Marian also has a group of friends who are mostly single women in their twenties. They are Clara Bates, who is married to Joe Bates and has three children; Emmie Storch, who is an art teacher; Lucy Sladekova, who is an immigrant from Czechoslovakia; and Trevor Jordan, who is an engineer and Lucy’s boyfriend. Marian often feels alienated from her friends because they seem to have different goals and lifestyles than hers.
One day, Marian meets Peter Wollander at a party hosted by Trevor. Peter is a lawyer who works for a prestigious firm. He is handsome, charming, confident, and ambitious. He immediately takes an interest in Marian and asks her out. Marian agrees to date him because he seems like a perfect match for her. They soon fall in love and get engaged.
However, after their engagement party, Marian starts to feel uneasy about her future with Peter. She feels like she is losing control over her life and becoming dependent on him. She also notices that he treats her like an object rather than a person. He buys her expensive gifts that she doesn’t need or want, he makes decisions for her without consulting her, and he expects her to quit her job and become a housewife after they get married.
In the second part of the novel, Marian’s discomfort with her situation grows. She begins to have nightmares and hallucinations about being eaten by Peter or by other people. She also develops a phobia of food, especially meat and eggs. She feels like she is being consumed by the society that wants to turn her into a passive and obedient woman. She tries to hide her problem from Peter and from her friends, but they notice that she is losing weight and acting strangely.
Meanwhile, Ainsley succeeds in getting pregnant by Len, who is unaware of her scheme. She tells him that she is going to have an abortion, but she actually plans to keep the baby and raise it alone. Len is devastated and angry, and he breaks up with Ainsley. Ainsley also tells Marian about her plan, and Marian is shocked and disgusted by her manipulation of Len.
