The Dearly Beloved

The 1960s were a turbulent period in American history, with traditional social and religious ideals being challenged by civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, as well as other figures. Civil rights leaders began challenging segregation, which caused strong, hateful reactions from those who supported it, especially in the South. This is shown with Nan’s father lamenting the venomous shift in personalities of those in their Mississippi town following the growth of the civil rights movement. He tells her in a letter, “People we know are saying such terrible things, Nan, doing such inconceivable wrong. You wouldn’t recognize them” (134). This reflects how a reactionary white populace turned to horrible violence when their prejudices were challenged during the 1950s and 1960s.

James and Lily both start to support causes like racial integration, protest the Vietnam War, and call for social change. Like many real-world supporters of social progress in the 1960s, James risks his job and reputation at the church with his open stances on civil rights and the Vietnam War. The 1960s also saw the rise of second-wave feminism, including the fight for reproductive rights, such as access to birth control for married and unmarried women and abortion. James’s social outreach introduces various groups, including a feminist group, which holds meetings on the third floor of the church. They host a panel about abortion, where several of them voice support for abortion legislation and one woman tells the story of her unsafe illegal abortion. Though this makes the church and some of the members uncomfortable, the backlash is not as severe as it would likely be if the novel were set later. While many Christian groups, such as the Roman Catholic Church, were against birth control and abortion, many Christian groups in the 1960s were neutral on, or even supportive of, abortion legalization. It would not be until the late 1970s and early 1980s that the advent of the Moral Majority and other deeply conservative evangelical American groups would lead large percentages of Christian groups to take hard stances against abortion.

The 1960s setting also provides insight into the treatment of autism at that time. When Charles and Lily take Will to the specialist who diagnoses him, the specialist recommends institutionalizing him. It was common for families and doctors to institutionalize people with autism in the 1960s and in previous decades, especially if they had higher support needs. The staffs in these institutional homes were often ableist and abusive, as seen when James and Marcus visit the most well-reputed institution in New York City. The novel shows how little many people knew about autism at the time, forcing Lily and Charles to do large amounts of research to help Will. The work of Dr. Foster and Annelise Winny would have been considered revolutionary at that time, with many schools and institutional homes preferring therapies like applied behavior analysis and early versions of the Lovaas method over therapies that accommodate people with autism people and help their families adapt to them. This remains a challenge even in the present day.