The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post: A Novel

Marjorie Merriweather Post utilizes five last names over the course of the novel: Post, Close, Hutton, Davies, and Merriweather, though the last of these functions more like a middle name and is inherited from her mother. The changes to Marjorie’s last name and her eventual reversion to Post symbolize the different phases of her life. Ultimately, she returns to herself while also holding onto the legacy of her father, whom she strives to honor in many of her decisions. The only other female character that Marjorie always associates with her family name is Alice Roosevelt (even though Alice marries Nick Longworth), a woman she looks up to for her ability to be unashamedly herself.

With Charles William Post’s death, Marjorie realizes that “I was the only Post left” (126). She transforms the Post identity, no longer having to live in the shadow of her father. As she grows more involved in her family’s business, the social capital of her name also grows—much to the resentment of her husbands. Joe Davies is especially bitter about this, calling her “the biggest phony of ‘em all” (328) once his own popularity and standing declines. The circumstances of their divorce make it so that Marjorie will never take another man’s name again.