The Only Woman in the Room

While Chapters 31 and 32 work to introduce a healthy romance through Gene and Hedy’s relationship, the chapters also begin to foreshadow her path towards innovation. In both chapters, Hedy references an unwillingness to go out to parties because she would rather stay home to work on “inventions” (175). Hedy’s father imparted a natural curiosity in his daughter by asking after her thoughts and encouraging her to seek answers. This, combined with her years of overhearing men discuss war tactics, inventions, and weapons, empowers Hedy to become a scientist with no formal training. The novel only mentions this in passing, echoing the historical record of Hedy’s life; on the surface of the narrative is her new romance and success in Hollywood, but beneath, is Hedy’s genius.

Meanwhile, Hedy’s relationship with Gene betrays a desperation on her part for comfort and stability. Her initial attraction to him is likened to her desire to find a man like her father; because she feels safe, she wonders if she “needn’t play a part” (177). When this inevitably proves to be untrue in just a few months, the text demonstrates that Hedy is condemned to a life of performing and being misunderstood. Gene’s desire to network and be out six nights a week while Hedy wishes to share her ideas with her husband demonstrates the essential difference between him and his new wife; he wants to be seen, and she wants to be known.

Chapter 33 combines the motif of the political machinations of WWII with the theme of social responsibility to convey Hedy’s increasing desire to help the war effort. The chapter also shows the effects of propaganda and suppression through the difficulty of attaining information: “little of the truth was reported in the newspapers” (182). Instead, the American papers only reported on the invasion of Poland or the politics between Germany and the UK and France. The suppression of the beginning of the Jewish genocide, in retrospect, lays some responsibility on the outside world; while the Nazi regime is directly responsible, the countries that turned their eyes away from the crisis and refused to interfere bear part of the guilt. This is similarly represented through Hedy’s own guilt over her “silence and selfishness” (184). This directly drives her decision to adopt a child at risk from Germany. By saving one child, she begins to make amends for all of the innocents she feels she avoided protecting. However, her readiness to help is contrasted by her comrades’ willful evasion of directly interfering.

Chapter 34 demonstrates that Hedy cannot save her relationships by pretending. As she and Gene are forced to accept they are too different to remain together, Hedy increasingly wonders if her secrets will always keep others at arm’s length. This shows that, despite pretense, Hedy will always be Hedy Kiesler, but Gene hoped to marry the glamorous Hedy Lamarr. The end of her relationship, rather than teaching her to open up about herself, emphasizes her need to protect her true identity; Gene’s loss of affection teaches her that the outside world is only interested in the mask she wears. 

Chapter 35 serves as the catalyst for the rising action of the text; with the tragedy of the SS City of Benares, Hedy has the final motivation to redirect her energy towards actively fighting Germany. Her mounting guilt has also been catapulting her down this path, but the slaughter of innocent—and implicitly Jewish—children is emblematic of everything Nazi Germany stands for. Therefore, Hedy realizes that she is uniquely suited to work against this regime. Her experience as Mrs. Mandl, her cleverness, and sheer will give her the appropriate tools to take on this challenge. The end of the chapter marks Hedy’s refashioning; by vowing to make herself into a blade against Hitler, she is using her mind as a weapon instead of her beauty.