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Chapter 24: The Afternoon Depression Zone
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lessons in Chemistry, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender Inequality
Science vs. Religion
Overcoming Tragedy and Trauma
Family
Summary
Analysis
Elizabeth makes her first appearance on the live show, wearing a plain dress with a pencil in her hair and holding test tubes. Disgusted by the set, she openly criticizes it on air and walks off to talk to Walter, leading to an abrupt commercial break. Walter tells her that the set, designed for the average housewife, cannot be altered. This upsets Elizabeth, who feels she has been misled. Back on camera, Elizabeth disregards the cue cards and captivates female viewers with her talk on the underappreciation of wives, mothers, and women, vowing to make her daily 30 minutes on screen meaningful to their lives.
Elizabeth does not seem to recognize—or care—that she is on live television. Walter worries that she has doomed them from the start by openly expressing her disgust for their new viewers to see. However, Elizabeth feels betrayed and does not care how she is coming off to the viewers. As such, she ignores everything Walter tells her and speaks from the heart. Rather than make a promise to Walter, she makes a promise to her female viewers.
Themes
Elizabeth’s unscripted behavior infuriates Lebensmal, who angrily confronts Walter and threatens to cancel the show. Despite Walter's pleas, Elizabeth stands by her conscience and refuses to read the cue cards. Despite Lebensmal and Walter’s concerns, the show generates numerous calls inquiring about a shopping list Elizabeth mentioned, a level of engagement that Walter's other afternoon shows have never achieved.
Lebensmal, like Donatti, is furious that a woman would undermine him the way Elizabeth has, so he flexes his power to try to get the show back under his control. Although Elizabeth is unconcerned with Lebensmal, Walter believes they will only be able to defy him for so long before they are kicked off the air.
Themes
