The Job

The Job
By Sinclair Lewis
1917

#23 of 100 Classics Challenge

Una Golden, a suffragist-in-training in New York City is battling many of the same societal norms woman are still fighting today. Equality. Not just between men and women, but between social and economic class. Capitalism vs. Socialism. Status Quo vs Individuality.

This is the debut novel by Sinclair Lewis and is remarkably insightful and written with a fluidity that makes this compelling and engaging. His characters are so well developed, and one of the reasons he is one of my favorite authors.
Highly Recommended.

The story of Una Golden, a young woman of the second decade of the 20th century attempting to make her way to independence and fulfillment via "the job". Sinclair Lewis, as flawed as he was in his writing and his personal life, remains one of my favorite writers, one of the more interesting given the times in which he wrote. He was able more than any contemporary author to see through the veil of social custom and smug self-satisfaction that permeated American culture, and was far advanced in his portrayal of independent women, although he seemed unable to figure out what to do with them once they achieved their independence. This minor novel was a portent of greater things to come.

Three years before the civic-minded Carol Kennicott came to life in Main Street, Una Golden was confronting the male dinosaurs of business. Like Carol, the heroine of The Job is one Sinclair Lewis's most fully recognized creations. Originally published in 1917, The Job was his first controversial novel. A "working girl" in New York City, Una Golden--caught in the dilemmas of marriage or career, husband or office, birth control or motherhood--is the prototype of the businesswoman of popular and literary culture.