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A Conversation With Simone De Beauvoir

Submitted By
Words 1534
Pages 7
Ashley Guthrie
History 394-001
December 8, 2017
Final Paper Assignment
A Conversation with Simone de Beauvoir
INTRO PARAGRAPH?
Ashley Guthrie: The Second Sex is by far your most influential work. One of the major themes found throughout the book is existentialism. What lead you to the belief in existentialism and a person’s free will, rather than the work of a higher being?
SDB: Well part of it goes back to my upbringing. I grew up in a world dominated by rules. Rules that dictated everything you do, from how to act in social situations, how to address others, how to act in the political world. Everything in my life growing up was determined by strict rules determined by several generations of de Beauvoir’s. There was a time when I adored …show more content…
In my novel, I compare transcendence to immanence which is essentially the metaphysical theory about a divine being that has been created in the material world. Every being is both transcendent and immanent, however one characteristic wins over the other due to the social practices a person engages in. Just as transcendence correlates and wins with male culture and history, immanence deals with female culture and history. I use the concept of immanence to describe the historical confinement of the female population into a passive and submissive role. It is stationary and inactive, which forces women into a lesser existence. Whereas, transcendence is the opposite, it is meaningful and active so that men are allowed to have a lively, participatory role in society. To me, transcendence is progressive and moving towards something in the future, almost like the expansion of freedom. Throughout history, women have been methodically denied the right to pursue a transcendent position by men of power. I find that society forces women to give up their existential ability to achieve a life of transcendence. This pushes the female population into a master and slave or owner and object type relationship with the men that surround them. This is from a sort of combination of the individual consciousness accepting this submissive fact, the dictation of this point from our culture, and the withheld …show more content…
Every woman in every country, every culture, and every socioeconomic class is effected by this myth. I guess it could be considered a unifying factor among all women that binds us together. The myth includes everything and any role that a woman in our society is required to do or fulfill. For example, women are expected to be a caring mother, a dutiful wife, a pure virgin until marriage, with her role simply to produce children. She is meant to be intuitive, charming, and sensitive. This is the essence of what greater society believes to make up a woman. The Eternal Feminine makes a woman passive in society, limiting her to judgment on her physical appearance rather than her merits or the goals she achieves. This notion was created by men in order to subject women into an inferior role. Men wish for women to embrace the Eternal Feminine myth because it makes women foolish, less intellectual, and easier to control. However, I argue and believe to my core that women are capable of making decisions and fulfilling their destiny just as much as men are. The only thing standing in a woman’s way is society’s conservatism and the traditional belief in this Eternal Feminine, both of which are created by men. It is so difficult for women to break free from this barrier, but we must in order to achieve anything of significance, or even just equality. I believe this myth,

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