A Self-Sacrificing Housewife, Mary Bailey Is The Real Guardian Angel In ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’

Within the genre of Christmas classics, “It’s A Wonderful Life” is a household name. It airs on TV each year during the holiday season and continues to charm the hearts of Americans young and old for its inspirational message: “No one is a failure who has friends.”

Viewers are familiar with the basic plot, which involves a discouraged George Bailey deciding to jump off a bridge on Christmas Eve, and his guardian angel Clarence saving him by showing him what life would be like if George had never been born. A lesser but important supporting character is housewife Mary Bailey, who at first glance appears to be simply the tranquil homemaker who takes care of the house and helps raise their four young children. Upon a deeper analysis, Mary is not only indispensable to the film, but she is also an embodiment of conservative family values.

Mary Bailey’s primary role is in the home, but her actions speak volumes both inside and outside the Bailey residence. She is presented not as a housewife stuck and bored at home, but as a creative, uplifting member of her family and local society. Her creativity is shown when she chooses an abandoned, “drafty, old house” to be their home. She installs wallpaper, patches up holes, hangs posters and paintings, and beautifies their living space both frugally and efficiently.

She gives back to the community while sacrificing her own personal comfort, such as putting forward the money intended for her honeymoon in order to keep the Bailey Building and Loan afloat. She volunteers for the United Services Organization during World War II. She contents herself by loving her family and living within her means in spite of reminders from more well-off friends that she could be driving a flashier car, wearing more expensive clothes, or be married to a husband with a higher salary.

A Housewife’s Prayer

Throughout the film, she quietly follows George’s lead, whether it is blessing a family in need with provisions or patiently tending to her children while George works long hours to support his family. For all these reasons, it is clear that the young Mrs. Bailey is a respected individual in the small town of Bedford Falls when crisis strikes.

After $8,000 is misplaced at the building and loan and George’s mental health is in shambles, it is Mary who begins a phone chain to raise funds and rally prayer for her husband. In the film’s opening scene, these prayers are the very ones we hear, which waft up to the heavens and initiate Clarence’s rescue mission to prevent George from committing suicide. All theological errors and somewhat cheesy stereotypes about angels and heaven aside, this situation raises the following question: Did Clarence save George, or was it actually Mary Bailey?

Mary’s vocation as a stay-at-home mother is the opposite of how society would define a successful woman, if society can even define “woman,” that is. Not only is the role of traditional motherhood looked