Delicate Condition

Content Warning: This section of the guide refers to miscarriage, depictions of self-harm, sexism, and misogyny.

Throughout Delicate Condition, Anna’s feelings, opinions, and desires—especially those having to do with her own body—are consistently ignored or downright denied by the people and institutions in her life. Early in Anna’s IVF treatment, she has a conversation with Dex in which he misquotes a line from The Notebook. Anna, as a professional actress, is an expert in this field while Dex “never watched movies” (10), but Dex still pushes back against her gentle correction of his misquote, insisting that he is right. In response to Dex’s mansplaining, Anna thinks “I was sure I was right, but it didn’t matter” (10). This encounter sets the tone for how institutional structures treat Anna throughout the rest of the novel. Although this moment has low stakes, it exemplifies Anna’s predicament even in higher-stakes situations. Namely, Anna qualifying her certainty, in the face of Dex’s incorrect assertion, as unimportant demonstrates the degree to which her position in a patriarchal, male-dominated industry has already diminished her self-belief. Her assessment that “it didn’t matter” also gives insight into how she has learned to cope with Dex’s inability to acknowledge her expertise and his own failings: by self-silencing to avoid conflict.