The Amateur

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. He also believes that Nick Foster will keep the secret of their relationship, expecting complicity from a fellow man and demonstrating his belief that his position protects him from consequences. As the novel illustrates, he is partially correct; in the aftermath, Tallmadge largely views his exploitation and sexual abuse of a minor primarily as a marital infidelity rather than a crime, and many locals blame Mira for the resulting scandal and his divorce.

The club’s hierarchy also fosters resentment on the levels of both gender and class, particularly on the golf course, a traditionally male-dominated space. Club pro Harry Fallows harbors animosity toward Mira, whose prodigious talent threatens his authority. His misogyny is evident in his condescending remarks and professional jealousy; he belittles her ambition and skill, even though they both know that she is a better golfer than him. After Kenny’s death, the defense team theorizes that Harry planted the target in Mira’s bag to deflect blame, a cowardly act born from a desire to protect his status and undermine the young woman who consistently outshone him. The plausibility of this argument underscores how his behavior illustrates how Mira’s gender and talent disrupted established power structures at the club.

The novel grapples with the complications of how these issues intersect with class as well. Mira’s father, Peter, reveals his classist worldview when he dismisses Kenny as a caddy who nevertheless had “ambition,” a backhanded compliment that emphasizes the Fosters’ outsider status. This condescension is pervasive throughout Tallmadge; Nick Foster’s job producing local TV ads and his company car mark him as inferior among the Manhattan executives of Tallmadge. The criminal trial weaponizes this class divide, with the prosecution successfully portraying Mira as a spoiled, entitled rich girl and Kenny as a hardworking victim. By framing it as a conflict between the privileged and the working class, the prosecutor relies on social prejudice to make his case, demonstrating how deeply class determines who is seen as a culprit and who is seen as a victim. With its exploration of the intersecting power dynamics surrounding gender and class, the novel critiques the social hierarchy of America in the 1970s, drawing attention to the outsized influence that wealthy men wield.