Lessons in Chemistry

“To Madeline, fitting in mattered more than anything. And her proof was irrefutable: her mother had never fit in and look what happened to her.”

Madeline describes how she pretends not to know how to read in order to fit in at kindergarten with her classmates. This passage indicates, at the very outset, that there is something unusual about Elizabeth Zott, the book’s protagonist. The fact that Elizabeth does not fit in has played a significant role in not just her own life but her daughter’s, as well. Madeline has experienced the effects of this vicariously, by watching her mother’s life unfold, and at this point her takeaway is that bad things happen to people who don’t fit in.

“Tall and angular, with hair the color of burnt buttered toast pulled back and secured with a pencil, she stood, hands on hips, her lips unapologetically red, her skin luminous, her nose straight. […] She was stunning. He was literally stunned by her.”

When Elizabeth storms into the KCTV studios to confront Walter about Amanda’s behavior, he is stunned by her. Elizabeth is described as a highly attractive woman, and the kind of presence she commands is impressive enough to make her successful as a television star later on. However, Elizabeth’s attractiveness is also her curse; her intellect and her scientific brilliance are often overlooked and brushed aside precisely because of her appearance.

“‘Sex discrimination,’ she answered, taking the number-two pencil she always wore either behind her ear or in her hair and tapping it with emphasis on the table. ‘But also, politics, favoritism, inequality, and general unfairness.’”

Elizabeth explains to Calvin why her work with abiogenesis has been halted. Elizabeth is completely aware of the injustice present in the system that routinely favors men’s accomplishments over women’s.