Blog Post #4

The Prime of Life / Simone de Beauvoir

By- Ava Daniels

"The most intoxicating aspect of my return to Paris in September, 1929, was the freedom I now possessed" (53).

This very impactful quote set up the topic of the whole excerpt from The Prime of Life by Simone de Beauvoir. A lot of the focus is based around freedom and women's decisions when it comes to family and marriage. Throughout this, she speaks on not wanting biological children or a husband. Back then, this was not ideal for women. Women were seen as caretakers for their family who stay home which was the opposite of what Beauvoir wanted for herself. Her relationship with her family also had an impact on the reason for this excerpt as well as her views towards family life. Because her relationship with her family was not good, this leaned her towards her opinion on family life. She did not want to be the traditional women that society’s standards wanted, instead, she wanted to be free and make decisions on her own and for herself. 

I wanted to touch on her views of marriage that Beauvoir touched on. Throughout her writing we are informed that she has a lover and they had an open relationship. Back then this was out of the ordinary and wasn't typically accepted. I think that now, in the present day, this is more accepted by society and women as well as society have shifted the views on relationships in the way that women do not need a husband in their life. Although there might still be a stigma around these views, it is definitely more accepted and common today. 



Comments

Parker said…
Simone and her husband had a quite unconventional relationship for this time period. While Simone was very extremist with her ideas, she still wanted to have some of the "normal" relationship with her partner. She wanted to change the way women were seen and how their role was in marriage and everyday life.
January 22, 2023 at 1:31 PM
Ava Daniels said…
I agree with this and I think that her trying to change the way women are viewed is brave.
January 25, 2023 at 6:50 AM
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