Peggy Olson of Mad Men

“Go home, take a paper bag, and cut some eyeholes out of it. Put it over your head, and get undressed and look at yourself in the mirror. Really evaluate where your strengths and weaknesses are. And be honest”(105). Jaarsma quotes Joan in the first episode of Mad Men, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” to demonstrate how a women’s success in the office was usually determined by how well she fulfilled her assumed feminine role. Assistants were supposed to meet certain standards. Peggy was expected to serve the men in the office by dressing in a feminine way, serving drinks, taking phone calls, organize schedules ect. Ideally women were supposed to work until they got married and then quit. Women usually did not develop careers in these settings. However we later find that she different. These two clips are meant to show the transition that she makes during her time at the first and second firm with Don Draper. Peggy Olsen is my favorite character on Mad Men because as time moves on her character continues to develop into a strong and independent career woman, unique for her time especially in the Mad Men setting.

Olsen manages to get an impressive career at the add agency despite her actions in the beginning of her career. After a messy affair with Pete Campbell, Peggy begins to assume a new identity where she is worthy competitor in the ad business. Don Draper, the main character of the show, has countless affairs with women including those that he meets in professional situations. He seems to have a complex with women who have power. To me it is as if he feels threatened by women with power and is compelled to sleep with them in order to gain his own power over them. But not Peggy.  Don discovered Peggy’s potential for a career outside of a simple assistant. Peggy and Don manage to build a constructive professional relationship that enables Peggy to contribute and thrive in the workplace. I would even say they became friends.

Don frequently made it clear to Peggy that she was successful was because of him. Don attempted to take away Peggy’s sense of pride from her progress by his taking own responsibility for it. He would make her stay very late to finish deadlines, second guess her work and take responsibility for her good ideas. And so Peggy’s resentment for Don began to build. Peggy and the writers that she supervised produced a considerable amount of successful ads for Don’s and the other partners’ accounts, and yet still no raise. Olsen felt taken advantage of.  When a job does not meet your standards, logically you are supposed to look elsewhere for a job that better suits you. Peggy had to separate her personal life from her professional life. When I watched the show I would get frustrated because she could not seem to understand Don as both a friend and coworker, separately. Peggy needed to decide if she owed Don the allegiance she was giving him. Was she so thankful to Don for discovering her talents and mentoring her despite the fact she was a women? Or could Peggy take responsibility for her own career and move on to become even more successful? Peggy decided to move on because she realized should could not progress or grow anymore at Don’s agency. Even though we will not be seeing much of Peggy anymore, I'm glad she left-Corinne Mann