Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2023

Department

French

Abstract

“Monologue,” an essay from Simone de Beauvoir’s THE WOMAN DESTROYED, is a rambling and disjointed account of motherhood, madness, and chagrin. The short story is told by a mother named Murielle, a woman who has lost everything, including her daughter Sylvie, by suicide. Simone de Beauvoir, the author of this story, is considered the “mother” (Kruks and Coryell) of second-wave feminism and is well-known for her fight for equality between the sexes. In “Monologue,” de Beauvoir sheds light on the difficulties mothers face and proposes a reflection on life, femininity, and descent into madness. De Beauvoir incorporates her feminist theories liberally throughout the text and was most likely inspired by her experience with her own mother. De Beauvoir never wanted to be a wife or a mother and her story shows the constraints these positions place on individuals’ lives. Therefore, in understanding Simone de Beauvoir and her feminist theories, it is invigorating to discover the presentation of feminism and motherhood in her story “Monologue.”

Comments

Received The Bourgeois French Prize, awarded for the best essay on a subject relating to the culture of the French and their descendants in the United States.

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