If you try Googling “first world problems,” a whole slew of websites pops up. There are dozens of memes and blogs, all devoted to privileged Americans complaining about their hefty issues of losing a remote control or forgetting a wi-fi password. The concept behind first-world problems is simple: The reader unconsciously feels the twinge of inconvenience caused by these problems… and then immediately feels guilty because these aren’t actual problems at all.
In the idyllic, 1950s suburbia setting of Richard Yates’ “Revolutionary Road,” nothing sums up first world problems better than a fear of mediocrity. April and Frank Wheeler, an unfulfilled couple tending to a life they never actually dreamed of, live in fear of just this middle ground. They waste mindless hours housekeeping or buried in aimless business work, only to reunite in the evenings and torture each other with pointless, winding fights that rattle the windows of their picture-perfect home.
The main question is, what happens when you get everything you thought you’d ever want? Both April and Frank consigned to a mediocre marriage and mediocre responsibilities, and even had two children —which they admittedly didn’t want—only because that was what society expected from them. Yet when they finally reached all of these goals, the couple found they were only living in a shell of the life they’d first envisioned.
When April conjures up the idea of moving to Europe—another clichéd, suburban ideal—the couple is blissfully granted a few months of peace within their tumultuous marriage. Yet it doesn’t take long before the decision of whether or not to leave causes the ultimate power struggle between a man battling to prove his masculinity against a woman who refuses to resign herself to a hopeless life.
Overall, the book is depressing. While April and Frank might not actually have real problems—in the sense that they’re healthy, safe and relatively well off—their superficial issues expand to such great heights that you’re not just reading about the demise of a marriage; rather, you’re reading about the demise of all moral codes. All the characters spend so much time stewing in their own thoughts that they don’t realize the source of their misery is their own solitude. Overall, this is a book about how impossibly selfish some people can be.
While April and Frank grossly exaggerate how “first-world problems” can lead to complete misery, one must admit it is easy to get caught up in these kinds of issues from time to time. Even at college, we tear out our hair over exams or the frigid weather, or, most ironically, our own promising futures. Sometimes obsessing over our small problems makes it easier to shy away from the bigger issues we’re actually wrestling with.
Earlier this year, I spent a nerve-wracking afternoon with my roommate, compulsively looking up graduate school requirements and panicking over midterms. When I saw her on the verge of tears and asked what was wrong, she exclaimed, “Everything!” Then she sighed and added, “And nothing, all at once.”
And she had a point. While our day-to-day struggles might seem unbearably stressful, they usually just mask an issue buried deeper than what we’re dealing with on the surface.
Just like Frank and April, who weren’t actually struggling with the mediocrity of their life but rather the abusive way they treated each other, “Revolutionary Road” shows that superficial problems sometimes get in the way of solving real ones. Frank and April’s misery has an easy solution: If they just treat each other decently, their problems would seem less devastating.
“Revolutionary Road” is definitely not a casual, uninvolved read—it hits on a wide variety of issues, including women’s rights, societal dynamics and the actual definition of insanity.
The hero/heroine focus slides back and forth from Frank to April throughout the story until it’s clear that in the end, they’re both equal amounts of egoists. Despite the fact that you might put down the book with a little less hope for a fulfilling relationship, “Revolutionary Road” is a worthwhile read that delves into the mind of two people who live entirely for themselves, and the consequences that ensue.
Grade: B
Jessica is our senior literature critic and runs book reviews every other Monday. Do you have a book you think she should dive into? Send her your suggestions at korneff@wisc.edu.
