In The Amateur, Chris Bohjalian depicts the rigid social hierarchies of 1970s American suburbia as a system where gender, class, and age create dangerous power imbalances. These dynamics enable the sexual exploitation of young women and also fuel professional resentment and shape legal outcomes, predisposing the community to judge individuals based on their social standing rather than their actions. The novel argues that in such a stratified environment, privilege can be both a shield and a target, while a lack of status can render a person’s ambitions and even their life tragically expendable.

The most glaring power imbalance in the novel is the sexual relationship between the wealthy, middle-aged Theo Catton and 15-year-old Mira Winston. As a wealthy male member of the Tallmadge Country Club, Theo leverages his age, status, and experience to groom and exploit Mira, a dynamic that goes unchallenged within the club’s social structure. This power differential is so ingrained that Mira’s own mother, Alexis, later distinguishes her own affair with a peer from Mira’s situation, explicitly identifying the latter as an unhealthy “power imbalance.” Theo’s confidence in his social immunity is absolute; he encourages Mira to date high school boys to create a facade of normalcy while instructing her to not have sex with them so that he doesn’t face an unexpected paternity test.