The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

The titular gray flannel suit is a symbol of the corporate world explored in the novel. Tom often wears his gray flannel suit to the office, as does everyone else. Colorless and nondescript, the suit is a symbol of conformity. The gray suit allows Tom to fade into the corporate miasma; by wearing the gray suit, he is symbolically buying into the corporate world which he wishes to enter. Tom covets the life of a wealthy corporate executive, and wearing the gray suit is the first symbolic step on the corporate ladder, at least in his mind. To this point, he worries during his interview process that his gray suit is not ready. Betsy, recognizing the symbolism of the suit, rushes to ensure that Tom’s suit is ready for his interview. The symbolism does not only exist in Tom’s mind, as Betsy is equally as aware of how important it is that Tom adopt the visible symbols of corporate life to impress the men who will allow or deny him access to this world.

The suggestion that the suit itself is more important than the person who inhabits it—the origin of the common expression “an empty suit”—exacerbates Tom’s feelings of invisibility and erasure. The suit is deliberately devoid of personality, signifying only class and belonging. Behind or beneath it, Tom’s traumatic experiences remain hidden away while he presents a sleek and unblemished surface to the world. The suit functions as a potent symbol of corporate conformity, representing the values of an exclusive world to which others are denied entry. It does not matter who the wearer of the suit is, so long as he is the right kind of person: white, wealthy, and male to begin with, but also willing and able to keep the rougher edges of his personality hidden away beneath the smooth fabric. The book’s title suggests that this conformity is so thorough that it verges on anonymity: The man in the gray flannel suit is interchangeable with many others, having no identity beyond his attire and what it signifies.

From the opening chapter, the Rath family’s relationship to their small suburban house symbolizes their discontent and alienation from contemporary American society. Tom and Betsy have done everything according to expectations, at least since he returned from the war. He married his girlfriend, started a family, and worked hard in an office job to afford a small house, only to discover that the small house is too small, that it is riddled with flaws, and that each of these flaws only reminds Tom of how restricted he feels. To Betsy and Tom, the house does not feel like a platform on which to build their futures, but a cage. The cage-like house is a symbol of the discontent beneath the veneer of success in American society. The house functions as the symbolic focal point for a broader social alienation; Tom and Betsy convince each other that the house is the source of their unhappiness rather than facing the conformity that the house represents. Rather than take a critical look at society itself, they believe that the best solution is to simply move to a bigger house.

The small house is quickly forgotten when Tom’s grandmother dies, leaving her house and property to Tom. In doing so, however, she creates a new problem. The house is very big but it has fallen into disrepair. While the family is pleased to move out of their smaller home into something more luxurious, they cannot afford to live in the large South Bay house forever. If the small suburban home felt like a cage, then the large mansion feels like a trap. The small house felt constrictive, but the new one is draining Tom’s finances with its enormous maintenance bills. As such, the move to a bigger house only reminds him of how comparatively little he earns. As a family heirloom, the house also reminds him of the extent to which the family fortune has been squandered. Tom grew up in this house and attended the local private schools. His children are growing up in a much more dilapidated version of the same house and are being sent to dilapidated public schools. The large house creates an immediate juxtaposition in Tom’s mind, symbolizing the extent to which his family’s fortunes have crumbled since his own youth and the extent to which he has failed to stop this decline. The large house may be exactly what Tom and Betsy wanted, but without the fortune to go with it, it is only another financial and emotional burden. His only solution is to divide up the property and sell it in lots.

Also in South Bay is the Hopkins mansion. As one of the most impressive buildings in the area, the sight of the mansion is enough to convince Betsy that working for Hopkins would be an excellent opportunity for Tom. The mansion is a lie, however. Though it is known as the Hopkins mansion, the actual Hopkins never lives there. Instead, his estranged wife and daughter live there while he stays in an apartment in the city. The mansion is a symbol of the hollowness of 1950s American society, in which people are enthralled by the external appearance of success and wealth without scrutinizing the tragic, bitter reality behind the veil. Hopkins is not a happy man, but the luxurious house is enough to convince everyone else that he is an enviable one.