the birth of "Marilyn Monroe"

(to page 217)

As you can tell from my other blogs, Marilyn Monroe was not always Marilyn Monroe. Nor was she always a famous movie star. After breaking up with Bucky and moving into her own place, Norma Jeane starts to look for work. Norma Jeane started out her career with a pin-up of her working at the Radio Plane Aircraft. She had been working her shift there, when someone had come in and taken a photo of her. Over time her career advances very slowly. She receives a small part in a movie, but her part is cut down to a mere 4 seconds which is hardly something to be proud of. But when her career starts to take off, her agent decides that she can't have a name so simple as Norma Jeane Baker. And so he sets up a meeting with her and another man to decide on a new name for her. They want to go for the "mmmmm" sound, and they start with names like Mavis, Mina, Miriam, Mona. They choose the last name of Miller and start to put it together, Marilyn Miller, Moira Miller, Mignon Miller. But Norma Jeane can't stand these names. She wants to hold onto something that was a part of her. She cries out that her grandmothers last name was Monroe, and they instantly fall in love with it. And there is the birth of Marilyn Monroe.

Norma Jeane Baker

Marilyn Monroe

 

Blonde (pgs 99-178)

Surprisingly, Norma Jeane is adopted, even being an older child at the orphanage by Elsie and Warren Pirig. Elsie starts to notice that Warren looks at Norma Jeane in a way that he used to look at her, and becomes very jealous. (whether he really looks at her that way, it's not clear) Elsie suggests to Norma Jeane that she needs to get married, but Norma Jeane isn't too keen on the idea at first. But Elsie then tells her she has to get married, and she has no choice! And so, Norma Jeane Baker marries Bucky Glazer. Norma Jeane couldn't be happier to be his wife. Cleaning the house and making him meals everyday fills her with joy. But Bucky starts to get annoyed with Norma Jeane, saying that she always wants to have sex (even though he clearly wanted it), and she acts childish. And so, he takes his frustration with her and makes her take some pictures for him. At first, they are just normal ones, but Norma Jeane comes alive in the camera. And she even lets him take some more scandalous pictures. All that Bucky can focus on now is the war. He can't wait to serve his country and fight! And he does go off to war, with the promise to return to Norma Jeane, but they both know it's over. And so, Norma Jeane moves into her own little apartment starting out in a new life.

Blonde

Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates, is the story of Marilyn Monroe's life. Believe it or not, the famed movie star was not always this way, and actually had quite a struggle with life in the beginning. Her name was originally Norma Jeane Baker. She lived with her grandmother because her mom couldn't take care of her and would always run off. But on her 5th birthday, Norma Jeane's life is changed. Her mom picks her up and they never return back. Her mother takes her to her house where she gives her a scalding bath, a brand new doll, and when she gets annoyed with Norma Jeane, she slips some alcohol into her drink so she'll fall asleep. During her stay with her mom, she learns that her mother has very little patience with children and so Norma Jeane tries her best to behave and not make big fusses or ask too many questions. Since the story is through Norma Jeane's eyes, it hard to quite understand what is going on with Norma Jeane's mom, except for the fact that we know she's a bad mother and drinks a lot. Gladys, Norma Jeane's mom, always falls asleep in bed with a lit cigarette, so they'll wake up to the bed smoking or on fire and quickly have to douse it with water. But after Gladys almost burns the place down one night, and Norma Jeane goes running over to the neighbors, she loses her mom forever. She's put into a foster home where she begins her discovery of the Christian Science which ultimately changes Norma Jeane's look on life. But I'll explain that later.  For such a glamorous girl, it certainly didn't start out that way.

I found this picture online. It's the original document's of her stay at the Orphanage and a picture of her. 

 

 

Here's the original website of this picture! Click this link

the tenth circle - 385 pages

After Jason turns up dead, Trixie knows the police will come to her first since she's the obvious suspect with the rape charge against Jason. But she's afraid they'll arrest her and she'll be convicted of his murder even though she really didn't do it! (if they don't believe her on a rape case, why would they on a murder trial?) And so Trixie runs away to Alaska. Seems random perhaps? Perhaps not! Trixie's dad, Daniel, grew up in Alaska and he always talked about how he ran away from there, and how when people ran away from there they were never found. So Trixie thought it would be the perfect place to run away to and never be found. It doesn't take her dad long to realize that she's run away to Alaska after they discover she's gone, and so Daniel and Laura (Trixie's mom) go on a goose chase for Trixie in Alaska. Now, let me remind you, they don't have roads up there. They drive snow machine's to get around. So looking for Trixie and the possibility of never finding her again, was quite a scare for her parents. But they end up finding Trixie, who has been in the company of a Yup'ik boy named Willie who has taught her how to trust guys again. And the murderer of Jason? Trixie's mom!

I saw the movie a few years ago on lifetime (I posted the trailer for it earlier) so it was hard to get through the book when I knew mostly what was going to happen. But I'm pretty sure the ending is different in the movie, so it made that part of the book more interesting.

When I think of Alaska, this is what I picture!

the tenth circle

The book starts out with a popular high school freshmen girl, Trixie, who's just been heartbroken. She made new friends and became popular through her ex - Jason. But when he ended it, her whole world came crashing down and she was in a depression. She devises a plan to win him back, by playing a game of strip poker with her friend Zephyr, her crush, Jason and herself. But the plan takes a turn for the worst and Jason rapes Trixie. Or so she claims. After being given the rape kit exam, they find there isn't much evidence to show that it wasn't consensual. Trixie's father is convinced that this boy has hurt his daughter, and will put up with nothing of this false accusation they think Trixie is making. Throughout the book, Trixie goes through lots of depression and even starts cutting herself. It doesn't help that Trixie's parents are going through a tough time after Trixie's mom confesses she was having an affair with one of her college students, and was there in fact on the night Trixie was raped. Jason has a hockey scholarship going for him and with these big charges against him, this scholarship is dropped. He's lost his dream in life and blames Trixie for it. And so does the rest of the school, not believing that he really raped her. But when Jason ends up dead after an altercation between Trixie's father, Daniel, and Jason, Trixie loses it. While it first appears to be a suicide (jumped off a bridge), the police discover evidence that he was pushed off that bridge and immediately assume it was Trixie or her father.

Trixie Stone is depressed and alone because no one at school believes her and they don't talk to her

The Tenth Circle

fate or not?(pgs 184-220)

Although hopeful that her plan to escape her tragic fate, she wakes up once again to the same day on repeat. Sam is completely pissed at this whole situation, and takes it out on all her friends. She tells them just what she thinks of them (whether or not what she said was true, she said it) and ends up walking to school. Sam tries to come onto a teacher that she's been attracted to (he's fresh out of college) since day one, and succeeds, but freaks out when he actually feels the same for her.

I'm starting to think that she keeps reliving this day to learn about all these people that her and her friends had always made fun of and picked on, and just how much they affected these people. She's learning new things about these people and discovering things about herself. I think she has more to learn though before she comes to terms with her "death" and leave this earth.

Replay

Sam keeps reliving this day, over and over. It occurs to her that she might be dead, and that perhaps she's stuck in that inbetween world trying to figure a way out. She starts to realize how lucky she truly was, and all she wants is her life back. She looks at all the little things, such as the color of the sky that never changes now because she keeps reliving the same day. After going through the crash for the third time, Sam devises a plan. She will not go to that party, she will not get in that crash and the whole thing will be over. So, with some reluctance, the girls agree to stay home with Sam for the night. But that night the girls find out some shocking news.. Juliet Skyes - the girl they call Psycho, that they've made fun of for years, that calls them out at the party they were supposed to be at that night - killed herself. They're shocked, and in the back of their mind they all know that they were a part of the reason she was depressed enough to do that. We'll see if Sam can finally finish this day one last time. Or maybe, she'll have to relive it again...

Thinking about this book, made me think of a song. Replay by Iyaz. While the words don't really pertain to the book's meaning, I just think of the word "replay" in the song. It's a very teenage song, and Sam's day keeps replaying over and over again... I would have put the song on here, if I could figure it out! Sorry guys!