Lisa slowly and steadily comes to represent a stereotypical middle class woman in the 1950s. There were two options for Jeff- either get married and be content with his present adventurous life in “combat boots and a three day bread” or he can look “handsome and successful in a dark blue flannel suit.” (qtd in Keith 4). Jeff feels that Lisa cannot accommodate herself in his world and be happy with “fish heads and rice” and he cannot either be happy in a domestic life where he himself will be unhappy “rushing home to a hot apartment every night to listen to the automatic laundry, the electric dishwasher, the garbage disposal and a nagging wife” (qtd from the film). Jeff’s resistance to Lisa is rooted not only in larger issues related to marriage
