Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era

Throughout Capote’s Women, Leamer suggests that the marriages of the elite, upper-class women Truman Capote called his swans were deeply unhappy and rooted in inequality. He paints a picture of elite society in 20th century New York in which women viewed marriage to upper-class men as the only path to secure their own wealth and build a place for themselves in a world that privileged white, male power. In keeping with this image, Leamer describes the swans’ husbands as men who believed that their wealth entitled them to treat their wives as objects and status symbols. Leamer attributes this attitude to the widespread misogyny of mid-20th century America. He positions Bill and Babe Paley as exemplary of this kind of transactional relationship. Leamer writes that Bill’s willingness to fund Babe’s extravagant lifestyle was “not generosity but a shrewd investment so she would play the role he married her to play”—that of beautiful, obedient wife (35). Truman repeats this idea directly to Babe, telling her, “Bill bought you […] Look upon being Mrs. William S. Paley as a job” (48). Although Truman encouraged Babe to celebrate her “job” as Mrs. Paley, Leamer acknowledges that Babe had little say in the arrangement in a world governed by white, male patriarchy: “Bill was penny-pinching to Babe, doling out money to his wife like a child’s allowance (12).