As with all of her novels the question of the place of women forms one of the central motifs of light White Collar but with one major difference; there is no Allison MacKenzie, no strong female character who can escape her lot in life through her talent, ambition, and sense of purpose. The central female character, Lisa Pappas, remains trapped within her marriage and family and community; hemmed in on all sides by social pressure and economic necessity. The idea of entrapment is further developed in the other female characters. It is a far less hopeful novel than either of the Peyton Place volumes.
The theme of male dominance also shifts slightly in this novel. The males, as before, tend to control, some sexually, some economically. Here, too, the males dominate but the most positive.....
