

On 5/3/10 I wrote about the book "Mrs. Bridge." Today I write about the companion book, "Mr. Bridge" (North Point Press, 1981; originally published 1969), by Evan S. Connell. The couple's story is now told from the husband's perspective. Mr. Bridge is the quintessential man of his time, the mid-19th century. He knows his duty as a man: to work hard and to support his wife and children. He takes pride in doing so, but he almost never expresses understanding or love to his wife, leaving her feeling lonely. He is austere, rigid, upright, or to use the 1960s term, uptight. He has a great deal of integrity, and tries to treat people well, yet he seemingly cannot help his somewhat racist and anti-Semitic attitudes, common at the time. He lacks imagination, but has occasional flashes of self-examination and self-knowledge. In "Mrs. Bridge," Connell showed us the way women were (are?) trapped in their roles; here he demonstrates that men were (are?) also trapped. Mr. Bridge sees no honorable way out: "Early tomorrow, I must get up again to do what I have done today. I will get up early tomorrow to do this, and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, and there is nothing to discuss" (p. 106). The novel ends rather heartbreakingly, as Mr. Bridge tells himself that "If he had once known joy, it must have been a long time ago"(p. 367). Connell's style in both novels is flat, almost matter of fact, and all the more devastating for it.