The Edible Woman

Marian works at Seymour Surveys rewriting the survey questions developed by the in-house psychologists into more direct language that would appeal to the housewives frequently surveyed by the company. Marian is asked by the resident dietician to sample a series of canned rice puddings for an upcoming survey and give her feedback. She tries several flavors and suggests adding raisins for sweetness, but her supervisor believes too many people dislike raisins for that to be an option. Marian is told that “Of course we want to get as unbiased a sampling as possible, and so much depends on what else has been served—the colours of the vegetables for instance, and the tablecloth” (12).

Marian perceives her position in the company as undefined and is not certain there is upward mobility in the office for her. Since her department is focused on the housewives being surveyed, all of her coworkers and supervisors are female. The accountant for the department approaches Marian that morning to inform her that it is required she pay into the company’s pension now that she’s been working there for four months. Marian does not want to contribute to the pension, believing in “a kind of superstitious panic” (15) that if she did, she would be consigning herself to a lifetime of working for Seymour Surveys.

Marian takes a coffee break with three of her coworkers, whom she calls the “office virgins”: Emmy, Lucy, and Millie. All three are described as being artificially blonde and obsessed with finding a man to marry. Millie has chosen to wait to have sex until marriage because it’s the right thing to do, Lucy worries about what people would think of her, and Emmy believes sex will make her ill. Ainsley joins them at the coffee shop. During their conversation, Ainsley enjoys mentioning the various men she’s had sex with to make the office virgins uncomfortable.

Back at the office, one of Marian’s female supervisors Mrs. Brogue tells her that one of their regular interviewers is pregnant; they must take her off the employee list, as Mrs. Brogue “regards pregnancy as an act of disloyalty to the company” (19). Because they are short-staffed, Mrs. Brogue asks Marian to work over the weekend by testing out sample interview questions for a beer commercial on men in the area. They listen to the sample phone advertisement together and Marian begins work on a questionnaire to use, noting how well the advertisement uses language directed for its target consumer audience.

Marian’s boyfriend Peter calls to cancel their dinner plans. One of his male friends is getting married, and Peter becomes depressed and resentful of Marian whenever one of his friends gets engaged. Marian, in response, believes she must act carefully around Peter. Neither regards the relationship as serious and Marian has no plans for marriage, but she wants to be mindful of not upsetting Peter further. Marian’s friend Clara calls and invites her and Ainsley to dinner after work.

On the subway to Clara’s house, Marian reads the advertisements, her normal pastime during commutes. She worries “about Peter and what had happened to him” (27), resolving to do something to cheer him up and convince him that she does not expect a proposal from him. Marian and Ainsley arrive at Clara’s house and are invited inside by Clara’s husband Joe. The house is messy and filled with the children’s toys: Clara and Joe have two small children and are currently expecting a third. In the garden, they talk with Clara, who is overwhelmed by her children’s demands. Ainsley offers to hold the youngest child.

Clara reveals that a mutual college friend, Leonard Slank, has returned to Toronto. Ainsley doesn’t know him, and as Marian knows that Len would try to make a romantic conquest of Ainsley, tries to make Len sound uninteresting. Clara describes Len as a “’seducer of young girls’” (30), who had to flee his most recent filmmaking job in London after a questionable relationship with a girl was revealed. Clara comments on her exhaustion as a mother, and “[h]er metaphors for her children included barnacle encrusting a ship and limpets clinging to a rock” (33). She plans to go on the pill after she gives birth.

Joe, who does the cooking and cleaning as Clara is heavily pregnant, invites them inside for dinner. Marian becomes embarrassed by the disarray of the house and how hard Joe works to support Clara. As Marian and Ainsley leave, Joe thanks them for keeping Clara company as she doesn’t often socialize.

Marian and Ainsley discuss Clara and Joe’s roles as a married couple on the subway ride back to their apartment. Ainsley argues that Clara just lets Joe do everything, and “lets herself be treated like a thing” (35). She feels that Joe has aged significantly, and Clara should consider finishing her degree to at least make a token effort. Even if the degree doesn’t lead to a professional job, Ainsley believes that Clara should continue to learn or have a routine outside of the house.

Marian calls Len and arranges to meet him for drinks with Peter the following evening. She hopes that Len’s love of bachelorhood will help to ease Peter’s disappointment about all his male friends getting married. She does not mention these plans to Ainsley, as she wants to keep her and Len from meeting.

After hanging up with Len, Ainsley tells Marian that she plans to become pregnant. She does not plan to marry, as her studies in psychology suggest she can adequately raise a child on her own. Ainsley believes that “Every woman should have at least one baby […] it fulfills your deepest femininity” (39). Having children, in Ainsley’s opinion, fulfills a woman’s purpose and makes them whole. Marian points out that their society does not easily accept children born outside of marriage, and even though Ainsley can accept the harsh opinions of others, the child shouldn’t be put through that kind of social scrutiny. However, Ainsley is determined. Marian begins to wonder if she can move out in good conscience or if she is obligated to stay and help Ainsley.

The next morning, Saturday, Marian wakes after having a dream in which her body began to dissolve. She dresses for work and plans out the route she will take to conduct the sample interviews for the beer commercial. She decides to go to a lower middle-class neighborhood. The people in the first house give her religious anti-drinking pamphlets, and the next man completes the interview but then starts to come on to her when the interview is over. After conducting four more interviews, Marian enters an apartment building and knocks on the first door, which is incongruously labeled as apartment six. The man that opens the door, Duncan, is startlingly thin; at first, Marian thinks he is a teenager, but he confirms his age as 26. Duncan invites her inside to conduct the interview. Instead of sitting in the armchairs in the living room, which are all covered with essays and academic writing and belong to his roommates, they go to Duncan’s bedroom and sit on the bed. This is to prevent Marian from sitting in one of Duncan’s roommate's armchairs or mixing up the dishes in the kitchen by trying to move things around.

Throughout the interview, Duncan’s answers become longer and references philosophy, psychology, and literary studies. When Duncan claims he was only interested in the questionnaire because he wanted to talk to someone, Marian realizes the “self-conscious performance” (53) of his answers. Duncan’s roommates Trevor and Fish return.