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Book 1, Part 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Trust, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
U.S. Foundational Myths
Gender and Subjugation
Wealth
Power and Morality
Self-Interest vs. the Common Good
Summary
Analysis
After Helen and Benjamin are married, Helen senses that she has completed his world and the companionship brings him joy, even if she doesn’t feel the same way. Still, Helen tries to make him happy, partly to try and pave the way for her independence and partly because she has grown fond of Benjamin. On one of the first days of their marriage, Benjamin shows Helen around the house. They arrive at one door that Benjamin says Helen must never enter, as it’s a side door to his office, and he doesn’t like to be disturbed while working. Helen goes around him and opens the door to reveal a grand office room that seems like no work has ever been done in it. In the corner, though, she sees a small table with a stock ticker on it.
Helen and Benjamin’s marriage is emotionally unequal in the sense that Benjamin is in love with Helen while Helen is merely fond of Benjamin. That inequality seems to give Helen some power, at least within the marriage, as she immediately defies Benjamin’s demand that she never enter the door to his office. Notably, Benjamin’s office seems to be set up, in part, for show, signaling again that Benjamin seeks to perform the role of a wealthy person. That performance, while disingenuous, also seems to reinforce the portrayal of Benjamin as a kind of ascetic who loves his work for its intrinsic qualities.
Themes
During the war, Helen wasn’t able to reach the sanatorium in Switzerland where her father Leopold was. When the war ends, shortly after Helen and Benjamin are married, she gets through to the sanatorium and is surprised to learn that Leopold left not long after he checked in. No one has heard from him since. Helen cries for the first time in a long time when she hears the news. Benjamin hires investigators to search Europe to try and find Leopold. Helen knows it will all be in vain; she’s sure her father is gone. Helen doesn’t tell Catherine what she has learned to see if her mother ever brings up Leopold again. She doesn’t.
Benjamin’s love for Helen seems to be genuine, as he uses the financial resources at his disposal to search for Leopold as soon as he learns that he’s missing. Catherine, on the other hand, doesn’t concern herself with Leopold and also seems to disregard Helen’s emotions, as she is oblivious to Helen’s grief. Harold again portrays Catherine as a self-centered person who isn’t concerned with her daughter’s well-being.
Themes
After the war, Benjamin’s fortune continues to grow, and Helen becomes involved in philanthropy. She enjoys meeting with artists, musicians, and writers. But the cause she cares the most about is the research and treatment of psychiatric illnesses. Benjamin is the majority shareholder of two drug manufacturers, and he becomes involved in Helen’s efforts as well. They also share a passion for concerts and begin having private recitals at their house. At first, socializing after the recitals is discouraged, but gradually, the parties after the recitals become as renowned as the concerts themselves.
Harold depicts Benjamin and Helen’s marriage as potentially beneficial for both of them, as their relationship seems to lead them both to engage more fully with the world around them. Helen seems motivated to pursue the research and development of psychiatric treatment due to what happened to her father, while Benjamin seems motivated by empathy for Helen, suggesting again that Benjamin’s love for Helen is authentic and not motivated by his own self-interest.
Themes
Benjamin’s wealth, and the New York stock market in general, continue to rapidly grow throughout the 1920s. Oversight is lenient, and Benjamin takes advantage of that leniency to expand his fortune through unregulated loan and securities practices. Due to their fortune and philanthropy, Helen and Benjamin become “mythical creatures” in New York social circles, which they themselves don’t frequent. Benjamin is in awe of Helen, but Helen can’t find a way to reciprocate his feelings. She involuntarily recoils as he tries to get closer.
Harold suggests not necessarily that Benjamin’s financial strategies are illegal, but that they might be on the line between legal and illegal. The idea that Helen and Benjamin are “mythical creatures” points to the way that, in the U.S., money and wealth are the most highly prized commodities, and the reverence of wealth can be so extreme that mythologies spring up around wealthy people as if they are akin to religious saviors.
Themes
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In October of 1929, the stock market crashes. Benjamin doesn’t just escape the worst of the crash; in fact, he profits significantly from it. He recently liquidated many of his assets and invested his money in gold. He had also been short-selling many of the stocks from companies that were most impacted by the crash. In the wake of the crash, people begin to say that Benjamin engineered the whole thing for his own profit. Most people don’t believe one person could take down an entire country’s economy, but they’re happy to have a scapegoat.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 left countless people bankrupt and ushered in the Great Depression, a period of profound economic hardship that lasted from 1929 until 1939. Benjamin’s investment strategies—short-selling and taking money out of the market—suggest, at the very least, that he predicted that the crash would happen and then profited from that prediction, showing that he at least profits from others’ losses, even if he doesn’t directly cause those losses.
Themes
As a result of Benjamin’s new reputation and the scandal, Helen’s friends and acquaintances—the writers and musicians—begin canceling engagements at the Rask house. Helen finds it harder and harder to leave the house; she thinks that everyone is looking at her and casting aspersions under their breath. She worries that she may be afflicted with the same illness as her father. Benjamin is called to the Senate to account for his actions regarding the crash. In his testimony, it becomes clear that while he had divested heavily from the market and sold bounties of stocks just before the crash, none of what he did was illegal.
Again, Harold points out that while some of Benjamin’s financial strategies may have been suspect, they weren’t illegal. That fact points to the differences between legality and moral permissibility. While Benjamin’s actions may be legal, several of Helen’s friends believe them to be morally wrong. It’s also worth noting the fallout from the scandal seems to impact Helen more than Benjamin, pointing to a culture of sexism and misogyny.
Themes
Helen continues to feel worse and is unable to sleep. She becomes increasingly demanding with her staff and begins taking her meals in her room. Benjamin reads her diaries, but they’re written in a collage of different languages that Benjamin can’t understand. Benjamin finds the photograph that Helen had taken in Italy. He slips it into his pocket but, thinking better of it, returns it to the notebook. At one point, Helen doesn’t eat for two days. Benjamin calls Catherine to see if she thinks Helen’s illness is similar to Leopold’s. When Catherine sees Helen, she’s shocked by the state Helen is in. Helen hands her a sheet of paper, which says she wants to go to the same sanatorium where her father had once been.
Benjamin’s decision to read Helen’s diaries is reminiscent of Leopold’s decision to read Helen’s diaries when she was younger. The dismissal of Helen’s privacy by both men points to the misogynistic and sexist culture in which Helen lives, as both Benjamin and Leopold take for granted the idea that they have the power to override Helen’s wishes and privacy to suit their own desires. Benjamin taking the photograph also symbolizes the way that his marriage with Helen has robbed Helen of the joyful solitude that sustains her.
Themes
