The Tobacco Wives

Back at the Winstons’, Mitzy encourages Maddie to call her Mimi, but Mitzy’s closeness makes Maddie uncomfortable. The sewing studio that Mitzy has made for her on the third floor is filled with all the materials that she needs, including a brand-new sewing machine. Maddie fees uneasy having access to such luxury, remarking, “[i]t didn’t seem right that some people had so much and others had so little” (171). She rationalizes that these are just borrowed things and she has a job to do. While Maddie begins working on the designs, David visits her in the studio, and they connect over their shared experience of losing one parent and being essentially abandoned by the other.

Maddie is busy with appointments for tobacco wives and “other wives,” the second-tier women married to less important Bright Leaf Tobacco executives. Though she is still unsure of herself and wishes that Etta were there for advice, Anthony tells her, “[y]ou’re a natural […] You have a dressmaker’s talent and a personal touch with clients” (182). Maddie realizes that her ability to listen closely to people and to make keen observations is a strength. She starts to tell Anthony about the letter and her efforts to understand what’s happening behind the scenes at Bright Leaf but decides against it when she remembers that he is a gossip and may not keep her secrets safe. Anthony tells her about a secret meeting of women factory workers who are considering striking, and Maddie asks for the details so that she can go. She is inspired by the stories of female accomplishments in the book and wants to learn as much as she can about Mr. Winston and Dr. Hale.

As Maddie and Anthony arrive at the strike meeting on Saturday night, Maddie is troubled by the contents of the letter and thinks about how tobacco farming and manufacturing fuels the economy of North Carolina. She wonders what will happen if that doesn’t continue. At the strike meeting, female workers gather in an old tobacco barn where Maddie learns that the executives at Bright Leaf have been attempting to turn Black and white women against each other by paying them different wages so that they don’t focus on the real issue: When the soldiers return home, all women will be fired without cause. If the women form a union and use their collective power to influence the executives while they can, they have a chance to get their demands met. Maddie is in awe of these women, who “cussed and shouted and didn’t give a damn” (197), but she suddenly feels like an imposter because she is living in the Winston home and isn’t sure that she belongs here.

As Maddie tries to leave, Ashley notices her and insists on driving her home. Ashley shares that she feels an obligation to help other women in the workforce and wants to challenge her brother-in-law to change things for the better. She tells Maddie about the value of working hard for yourself, even if others around you don’t understand, and being fulfilled by things beyond motherhood and marriage. They find commonality when Maddie shares that the challenging work she’s taken on for Etta makes her feel good, and Ashely encourages her, saying, “[t]hat feeling of satisfaction, knowing you can take care of yourself. That’s something no one can take away from you” (203). Maddie eagerly agrees to keep Ashley’s appearances at the meeting a secret from the rest of the Winstons.

Maddie returns to find Mitzy waiting for her with a surprise: gowns from Mitzy’s youth, made by Etta, that she wants to gift to Maddie. Inspired by the styles of suffragettes and flappers, the dresses are daring and fashion-forward, and Maddie learns that Mitzy once held the same progressive viewpoints on women’s rights and politics as Ashley; Mitzy had even planned to go to college and travel the world. However, she shares that once Richard got sick with polio and her mother with cancer, her focus shifted to caring for them and she no longer had time to champion the same causes. Though Maddie thought that Mitzy had the perfect life, she now wonders if she has more in common with Mitzy than she first realized and if Mitzy’s façade was a cover for a more painful reality. Mitzy tells her that once her dream of having children comes true, all will be right in her world.

At church the next day, Maddie appraises all the women who desperately seek Mitzy’s attention, seeing them as “pale versions of Mitzy, replicas trying to match the original. But in other ways they were all alike, these tobacco wives. They were all so determined to be happy” (214). Though Maddie finds church soothing because it reminds her of home, she feels anxious sitting with the Winstons, calling them “North Carolina royalty” around whom she feels “sorely out of place, an imposter just pretending to belong” (217). Maddie is affected by the Reverend’s words regarding the sin of omission and asks to be excused at the end of the service. She then runs into David and his friends. David asks her out on a date for the Fourth of July and she agrees.

As Maddie and Anthony work on the Gala dresses, Anthony tells her that the factory workers delivered their demands to Mr. Winston and threatened to strike if they don’t get a response by the Gala. Maddie shares that she’s heard from her mother through a postcard—she’s in Nashville with a rich music producer. Mitzy arrives and surveys Maddie’s work, peppering her with questions and suggestions about the women’s gowns. She drops off a package from Cornelia, who has gifted Maddie with A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. In a letter accompanying the book, Cornelia encourages Maddie to “[t]ake ownership of what’s yours. Speak up for yourself as soon as you enter a room, otherwise, men will drown you out” (229). Maddie connects to the words in Woolf’s essay and reflects on her own work and opportunity to create. She calls the hospital and is able to speak to Etta for the first time; she updates her on recent events and Etta shares that she hopes to be able to come home soon.