Blog 4 - The prime of life / Simone de Beauvoir

-

 Blog 4 - The prime of life / Simone de Beauvoir

Jordan Miles 

January 13, 2023 

In Simone de Beauvoir's coming-of-age story, The Prime of Life, she discusses what she has gone through in life and perspectives on freedom for women. I really enjoyed and agree with her views on freedom. She believes that our freedom can be found through pursuing our dreams and goals and should not be limited to our gender or certain social roles and standards that society tells us we are limited to. I like how she feels strongly that we all should have the moral freedom to make our own decisions and have a personal destiny. An interesting quote I read by Simone de Beauvoir is, "There is a good principle that created order, light, and man and a bad principle that created chaos, darkness, and women." I think the ideas behind this quote mean that men have always had an advantage over women for nothing other than the fact that they are men. They are naturally just viewed as right and orderly when women have a more negative connotation of darkness and chaos. It is important to understand this advantage to see how far women have had to come and persevere to be able to have freedoms and rights when historically, we started with nothing. She illustrates the idea of women being just as capable of pursuing life and having the freedom that men have to make choices for themselves. Simone de Beauvoir had a relationship with a man named Sarte, who shares similar beliefs as her regarding freedom. They believe that when in a relationship, honesty should be a main component. I think through her story she thinks that she wants to inspire women to choose their life and not let them be pre-determined by family and society. 

Comments

  1. Delaney AshworthJanuary 18, 2023 at 6:43 AM

    I love what Beauvoir says about freedom and how social roles and gender should not determine anything. This must have been very difficult for her to come out and stand up for because of the strict views of her father. The quote you included is a tough one to read as women weren't even considered as orderly and admirable. I love how women now are able to choose their lives and what is best for their future.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katie McAlexanderJanuary 18, 2023 at 6:44 AM

    I agree that a pivotal point made in this book was the topic of freedom and where that should stem from. Freedom is something talked about as something you are given but in reality i think some people need freedom from more than just one thing in their lives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jordan MilesJanuary 20, 2023 at 7:01 AM

      I definitely agree that we need freedom in all areas of our lives. It is definitely a topic and aspect that has improved but still has room to grow today.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog 16: Blackberry Winter / Margaret Mead

-
 Jordan Miles  Blog 16: Blackberry Winter / Margaret Mead Margaret Mead writes a personal coming-of-age story in Blackberry Winter. She was a student at Barnard, focusing on Anthropology. She writes a lot about how Americans can learn many lessons from Polynesians regarding handling the many problems that adolescence consists of.   She discusses societal issues about topics like women's rights, race, and different cultures. I think that the quote she ends with helps conclude her main passions and focus of the work that she does. She explains, "On all my later field trips when I was working on cultures about which nothing was known, I had the more satisfactory task of learning the culture first and only afterward working on the special problem. In Samoa that was not necessary, and this is one reason why I was able to carry out my work on the life of the adolescent girl in nine months." (568).  She demonstrates the love and care she has for different cultures and ...
Read more

Feminism Reflection

-
 I have gained new perspectives and ideas on my view on feminism and what it means to me throughout this course. Through discovering and discussing so many influential female figures, I have seen numerous examples of courage, strength, and resilience. These are the main traits I’ve taken from authors such as Eva Hoffman, Audre Lorde,   Maxine Hong Kingston, Beryl Markham, and Sara Suleri. One aspect I think that all of the authors carry is their ability to rise above the odds and the barriers that females faced at the time. For so many of these feminists, they grew up at a time when society said they were less than and not good enough or should have the same opportunities as men, but they all defied this norm and pursued a passion and life they built for themselves.       First, Eva Hoffman's work "Lost in Translation" highlights the challenges of adapting to a new culture and the impact of gender roles on one's identity. Her story shows the importance...
Read more