Bennett represents Isadora's ambivalence towards monogamy: she wants security, but not limitations; she feels compelled to be monogamous, but fantasizes about adultery. In chapter 7, Isadora recalls pieces of her time married to Bennett. This time, her memory is particularly clear and she gives precise details of one moment with him:
"They walk the glassy streets again, holding on to each other for dear life. She wonders where she could go if she left him. The home she dreamed of last night comes back to her in snatches. She knows she can't go there. She has nowhere to go. Nowhere. She holds him tightly. 'I love you,' she says" (152).
The couple "holding on to each other for dear life" is Isadora and Bennett, and they are literally holding each other while figuratively holding on to the security of monogamy. Their "dear life" represents not only their survival, but also its dependence on their faithfulness to each other. But Isadora's ambivalence quickly rears its head: once she attains some degree of comfort from Bennett, she is thinking about the freedom she has given up to attain it. She thinks of a place of her dreams that encompasses exactly what she wants from her life. And yet, "she knows she can't go there"; she recognizes the mutual exclusivity of whimsical autonomy and secure committed monogamy. For her, no balance can be struck just yet between her conflicting drives. Because of this, she concludes that there is no alternative to monogamy. There is nothing outside of her marriage that can provide her with the same level of happiness from balance that her secure but restrictive marriage seems to provide. And from this conclusion, she resolves to stick even more tightly to her husband. Aloud, she reiterates her love for him--partly to let him know that she needs him, and partly to reaffirm to herself her devotion to him.
Isadora's disappointment and repression that follows mirror the general struggle of women in monogamous relationships. Here, Jong asserts the ambivalence created by imposed monogamy. Like Isadora, women are convinced that the security of monogamy outweighs the pleasure of solitude, that their solitude is not only unproductive but also dangerous for them. Many women relate to Isadora's struggle between what they desire and what they should do.
I agree that Isadora only remains with Bennett because boring but safe is the lesser of two evils when presented alongside exciting but insecure. I think that this idea is supported by the fact that she only leaves Bennett for another man--who may not offer total security but at least is assurance that she will not be completely on her own. Isadora depends on men to feel safe in her life as we see when she is on her own towards the end of the novel. And once she does experience this loneliness--she immediately runs back to the familiar.
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