The Only Woman in the Room

As a piece of historical fiction, the historical elements of the text are frequently present and incredibly significant. To parallel the workings of real political movements, the machinations of WW2 are initially nuanced in the text; so much so, that Hedy does not realize that she is living under a dictatorship until her father breaks down the workings of power in Western Europe. Hedy’s naivete on this matter is not used against her but instead intentionally designed to demonstrate the ways the path towards war and authoritarian regimes often occur without the general public realizing it at first; these deals are made well beyond the vision of the public eye, and the changes that take hold are gradual and subtle at first. By the time Hedy and the country understand the true impact of Hitler and Mussolini’s rise to power, it is too late to prevent it.

This motif serves two purposes. The first being the prescriptions of the genre; imbuing the text with the events of WW2 is essential to the narrative and upholds the expectations of the historical fiction genre. The second being that wartime politics work to accelerate the thematic elements of the text; crises habitually heighten existing social tensions, thus emphasizing the existent anti-Semitism and gender inequality that obstructs Hedy’s goals.