The Husbands: A Novel

Hayden is not Nora’s antagonist—that role belongs to 21st-century American society—but he is its representative. He thinks of himself as highly “evolved,” though he is incredibly unaware of how easily he abandons familial responsibilities to Nora. He is easily angered when he feels Nora is “keeping score” and gets defensive when she implies that he doesn’t do as much around the house as he should. Hayden knows he’s more involved in his children’s life than his own father was, but Hayden doesn’t see all the things Nora does: the errand running, appointment making, keeping of schedules, finding Liv’s shoes and socks, packing lunches, making snacks, school pick-ups, school drop-offs, conversations with the babysitter, and on and on. “Hayden believes: It will get done” (5), and it will because Nora will do it. Because of this, Hayden becomes the “lazy traveler” in the relationship.

Hayden is a loving husband and father, but he harbors a kind of ignorance that seems alternately accidental and intentional, prompting him to say things like, “The point is I help. You act like I don’t, but I do” (46). Nora doesn’t deny that he helps, but whenever she asks for more help, he makes promises he never keeps. One such broken promise preceded Liv’s accident, an event for which Hayden resents Nora, though he has never acknowledged his responsibility in creating a situation in which Nora became too exhausted to function. This could be because he doesn’t realize how often he makes and breaks promises to his wife, and if she told him, he might again refer to her mental “scoreboard.” However, his internalized misogyny—on display when he claims the Dynasty Ranch husbands “need to grow a pair” (100)—makes clear that his association of household responsibilities with emasculation is conscious. Because Hayden is a flat character, representative of “Dad Version 2.0,” he does not have a chance to evolve or change on his own.

Cornelia is the de facto leader of Dynasty Ranch. She is an accomplished psychiatrist who has devoted her life to making the world better for women. She is well-educated and creative, someone who overcame the hurdles of a challenging childhood as part of a religious cult, and a natural leader. She nurtures women in her community, praising their achievements and claiming “mama bear” status. On the other hand, she is a hypocrite and ruthless dehumanizer of men, privileging female autonomy and ambition while methodically and remorselessly stripping men of theirs. Cornelia believes that male regulation of female bodies is reprehensible and uses this to justify her actions. She fulfills the mentor-turned-antagonist archetype.

Cornelia—a static character—never changes or experiences a moment of uncertainty. Though she regrets the pain Penny’s death could cause Nora, given the similarity of the scene to that of Liv’s accident, she has no reservations about using Nora’s Ambien to drug Penny or using Nora’s husband to murder her. Cornelia gets others to do her dirty work, ensuring their loyalty to her and the Dynasty Ranch community. She is manipulative and believes she has the moral high ground, an inverse of patriarchal power rather than a model of true progress.