JANUS AND NARCISSUS: WOMAN'S SITUATION AS DEPICTED IN 'THE SECOND SEX,' THE WORKS OF FICTION, AND THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR

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Authors O'Sullivan, Deborah Ann, 1944-

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0'SULLIVAN, Deborah Ann, 1944- JANUS AND NARCISSUS: WOMAN'S SITUATION AS DEPICTED IN THE SECOND SEX, THE WORKS OF FICTION, AND THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIMDNE DE BEAUVOIR. [Portions of Text in French].

The University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1972 Language and Literature, modern

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THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN' MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED JANUS AND NARCISSUS: WOMAN'S SITUATION AS DEPICTED IN

THE SECOND SEX. THE WORKS OF FICTION, AND THE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR

by

Deborah Ann O1Sullivan

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the

DEPARTMENT OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN FRENCH

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

19 7 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

GRADUATE COLLEGE

I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under ray- direction by Deborah Ann O'Sullivan entitled JANUS AND NARCISSUS: WOMAN'S SITUATION AS DEPICTED IN THE SECOND SEX. THE WORKS OF FICTION, AND THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

A»/it /m Dissertation Director IJ Dateite J

After inspection of the final copy of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:""

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Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author.

SIGNED: IkfoViaA 0./?'SuMuHUA.J f

"Si la situation est injuste tu ne peux pas la vivre correctement."

Simone de Beauvoir Les Mandarins

iii I

ACKNOWLEDGMENT S

I would like to thank those people, without whom

I would not have been able to write this dissertation,

namely my mother Elizabeth K. McMillan, and my husband

Thomas. I would also like to acknowledge my appreciation

for their time and advice to Professors Edouard Morot-Sir

and Inga Kohn. Special thanks go to my adviser Professor

Charles Rosenberg, who suggested the topic to me and gave

me much help and encouragement along the way.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT vii

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION 1

PART 1. THE SITUATION OF WOMEN 7

II. DEFINITION OF SITUATION 8

Biological 8 Historical 16 Existential 21

III. ASSUMPTION OF SITUATION 31

Roles 31 Inauthenticity 40 Authenticity 49

IV. LIBERATION 60

Definition 60 Method 70 Results 74

PART 2. FICTIONAL REPRESENTATION OF WOMAN'S SITUATION 81

V. SITUATIONS REPRESENTED 82

Setting 82 Roles 90 Age 117

VI. ASSUMPTION OF FICTIONAL SITUATION 123

Search for Being 123 Inauthenticity 131 Authenticity 138

v vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS—Continued

Page

VII. LIBERATION IN FICTION 146

Sexual Roles 146 Attempts at Liberation 155 Failure 158

PART 3. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S LIFE 164

VIII. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S SITUATION 165

General Situation 165 Relationship to Men 179 Relationship to Feminism 188

IX. ASSUMPTION OF SITUATION 192

Definition of Goals 192 Authenticity 199 Inauthenticity 209

X. LIBERATION 218

Liberation in Situation 218 Personal Project 225 Liberated Woman? 229

XI. CONCLUSION 236

LIST OF REFERENCES 241 ABSTRACT

Simone de Beauvoir has expressed herself in theory,

fiction, and in her autobiography on the situation of

women, and has had all three genres praised, making her a

rather unique writer.

Le Deuxieme Sexe. being one of the most influential,

and important studies on the situation of women, transcends

the field of French literature. Its relative importance can

be judged in the light of current social phenomena in this

country and elsewhere. The most original idea contained in

this work is that the feminine situation is a product of

culture and not a product of nature. Based on this premise,

Simone de Beauvoir maintains that the historical subjection of women can be explained by her relegation to the category of "other" by man. Thus she adds a philosophical dimension, drawn from existentialism, to the problem of the continued inequality of the sexes.

In view of these considerations it seemed relevant to examine the female characters in her fiction to determine the literary expression or lack thereof of the ideas pre­ sented in Le Deuxieme Sexe.

The female characters were found to be, with a few exceptions, contemporary, and drawn from a rather restricted group. The main female characters, Fran^oise (L'Invitee).

vii viii

Anne and Nadine (Les Mandarins), Helene (Le sang des autres), and La Femme ("L'age de discretion") are intellectuals and on the left politically.

The fiction written after Le Deuxieme Sexe is more concerned with women who have difficulty conforming to the stereotype that is demanded by society, and tend to reveal exaggerated afflictions in their failure to conform. * Paule

(Les Mandarins). Monique ("La Femme Rompue"), Laurence (Les

Belles Images), and Murielle ("Monologue"), are depicted as victims.

No female character is completely authentic, and no female character is completely liberated. They all center their lives on the love of one man. They exhibit to various degrees the actual situation of women, and none attains consistently that elusive quality which defines authenticity; the maintenance of tension in the perpetual flight of the

"pour-soi" before the "en-soi." Theirs is a world of immanence not transcendence.

Simone de Beauvoir has presented us with her own image in her autobiography. It gives valuable insights into her childhood and formation (Memoires d'une jeune fille rangee), as well as indicating her later development (La

Force de 1'age and La Force des choses). From this material many of the actual problems encountered by Simone de Beauvoir are viewed in light of their consistency with the theories in Le Deuxieme Sexe. The emphasis is thus placed on her ix relationship to men as well as her relationship to feminism. In the final analysis she is more liberated than are her female characters, but even she is not completely free from the cultural influences that determine the place of woman as secondary. She has failed to thwart some of the original cultural influences in her life such as an adherence to the puritan ethic in the realms of sex and duty.

In using Le Deuxieme Sexe as a basis for this study,

I find that the female characters as well as Simone de

Beauvoir, reflect conditions as they are and not as she and others would like them to be. CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In the twentieth century existentialism can be said to be one of the major influences not only in literature but in life. Simone de Beauvoir illustrates by her works the importance of this philosophy; and yet it is certain that she is not merely Sartre's reflexion. She produced and continues to produce various types of literature.

She has written three volumes of memoires examining the meaning of her own life. She has written several novels, a play, and three short stories. The importance of her fiction was recognized in 1954 when she received the "Prix

Goncourt" for Les Mandarins.

Included among her works are: reports of her travels to the United States and China, philosophical essays, political essays, a short work on the death of her mother, a recent study on the problems of the aged, and a major essay in two volumes on the problems of women.

The present study limits itself to three major areas of her work in which she has shown equal proficiency: Le

Deuxieme Sexe. her fiction, and her memoires, using as a focus the situation of women. k

1 2

Le Deuxieme Sexe is therefore the pivot of this study, and it is here that we find the problems of women studied in the past, defined in the present, and projected in the future. Beauvoir, much like Janus, looks in two directions at once, towards the past and the future. She judges Le Deuxieme Sexe as her most important work, and in the light of current social changes its relevance can be said to be enormous. It places Beauvoir among the most important advocates of Women's Liberation.

Using the concepts defined in Le Deuxieme Sexe as guides, I will examine the female characters in her fiction to reveal the degree in which they illustrate these con­ cepts. Finally, once again relying on the ideas in Le

Deuxieme Sexe. I will examine her own life as shown in her memo ires,"*" where, much like Narcissus who studies his reflexion in the pond, she studies her image in the past.

In her literature, Beauvoir uses many terms with specific meanings, two of which are e»jential to this study, namely authenticity and liberation. In order to understand these and other related terms, it is necessary to understand certain elements of existentialism, the philosophy on which

Beauvoir bases her ideas. However, it is not within the scope of this study to explain in detail the elements of

1. I do not propose to do the work of a biographer, to verify what she says in her memoires. Although some facts may be at variance with reality, my intention is to present her as she presents herself. 3 existentialism, but merely to borrow certain terms. To do so, these terms must be understood as they are used by

Simone de Beauvoir, who uses them in the same manner as does

Sartre.

The most frequently used term is transcendence, as contrasted with immanence. Traditionally transcendence is a term used in relation to God meaning out of, superior to.

However, Sartre in expulsing God from his philosophical system, retains the term transcendence and relates it to man. To understand this term, it is first necessary to define two basic modes of being in Sartre's ontology, which constitute human reality. These are the "pour-soi" and the

"en-soi."

"En-soi" is being in-itself or pure being, and

"pour-soi" is being for-itself or conscious. The "pour-soi" is conscious of the "en-soi" and conscious that it is not the "en-soi." It is at the same time the in-itself and the negation of being the in-itself. Sartre defines transcend­ ence in L'Etre et le Neant: "Connaitre, c'est realiser aux deux sens du terme. C'est faire qu'il y ait de 1'etre en ayant a etre la negation refletee de cet etre : le reel est realisation. Nous appellerons transcendance cette negation interne at realisante qui devoile 1'en-soi en determinant le pour-soi dans son etre.

1. Jean-Paul Sartre, L'Etre et le Neant (Paris: Gallimard, 1943), p. 228. 4

The "pour-soi" is threatened with becoming stuck, as it were, in the "en-soi." When this happens transcendence turns to immanence and liberty becomes facticity. Man is continually threatened with losing his transcendence by fixing it on some particular object, and reducing the "pour- soi" to "en-soi." To maintain transcendence the "pour-soi" must continually be in flight before the "en-soi," which creates a constant state of tension, and which is, in the final analysis the only authentic method of living. When transcendence turns to immanence, inauthenticity is the result, and man can be accused of mauvais e foi because he hides his liberty from himself. There are different ways that this can happen, and they are explained by Simone de

Beauvoir in Pour une morale de 1'ambiqui'te.

Beauvoir uses the term immanence when speaking of woman's situation. Women are repeaters of life, biologi­ cally, and historically. Their common function is to remain in the world of things, their existence becomes fixed in the

"en-soi," and therefore they are not free. This might seem like a contradiction in view of the fact that we are con­ demned to be free. The only justification of acts is free­ dom, but only by assuming this inherent freedom, and acting so as to free all people and accepting the responsibility for our acts can we be said to be truly moral.

Woman, being defined as the "other" by man, auto­ matically loses her subjectivity and is not free to 5 transcend her situation. The results of this dilemma make up the basis for this study, during which these various terms will become clearer.

Although eight books have now been written on the subject of Simone de Beauvoir, none of them devotes itself exclusively to the situation of women in L£ Deuxieme Sexe. her fiction and her memoires.

A. M. Henry (Simone de Beauvoir ou 1'echec d'une chretiente. 1961) studies the religious perspective of her project. Georges Hourdin (Simone de Beauvoir et la liberte.

1962) while also placing a great deal of importance on religion, devotes himself to the explication of the problem of liberty.

Several general works have dealt mainly with her particular personality as expressed in her works. Among these are Jeanson's Simone de Beauvoir ou 1'entreprise de vivre (1966), Laurent Gagnebin's Simone de Beauvoir ou Le refus de 1'indifference (1968), and Serge Julienne-Caffie's

Simone de Beauvoir (1966).

Genevieve Gennari has also written a work entitled

Simone de Beauvoir (1959) in which she examines both the concept of responsibility in Beauvoir's literature and its application to Le Deuxieme Sexe. Devoted exclusively to_a study of Le Deuxieme Sexe is the recent and excellent work by Suzanne Lilar, Le Malentendu du Deuxieme Sexe (1970).

Another book by Annie-Claire Jaccard (Simone de Beauvoir. 6

1968) examines "l'etre beauvoirien" in a philosophical perspective and deals mostly with the fiction and memoires.

Two dissertations have been done on Simone de

Beauvoir. The one by Helene Nahas ("Etude de la femme dans la litterature existentielle frangaise : Jean-Paul Sartre et

Simone de Beauvoir," 1954) deals with the female characters up to but not including Les Mandarins. Part II of my dis­ sertation brings this work up to date. The other disserta­ tion by Anne-Marie Bertin Lasocki ("Simone de Beauvoir.

Ecrire : Une entreprise, essai de commentaire par les textes," 1968) studies the problem of communication in

Simone de Beauvoir's writings and sees her justification as being found in communication.

The present study is a unification of three aspects of her work, based on what in my opinion is the most impor­ tant element in her literature, the situation of women.

Simone de Beauvoir reflects her image variously in these three domains and is truly privileged to be able to express herself not only in essays, but also in fiction and in her memoires. PART 1

THE SITUATION OF WOMEN

7 CHAPTER II

DEFINITION OF SITUATION

To fully understand woman's situation as defined by

Simone de Beauvoir, it is necessary to treat three aspects of her being: biological, historical, and existential.

Biological

Everyone has a body, and it is through our bodies that we perceive the world. Therefore biology is one facet of woman to which Simone de Beauvoir devotes considerable discussion. She 'states that biological facts are an essen­ tial element of woman's situation. "Elles sont une des clefs qui permettent de comprendre la femme.

However, Simone de Beauvoir's main thesis is that,

"on ne nait pas femme : on le devient" (D.S. II, 13). We will see that whatever biological differences do exist are practically nullified in her eyes. While she does acknowl­ edge the basic physical differences between males and fe­ males, she refuses to accept the idea that these differences constitute a "destin fige" for women.

1. Simone de Beauvoir, Le Deuxieme Sexe (2 vols.; Paris: Gallimard, 1949), Vol. I, 70. To be referred to henceforth as D.S. I or D.S. II.

8 The visible dissimilarities between the sexes as everyone knows, include different body structures and dif­ ferent sex organs. These physiological differences lead to different experiences, women menstruate, carry babies, and nurse them. They also experience menopause, all of which are uniquely female situations.

Simone de Beauvoir interprets these biological dif­ ferences in her own way, and on the basis of certain tenets of existentialism. The first and most important is the idea that, "dans la collectivite humaine rien n'est naturel et qu1entre autres la femme est un produit elabore par la civilisation" (D.S. II, 569). Her denial of a natural con­ dition leads to some confusion as Suzanne Lilar states: "Le

Deuxieme Sexe est mine par une contradiction de base et la pensee de Simone de Beauvoir n'est pas une pensee coherente mais dechiree entre le refus de la condition naturelle et la reconnaissance de cette condition. Other critics have also raised this point among them Margaret Mead who states that, "by refusing to include the structure of the human body in her theory, by denying childhood sexuality, by denigrating maternity, she constructs a picture in which the only way a woman can be a full human being is to be as much

1. Suzanne Lilar, Le Malentendu du Deuxieme Sexe (2nd ed. revue; Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1970), p. 177. 10 like a man as possible.F. J. J. Buytendijk agrees with

Margaret Mead when in -has book (La Femme—ses modes d'etre . de paraitre. d'exister. which is in large part a response to

Le Deuxieme Sexe). he says of Simone de Beauvoir's ideas of women: "L'etre humain d'exception, la femme, ne retrouve- rait done sa pleine humanite que dans la mesure ou elle acquiert un mode d'existence que pour de bonnes raisons on nomme masculin.

One of the most recent and well informed criticisms of Simone de Beauvoir's conception of biology is that of

Suzanne Lilar in Le xMalentendu du Deuxieme Sexe. followed by an endocrinologist's clarifications.

Simone de Beauvoir takes the position that the traditional male values such as transcendence, 3 action, and creativity, are human values, and therefore she wants women to be able to partake of them, just as men now do. The problem as we can see, rests in the definition of the terms male, female, and human.

Because of their biological structure, women are more enslaved to the species, according to Simone de

1. "A. S. R. panel takes aim at 'The Second Sex,1" Saturday Review (February 21, 1953), p. 30.

2. F. J. J. Buytendijk, La Femme—ses modes d'etre. de paraitre. d'exister. trans. Alphonse de Waelhens et Rene Micha (Bruges: Les Presses Saint-Augustin, 1954), p. 50.

3. See Introduction. 11

Beauvoir; they are repeaters of life. However, she cautions us not to confuse biological functions with real projects:

"Engendrer, allaiter ne sont pas des activites, ce sont des

fonctions naturelles; aucun projet n'y est engage; c'est

pourquoi la femme n'y trouve pas le motif d'une affirmation

hautaine de son existence; elle subit passivement son destin biologique!" (D.S. I, 110).

Returning to the idea that one is not born a woman, but becomes one, some might object that from infancy on through early childhood, there are differences between girls and boys. It is often said that girls are not as rough as boys, that they are more passive. Simone de Beauvoir con­ tends however, that this trait, and others such as coquettry are not reflections of a girl's biological nature, but rather of her education.

Si, bien avant la puberte, et parfois meme des sa toute petite enfance, elle nous apparait deja comme sexuellement specifiee, ce n'est pas que de mysterieux instincts immediatement la vouent a la passivite, a la coquetterie, a la maternite : c'est que 1'intervention d'autrui dans la vie de 1'enfant est presque originelle et que des ses premieres annees sa vocation lui est imperieusement insufflee (D.S. II, 14).

When a girl reaches puberty she becomes acutely aware of her body. Menstruation is one of the biological characteristics of woman. However, Simone de Beauvoir insists once again that this particular element of woman's situation can be assumed, and need not interfere in any way with her search for transcendence. 12

The next and possibly most important biological phenomenon which differentiates the sexes is the manner in which each lives the erotic experience. Simone de Beauvoir concedes this difference when she says: "Le rapport sexuel qui unit la femme a l'homme n'est pas le meme qu•il soutient avec elle" (D.S. I, 103). It cannot be said therefore that tradition or education alone produces this difference. It is a biological difference. The sex act itself, "met en effet la femme dans la dependance du male et de l'espece"

(D.S. II, 133). However, there is a way that women can escape dependence and retain their liberty even here.

L'asymetrie de l'erotisme male et femelle cree des problemes insolubles tant qu1il y a lutte des sexes; ils peuvent aisement se trancher quand la femme sent chez l'homme a la fois desir et respect; s1il la convoite dans sa chair tout en reconnaissant sa liberte, elle se retrouve 11essentiel au moment ou elle se fait objet, elle demeure libre dans la soumission a laquelle elle consent (D.S. II, 107).

Almost twenty years later in speaking of this same subject to Francis Jeanson, Simone de Beauvoir concedes that eroticism does not have the same characteristics for men and women, but she says:

Ceci dit, est-ce que 9a fait vraiment une telle difference? ... Je me demande si le vrai clivage se situe vraiment entre deux sexes ayant chacun son erotisme propre, ou s1il ne s'agirait pas plutot de phenomenes d'ordre avant tout individuel, —dans lesquels le fait d'etre homme ou femme joue evidemment un role, mais sans pouvoir suffire a 13

fonder une vraie difference quant a la maniere de se situer dans le monde.-*-

Here we can see the second existential tenet, which

is that there are many ways to assume any given situation,

and woman's particular biological nature need not reduce her to a passive state, but may be transcended. The body is not a thing but a situation and every human being must freely accept his body for what it is, but he must also go beyond his body in search of meaning.

Pregnancy is another uniquely female situation, and

Simone de Beauvoir's particular way of seeing this state leads to some criticism. She says for instance, speaking of woman:

Elle est un etre huraain, conscience et liberte qui est devenu un instrument passif de la vie. La vie n'est habituellement qu'une condition de 1'exis­ tence; dans la gestation elle apparaxt comme crea- trice; mais c'est une etrange creation qui se realise dans la contingence et la facticite (D.S. II, 307).

In the section of Le Deuxieme Sexe I, entitled "Mythes,"

Simone de Beauvoir says "a travers tout le respect dont

11entoure la societe, la fonction de gestation inspire une repulsion spontanee" (D.S. I, 240). This is because preg­ nancy reminds people of their origins, their flesh, and their immanence. So even though gestation and giving birth, some might contend, constitute the ultimate transcendence

1. Francis Jeanson, Simone de Beauvoir ou 1'entre- prise de vivre (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1966), p. 261. 14 and creativity, it is not so for Simone de Beauvoir, who views this aspect of the female situation as limiting, and making women the slaves of the human species. Margaret Mead disagrees strongly. "The most curious point in the book is the author's absolute failure to recognize anything creative in maternity.

The modern woman, at least in certain countries, can overcome even the burdens of maternity. "Le 'birth-control' et l'avortement legal permettraient a la femme d'assumer librement ses maternites" (D.S. II, 301).

Women can not only decide when to have children, but also, whether to have children, which makes maternity a freely chosen state and further liberates woman from the species.

Menopause, the last biological phenomenon which distinguishes males from females, seems for some women to open a new phase of life. This illusion allows them to overcome some of the more brutal effects of menopause. This situation can also be freely assumed chiefly because of modern medicine which can prolong a woman's youth through hormones.

It can be stated, therefore, that women, biologi­ cally speaking, have a different situation than men, but this difference need not constitute a handicap in any way.

1. "A. S. R. panel takes aim at 'The Second Sex,'" p. 30. The two biological traits that characterize women are: "Sa prise sur le monde est moins etendue que celle de l'homme; elle est plus etroitement asservie a l'espece"

(D.S. I, 95). The first trait is annulled by modern ma­ chines which make it possible for women to do as much work as men; and the second trait is changing through the advent of birth control. The second trait also varies according to a woman's economic and moral situation.

There are biological differences between the sexes and Simone de Beauvoir warns that they must be assumed. "II est clair qu'aucune femme ne peut pretendre sans mauvaise foi se situer par dela son sexe" (D.S. I, 13). However, we must be equally sure to understand Simone de Beauvoir's position, for in an interview with Francis Jeanson, she says:

Je suis radicalement feministe, en ce sens que je reduis radicalement la difference en tant que donnee ayant une importance par elle-meme ... . Bien sur, il y a une donnee : C'est la femme qui porte 1'enfant, etc. ... : mais cette difference pourrait etre, a mon avis, reprise dans des contextes qui 1'annuleraient completement, qui en feraient meme, comme dans certaines civili­ sations (et sur un certain plan seulement) une espece de superiorite de sens inverse. Done je ne crois pas, si vous voulez, je ne crois abso- lument pas a ce qju'on peut appeler une "vocation feminine," un "metier de femme," ou n'importe quoi de ce genre.

This quotation is the clearest statement of her position which can be found. She does not deny the

1. Jeanson, p. 258. 16

existence of biological differences, merely their importance.

She says: "Quant a moi, j'admets absolument que les femmes sont profondement differentes des hommes. Ce que je n'admets

pas, c'est que la femme soit differente de JL'homme. ,,"L

Historical

Simone de Beauvoir discusses at some length the various roles of women throughout history. Women as a group do not have an independent history; one could say that they do not even represent a group in any sense except a bio­ logical sense.

In general Simone de Beauvoir's views on history are not original. They derive in part from Engels, with whom she does not always agree, and from August Bebel, with whom she agrees when she compares women to the proletariate.

Women are not a minority, but the existence of their class can be explained by historical development. "II n'y a pas toujours eu des proletaires : il y a toujours eu des femmes; elles sont femmes par leur structure physiologique; aussi loin que l'histoire remonte, elles ont toujours ete subordonnees a l'homme : leur dependance n'est pas la consequence d'un evenement ou d'un devenir, elle n'est pas arrivee" (D.S. I, 18). So therefore Simone de Beauvoir does not assign the inequality of the sexes to a particular time or event in history. Engels assigns woman's defeat to the

2. Ibid., p. 263. 17 historical period in which private property appeared, women being considered merely as possessions, but Beauvoir says,

"il n'est pas clair que la propriete privee ait fatalement entraine 1'asservissement de la femme" (D.S. I, 98).

Simone de Beauvoir's position is that, "Ce monde a toujours appartenu aux males" (D.S. I, 107), therefore, women cannot look back in history to a golden age, where they were equal to men.

There is for her only one time where women even came close to being equal. It was in the Middle Ages and applied only to the economic class of the serf. "Le serf et son epouse ne possedaient rien, ils avaient seulement la jouissance commune de leur maison, des meubles,-des ustensils : l'homme n'avait aucune raison de chercher a se rendre maitre de la femme qui ne detenait aucun bien; en revanche, les liens de travail et d1interet qui les unis- saient elevaient 11epouse au rang d'une compagne" (D.S. I,

162). Through work and lack of private property then it was possible for women to achieve some degree of equality.

The one avenue open, at least partially, to women under the Old Regime in France, was the cultural avenue, especially literature. Marguerite de Navarre, Louise Labbe,

Mme. de Lafayette, Mile, de Scudery, and Mme. de Sevigne are just some examples of women who tried to affirm them­ selves in a concrete accomplishment. 18

History resumes the past and must be taken into

account in determining any action, so therefore, an under­

standing of women throughout history is essential to a valid

acceptance of her present situation. The subjection of

women, in religion, law, politics, economics, and any other

domain which affects her current situation is an historical

fact.

Even in the eras when maternity was revered and

respected, such as the agricultural age, women still never

attained first place, or even an equal place with men. The

reason for this, according to Simone de Beauvoir, being,

"l'humanite n'est pas une simple espece naturelle : son

projet, n'est pas la stagnation; c'est a se depasser qu'elle

tend" (D.S. I, 109-110). Maternity represents stagnation

and not transcendence.

Women are repeaters of life biologically and not

transcenders, therefore, historically they have always been

placed second to men. However this situation is not

irreversible and can be assumed in such a way as to almost

nullify it. (See above—Biological.)

The nineteenth century represents the first real

progress for women. "La femme reconquiert une importance

economique qu'elle avait perdue depuis les epoqUes pre-

historiques parce qu'elle echappe du foyer et prend a

l'usine une nouvelle part a la production" (D.S. I, 191).

The machine makes this possible, even though working 19 conditions were of course terrible, and the pay paltry. The notion of escaping from the "foyer" would seem to be of great importance here, for it was seen above that Simone de

Beauvoir does not believe in a female vocation as such.

Tied to her foyer a woman becomes a mere repeater of life, but allowed to participate actively in the labor force, she acquires a certain transcendence.

The nineteenth century also brought to women a degree of liberation from nature, for it was during this time that birth control was first used with any reliability.

Legal and political rights were not won, for French women at least, until quite recently. It was not until 1945 that French women were allowed to vote.

Historically woman's situation has been one of sub­ jection to man. "Jamais les femmes n'ont constitue une caste separee : et en verite elles n'ont pas cherche a jouer en tant que sexe un role dans l'histoire" (D.S. I, 217).

Women have also been accomplices to men, because for some part they are ignorant of their subjection, or of any way to assume and transcend it. "La majorite des femmes se resignent a leur sort sans tenter aucune action; celles qui ont essaye de le changer ont pretendu non s'enfermer dans leur singularite et la faire triompher mais la surmon- ter" (D.S. I, 217). Once again we see repeated the idea that woman must first assume her condition, in all its ramifications, then and only then will she be able to transcend her situation and create.

Women having no history of their own, but having been integrated into the history of men must first define themselves in relation to their own sex. "Le grand homme jaillit de la masse et il est porte par les circonstances : la masse des femmes est en marge de l'histoire, et les circonstances sont pour chacune d'elles un obstacle et non un tremplin" (D.S. I, 220).

According to an article by Juliet Mitchell, the main theoretical innovation of Simone de Beauvoir was, "to fuse the 'economic' and 'reproductive* explanations of women's subordination by a psychological interpretation of both.

The psychological interpretation being her explanations of woman as the "other." Juliet Mitchell goes on to say that until all the roles of women, which she classes as, "Produc- 2 tion, Reproduction, Sex and Socialization of Children," are studied separately and also as comprising a complex unity, each role having a different historical movement, we will not be able to change her situation nor truly liberate her.

Woman's situation from an historical point of view then, even though there cannot be said to be a history of

1. Juliet Mitchell, "Women: The Longest Revolution," New Left Review. XL (November-December, 1966), 15.

2. Ibid., 17. women as a group, brings some enlightenment to her current

situation. Women, according to Simone de Beauvoir have

always been subordinate to men. The reason for this, she

contends, resides in the fact that for men, women constitute

the "other."

Existential

It is from the philosophy of existentialism, and

more precisely from Sartre's existentialism that many of

Simone de Beauvoir's ideas originate. I do not intend to

attempt any explanation of this philosophy, but merely to

underline certain rather specific tenets which will aid in

an understanding of the situation of women according to

Simone de Beauvoir.

The most salient ideas of this philosophy can be

seen in this quote from Simone de Beauvoir.

Un existant n'est rien d'autre cjue ce qu'il fait; le possible ne deborde pas le reel, 1'essence ne precede pas 1'existence : dans sa pure subjectivite, 1'etre humain n'est rien. On le mesure a ses actes. ... Or dans les relations amoureuses ou conjugales, dans toutes les relations ou la femme est la vassale, 1'autre, c'est dans son immanence qu'on la saisit (D.S. I, 388-89).

In the two ideas that we see here, first that a

human being is nothing more than what he does, and that

woman in her ordinary human relations is only known through

her immanence, we have one of the primary conflicts within

woman's situation. For Simone de Beauvoir, transcendence is good and creative and immanence is bad and repetitive. 22

Women, to be in the existential sense must overcome their immanence.

To understand the ideas of transcendence and imma­ nence, which form a basis for "la morale existentialiste" which is to be used in judging the condition of woman, the following quotation will be helpful. "Tout sujet se pose concretement a travers des projets comme une transcendance; il n'accomplit sa liberte que par son perpetuel depassement vers d'autres libertes; il n'y a d1 autre justification de

1'existence presente que son expansion vers un avenir inde- finiment ouvert" (D.S. I, 31). When this transcendence falls back into immanence, existence becomes "en soi," liberty becomes facticity, and it is a moral fault if freely consented. If the fall into immanence is inflicted it becomes frustration and oppression; in both cases an abso­ lute evil.

"Le drame de la femme, c'est ce conflit entre la revendication fondamentale de tout sujet qui se pose tou- jours comme l'essentiel et les exigences d'une situation qui la constitue comme 11inessentielle" (D.S. I, 31). Women, just like men see themselves as subjects; they aspire towards transcendence, just like men, but are for the most part shut up in their immanence.

En verite toute existence humaine est transcendance et immanence a la fois; pour se depasser elle exige de se maintenir, pour s'elancor vers 1'avenir il lui faut integrer le passe et tout en communiquant avec autri, elle doit se confirmer en soi-meme. 23

Ces deux moments sont impliques en tout mouvement vivant (D.S. II, 200).

In considering this and keeping in mind that to be is to have become, Simone de Beauvoir says: "Oui, les femmes dans 1'ensemble sont aujourd'hui inferieures aux hommes c'est-a-dire que leur situation leur ouvre de moindres possibilites : le probleme c'est de savoir si cet etat de choses doit se perpetuer" (D.S. I, 25).

But since the first tenet of existentialism is that existence precedes essence, and one is only the sum of his acts, women too, can create their essences through tran­ scending actions. It is their duty to do so, but because of many circumstances it is very difficult.

Perhaps the main reason for this difficulty, is the fact that woman is defined as the "other." She is defined in relation to man, but the contrary is not true. "II est le Sujet, il est l'Absolu : elle est 1'Autre" (D.S. I, 15).

However her otherness is necessary to man.

On l'a dit deja 1'Autre c'est le Mai; mais neces- saire au Bien, il retourne au Bien; c'est par lui que j'accede au Tout, mais c'est lui qui m'en separe; il est la porte de l'infini et la mesure de ma finitude. Et c'est pourquoi la femme n'incarne aucun concept fige; a travers elle s'accomplit sans treve le passage de l'espoir a l'echec, de la haine a 1'amour, du bien au mal, du mal au bien (D.S. I, 236).

The idea of the "other" is admittedly ambiguous. Simone de

Beauvoir says as much. One definition that she offers is the following: "II n'y a presence de l'autre que si 1'autre 24

est lui-meme present a soi : c'est-a-dire la veritable

alterite est celle d'une conscience separee de la mienne et

identique a elle" (D.S. I, 231). This definition would seem

to suggest that the person who for me is the "other," must

himself be a subject and recognizable as such to me. This

definition applies to all people not just women and is again one of the basic tenets of existentialism. Sartre has said,

"l'enfer c'est les autres."

Woman is an ambiguous creature, just as the idea of

"other" is ambiguous. Suzanne Lilar says that this ambiguity stems from a basic confusion on the part of Simone de

Beauvoir who fails to distinguish between two different

conceptions of the idea of "other." She says that these different ideas are: "Presents tous deux des les premieres

lignes, celui-ci avec 1*allusion a l'antinomie platonicienne

du mouvement et du repos, celui-la suivant de pres avec le

conflit du pour-autrui et la tragedie de la conscience

malheureuse.

Lilar treats the philosophical idea of the "other"

at some length. It will be easier if we retain the idea that in relationship to man, as forming part of a duality,

woman is the "other." It is not she who poses her subjec­ tivity and then relegates man to the category of other but the contrary. This, it would seem, is essentially what

1. Lilar, p. 76. 25

Simone de Beauvoir means when she speaks of woman as the

"other." This concept is illustrated by Simone de Beauvoir in her discussion of roles and myths.

The child, according to Simone de Beauvoir, is taught at a very early age the roles that are expected of him. If it were not for this cultural influence, it would be difficult to distinguish boy's play from girl's play.

This position which I am deducing from what Simone de

Beauvoir says on the subject might well be contradicted by certain recent studies made at The University of Wisconsin'1' which show that infant monkeys raised with no adult upon which to pattern themselves, play according to their sex.

Boys and girls are innately different beyond mere physical differences, according to this view.

One of the first traumas in a child's life is wean­ ing. "Tous les enfants essaient de compenser la separation du sevrage par des conduites de seduction et de parade; on oblige le ga^con a depasser ce stade, on le delivre de son narcissime en le fixant sur son penis; tandis que la fillet- te est confirmee dans cette tendance a se faire objet qui est commune a tous les enfants" (D.S. II, 26).

The resulting difference, according to Beauvoir, would be that boys are encouraged to become subjects in

1. See Allan M. Schrier, Harry F. Harlow, and Fred Stollnitz (eds.), Behavior of Non-Human Primates (2 vols.; New York: Academic Press, 1965T^ II, p7 313. 26 order to please, while girls must renounce their autonomy and make themselves into objects to be pleasing. Thus a fundamental conflict arises in the situation of girls. They have the choice of assuming and reinforcing their subjec­ tivity, pleasing no one and suffering from cultural and social pressure, or they can play the role of objects.

C'est une etrange experience pour un individu qui s'eprouve comme sujet, autonomie, transcendance, comme un absolu, de decouvrir en soi a titre d'essence donnee 11inferiorite : c'est une etrange experience pour celui qui se pose pour soi comme l'Un d'etre revele a soi-meme comme alterite. C'est la ce qui arrive a la petite fille quand faisant 1'apprentissage du monde elle s'y saisit comme une femme (D.S. II, 46-47).

While boys have their penises, which become their alter-egos, girls have nothing and therefore must make their whole beings objects; they become in a sense big alter-egos or "others." This abdication of their subjec­ tivity and transcendence is an absolute bad according to

Beauvoir, and yet since it is not completely freely chosen, but rather imposed from the outside it becomes a moral wrong and oppression.

The erotic situation is rather like a dramatization of the idea of the "other" in its broadest sense applying to both males and females.

L'erotisme est un mouvement vers 1'Autre. c'est la son caractere essentiel; mais au sein du couple les epoux deviennent l'un pour 1'autre le Meme; aucun echange n'est plus possible entre eux, aucun don ni aucune conquete. Aussi s'ils demeurent amants, c'est souvent honteusement : ils sentent que l'acte sexuel n'est plus une experience intersubjective, dans laquelle chacun se depasse, mais bien une sorte de masturbation en commun (D.S. II, 226).

This last sentence is typically beauvoirien and excludes love from marriage, which is one traditional position.

Myths confirm and perpetuate many of the traditional beliefs about women, chief among these is the idea that women are mysterious. Confirming this idea is Buytendijk who is speaking about Simone de Beauvoir. "A ses yeux, la conception masculine selon laquelle la femme est un mystere et non pas une enigme encore imparfaitement resolue est a la racine et au coeur des principaux mythes concernant la femme et de ce qu'imagine les poetes et les prosateurs.

Simone de Beauvoir challenges the idea that women are mysterious. She sees in the perpetuation of this myth a powerful tool for men to keep women oppressed.

Enfin grace au mystere se perpetue ce rapport negatif qui semblait a Kierkegaard infiniment preferable a une possession positive; en face d'une vivante enigme l'homme demeure seul : seul avec ses reves, ses espoirs, ses craintes, son amour, sa vanite; ce jeu subjectif qui peut aller du vice a l'extase mystique est pour beaucoup une experience plus attrayante qu'un authentique rapport avec un etre humain. Sur quelles bases repose done une illusion si profitable?

Assurement, en un sens, la femme est mysterieuse, "mysterieuse comme tout le monde" selon le mot de Maeterlinck. Chacun n'est sujet que pour soi; chacun ne peut saisir dans son immanence que soi seul : de ce point de vue 1'autre est toujours mystere (D.S. I, 387).

1. Buytendijk, p. 45. 28

Woman has always been the "other" in myths for a reason. She fulfills one of man's basic needs and that is to annex nature and to reaffirm his very existence. "Des que le sujet cherche a s'affirmer, 1*Autre qui le limite et le nie lui est cependant necessaire; il ne s'ateint qu1 a travers cette realite qu1il n'est pas" (D.S. I, 231). This same idea is explained in more detail by the following quotation:

Apparaissant comme 1'Autre, la femme aparait du meme coup comme une plenitude d'etre par opposition a cette existence dont l'homme eprouve en soi le neant; 1'Autre, etant pose comme objet aux yeux du sujet, est pose comme en soi, done comme etre. Dans la femme s'incarne positivement le manque que I'existant porte en son coeur et c'est en cherchant a se rejoindre a travers elle que l'homme espere se realiser (D.S. I, 234).

However, in reality, according to Simone de Beauvoir she can never really fulfill this role.

II veut qu'elle soit 1'Autre; mais tout existant, si eperdument qu'il se renie, demeure sujet; il la veut objet : elle se fait objet; dans le moment ou elle se fait etre, elle exerce une libre acti- vite; c'est la sa trahison originelle; la plus docile, la plus passive est encore conscience; et il suffit parfois que le male s'apercoive que se donnant a lui elle le regarde et le juge pour qu'il se sente dupe; elle ne doit etre qu'une chose offerte, une proie (D.S. II, 441-42).

The need men have to reaffirm their existence is not the only reason women are the "other." Some women, indeed a majority are accomplices to men in placing themselves in the position of being the "other." "Le fait est que les hommes rencontrent chez leur compagne plus de complicite que 29 l'oppresseur n'en trouve habituellement chez l'opprime; et ils s'en autorisent avec mauvaise foi pour declarer qu'elle a voulu la destinee qu'ils lui ont imposee (D.S. II, 565).

For Simone de Beauvoir transcendence is a human possibility, not merely a masculine one. Myths perpetuate the idea of woman as pure immanence. They should therefore be discarded. In the actual state of things however, woman does not demand subjectivity, nor does she demand to attain liberation through transcendence. The reasons she gives are the following: "Ainsi la femme ne se revendique pas comme sujet parce qu'elle n'en a pas les moyens concrets, parce qu'elle eprouve le lien necessaire qui la rattache a l'homme sans en poser la reciprocite et parce que souvent elle se complait dans son role d'Autre" (D.S. I, 21). These then are the three reasons. All stem in part from ignorance.

Women, many times do not feel oppressed; they accept their roles as unavoidable, and as a result become accomplices to their oppressors.

The myths continue to be cited and believed and woman remains the "other." "Peut-etre le mythe de la femme s'eteindra-t-il un jour : plus les femmes s'affirment comme des etres humains, plus la merveilleuse qualite de 1'Autre meurt en elles. Mais aujourd'hui il existe encore au coeur de tous les hommes" (D.S. I, 235).

This "merveilleuse qualite" of the "other" is prized by men, but it is the burden of woman, and translates 30 the conflict which is at the heart of her situation.

Ainsi il est exact que la femme est autre que l'homme et cette alterite est concretement eprouvee dans le desir, l'etreinte, 1'amour; mais la relation reelle est de reciprocite; ... elle est lutte des consciences qui se veulent chacune essentielle, elle est reconnaissance des libertes qui se confirment l'une 11 autre, elle est passage indefini de 11inimitee a la complicite. Poser la Femme, c'est poser 1'Autre absolu, sans reciprocite, refusant contre 1'experience qu'elle soit un sujet, un semblable (D.S. I, 383-84).

Woman's situation can be summed up in these three areas. First, there is her biological situation, which, although different from man's need not, indeed should not interfere with her search for liberty through transcendence.

Second, there is woman's historical situation, which has always been to be subordinate to man. This is a major obstacle in her search for liberty, but not an unsur- mountable one. Third is woman's existential situation which at present is to be the "other." This situation should be changed, and women considered the same as men in existential terms. Her "otherness" should only be in the existential sense of "pour-autrui" which is a human state, not a female one.

Largely because of myths and roles imposed on her by society, woman has been deprived of fulfilling her basic human need for liberty and transcendence. All of the above of course is woman's situation according to Simone de

Beauvoir. CHAPTER III

ASSUMPTION OF SITUATION

There are different roles which can be seen as forming a part of woman's situation. These consist of the young girl, the married woman, the single woman, the mother, the prostitute, and the old woman. Roles can be assumed either authentically or inauthentically.

Roles

Every female is during part of her life a young girl or adolescent. This stage of life is traditionally for the girl something of a marriage mart. For if she succeeds in getting a husband, she will have accomplished her intended purpose in life. The girl who fails has always been some­ what of an outcast. At this stage in her life she is pitted against all other females of the same age. They become rivals in the marriage mart. These elements make up the traditional idea of the adolescent female. Her attitude is one of refusal and acceptance at the same time.

C'est la le trait qui caracterise la jeune fille et qui nous donne la cle de la plupart de ses conduites; elle n'accepte pas le destin que la nature et la societe lui assignent; et cependant, elle ne le repudie pas positivement : elle est interieurement trop divisee pour entrer en lutte avec le monde; elle se borne a fuir la realite ou a la contester symboliquement. Chacun de ses

31 32

desirs se double d'une angoisse : elle est avide d•entrer en possession de son avenir, mais elle redoute de rompre avec son passe; elle souhaite "avoir" un homme, elle repugne a etre sa proie. Et derriere chaque peur se dissumule un desir : le viol lui fait horreur mais elle aspire a la passivite. Aussi est-elle vouee a la mauvaise foi et a toutes ses ruses; est-elle predisposee a toutes sortes d'obsessions negatives qui traduissent 11 ambivalence du desir et de 1'anxiete (D.S. I, 108).

From this long quotation it is clear that the tradi­ tional situation of the young girl includes a large dose of bad faith. This is because woman's situation in general, as defined by society is false and therefore the passage from childhood to adulthood entails for women a limitation of possibilities. The realization of this future bondage causes some of the traditional adolescent crises. This is the pattern in a male-dominated society.

The bad faith implicit in the situation of the adolescent can be avoided however. By refusing society's prefabricated paths, and following her own, a girl can escape the future trap of wife-mother and lack of inde­ pendent identity. It takes great courage to buck all the traditional ideas, but it is a possibility.

The adolescent can also accept the future roles thrust upon her by custom, but unless she concurrently seeks transcendence through action, she will fall back into immanence, and not fulfill her human possibilities.

Simone de Beauvoir discusses the role of the married woman at some length. She is generally against marriage, 33 because of its limiting effect on the female. She offers no other alternative and on the subject of raising children mentions day-care centers, but does not elaborate on family life.

When a woman is married her universe is reduced to the size of her house. "Son foyer, c'est done pour elle le lot qui lui est devoulu sur terre, 1'expression de sa valeur sociale, et de sa plus intime verite. Parce qu'elle ne fait rien, elle se recherche avidement dans ce qu'elle ci (D.S. I,

232). Since the existentialist feels that one is what one does, and according to Beauvoir the married woman does not do anything, she does not exist. However, it can be objected that women in this situation do act. They do housework, and chores for example. This activity however, does not allow women to escape from their immanence. The fault lies in the type of activity they must perform. "II y a peu de taches qui s1apparentent plus que celles de la menagere au supplice de Sisyphe; ... . La menagere s'use a pietiner sur place; elle ne fait rien : elle perpetue seulement le present; elle n'a pas 1'impression de conquerir un Bien positif mais de lutter indefiniment contre le Mai. C'est une lutte qui se renouvelle chaque jour" (D.S. I, 235).

Simone de Beauvoir praises only one aspect of

"woman's work" and that is cooking. From the shopping involved, which she calls "une chasse au tresor" to the preparation of a meal a positive activity is involved. The 34

creation of a meal is a pleasure. However, even here the

evil of repetition eventually takes its toll and nullifies the pleasure involved.

A married woman is destined to fight against her husband for her own identity while at the same time fighting against the rest of society to conserve her married situa­ tion which keeps her dependent. Simone de Beauvoir allows, however, that there are certain privileged marriages, but with her usual exception. "Dans certains cas privilegies la femme peut reussir a devenir pour son mari une veritable compagne : elle discute ses pro jets, lui donne des conseils, participe a ses travaux. Mais elle se berce d1illusions si elle croit par la realiser une oeuvre personelle : il demeure la seule liberte agissante et responsable" (D.S. I,

277). The emphasis is again placed on being a free and responsible agent in life which is the ideal for all humanity.

Being imprisoned in conjugal life, a woman's atti­ tude towards her home is an important element of her situa­ tion. "Son attitude a 11egard de son foyer est commandee par cette meme dialectique qui definit generalement sa condition : elle prend en se faisant proie, elle se libere en abdiquant; en renontjant au monde elle veut conquerir un monde" (D.S. I, 230). Within the marital situation, then, values get twisted around and women must respond in a nega­ tive manner in order to accomplish positive goals. Once 35 again we see that a certain amount of bad faith is implicit

in her situation.

According to Simone de Beauvoir, this bad faith does not come from the women, but rather from the institution of marriage. "Ce ne sont pas les individus qui sont responsa- ble de l'echec du mariage : c'est ... 1•institution elle-meme qui est originellement pervertie" (D.S. I, 286).

Simone de Beauvoir does not approve of the institu­ tion of marriage. She illustrates this disapproval by her life. Marriage is not equally harmful for each sex. "On a dit que le mariage diminue l'homme : c'est souvent vrai; mais presque toujours il annihile la femme" (D.S. I, 283).

Therefore, although she does not discuss any group of women who remain unmarried under a separate section, we can assume that remaining single is an important element in retaining one's individuality, responsibility, and in acting to attain transcendence. We will see in Part III, dealing with her memoires, how she resolved this problem.

It is my opinion that aside from the harm that marriage does to the individual, it has redeeming social value which is not discussed by Simone de Beauvoir. The institution provides a stable base for the rearing of young children, and although Simone de Beauvoir does mention day­ care centers, to abdicate so blithely the responsibility of educating young children seems rather careless. 36

Many studies have now been done in this area, notably those of Bruno Bettelheim who studied the children raised in kibbutzes in Israel. The results of his studies, as seen in The Children of the Dream (1969), point to pro­ found psychological effects on children raised outside a family situation. Some of the effects are good, some are not according to current ideas, but Simone de Beauvoir's failure to discuss marriage as being a foundation of our very social structure and conception of human reality is surprising.

She does, however, discuss the role of motherhood.

"C'est par la maternite que la femme accomplit integralement son destin physiologique; c'est la sa vocation 'naturelle' puisque tout son organisme est oriente vers la perpetuation de l'espece. Mais on a dit deja que la societe humaine n'est jamais abandonnee a la nature" (D.S. I, 290).

Maternity can be seen as a valid function in the life of a woman, but two distinctions must be made. It is not sufficient onto itself to define an authentic situation, because it is only temporary, and it is not a necessary role which every woman should be obliged to fill at some point in her life. Abortion and birth-control can prevent a woman from becoming a mother. It is interesting to note that according to Simone de Beauvoir, although motherhood is not necessarily an integral part of a woman's situation, sex is.

She talks of two prejudices current in the traditional idea 37 of motherhood. "Le premier, c'est que la maternite suffise

en tout cas a combler une femme : il n'en est rien" (D.S. I,

336). This we have already discussed. "Le second prejuge immediatement implique par le premier, c'est que 1'enfant trouve un sur bonheur dans les bras maternels" (D.S. I,

339).

The general reverence for motherhood is seen by

Simone de Beauvoir as being somewhat hypocritical. Her objection is important.

II y a une mauvaise foi extravagante dans la conciliation du mepris que l'on voue aux femmes et du respect dont on entoure les meres. C'est un criminel paradoxe que de refuser a la femme toute activite publique, de lui fermer les carrieres masculines, de proclamer en tous domaines son incapacite, et de lui confier 1'enterprise la plus delicate, la plus grave aussi qui soit, la formation d'un etre humain (D.S. I, 339).

Another irony implicit in the situation of the married woman is adultery. "Le mariage en frustrant les femmes de toute satisfaction erotique, en leur deniant la liberte et la singularite de leurs sentiments les conduit par une dialectique necessaire et ironique a l'adultere"

(D.S. I, 369). The first part of this statement is debat­ able, but it follows the idea of woman as the "other " (see

Chapter I—Existential).

The only way for woman to fulfill her erotic destiny, according to Simone de Beauvoir is outside of marriage.

Perhaps this helps to explain why she spends so much time discussing prostitutes. She explains the difference between 38 the married woman and the prostitute in these terms. "La grande difference entre elles, c'est que la femme legitime, opprimee en tant que femme mariee, est respectee en tant que personne humaine; ce respect commence a faire serieusement echec a 1'oppression. Tandis que la prostituee n'a pas les droits d'une personne, en elle se resument toutes les figures a la fois de l'esclavage feminin" (D.S. I, 377).

There would seem to be no other choice for women to make.

They either must remain faithful, be good wives and abdicate sexual fulfillment, or become prostitutes and achieve sexual fulfillment but lose respectability.

The answer to this dilemma would have to include a change in society and the world as we now know it. "Para- do xalement, ces femmes qui exploitent a 11 extreme leur feminite se creent une situation presque equivalente a celle d'un homme; a partir de ce sexe qui les livre aux males comme objets, elles se retrouvent sujets" (D.S. I, 392). It is possible to conclude from this statement that in the actual state of things it is better to be a prostitute than a wife, because a prostitute maintains her subjectivity, and remains an active, transcending agent in life, but this is only an illusion because: "Le plus grand malheur de l'hetai're c'est que non seulement son independance est

1'envers mensonger de mille dependances, mais que cette liberte meme est negative" (D.S. I, 396). , 39

The solution to the dilemma is not to be found in

any of the traditional roles that society imposes on women.

A woman's life, like a man's, culminates in old age.

"Du jour ou la femme consent a vieillir sa situation change.

Jusqu'alors, elle etait une femme encore jeune acharnee a lutter contre un mal qui mysterieusement 1'enlaidissait et la deformait; elle devient un etre different, asexue mais acheve : une femme agee" (D.S. I, 408).

Women, having always been considered objects, have more to lose by becoming old and no longer pleasing. It is true they lose their previous identity but is that so bad?

Ironically no because their identity was negative; upon losing their value as objects they also lose their negative identity and are free to become subjects once more.

Woman's real tragedy is that she discovers this positive identity when there is little or nothing she can do with it. "On touche la a la lamentable tragedie de la femme agee : elle se sait inutile; tout au long de sa vie la femme bourgeoise a souvent a resoudre le derisoire probleme : comment tuer le temps?" (D.S. I, 417). This activity is prolonged in old age by force of habit and lack of time to embark on a new life project; "C'est le divertissement absurde, tel que le decrit Pascal; avec 1'aiguille ou le crochet la femme tisse tristememt le neant meme de ses jours

... une activite qui n'ouvre pas 11avenir retombe dans la vanite de 11 immanence" (D.S. I, 417). 40

All the possible traditional roles of young girl,

wife, mother, prostitute, old lady, with the exception of

the single woman seem to offer no solution to women seeking transcendence, action, and responsibility, at least not as these roles are now defined by society. Men seem much more

privileged. "Si l'on confronte ces situations memes, il est

evident que celle de l'homme est infiniment preferable,

c'est-a-dire qu'il a beaucoup plus de possibilites concretes de projeter dans le monde sa liberte" (D.S. I, 445).

Inauthenticity

The bad faith which is implicit in so many of the aforementioned roles leads us to a discussion of inauthen­ ticity, which describes the way in which one can assume any given situation and implies bad faith. I will discuss selected roles in this and the next section.

One would assume that the conventional life is the authentic one. "Yet if one looks, for instance, at the masterly picture of life by mauvaise foi painted in the opening episode of The Room. one gets the feeling that the life of bad faith is the conventional one and, by implica­ tion, that of good faith unconventional."'1"

An inauthentic life is a life in which values are accepted without question, in which the liver is content

1. Marjorie Grene, "Authenticity: an existential virtue," Ethics. LXII, No. 4 (July, 1952), 270. 41

with immanence, and does not seek transcendence and in which

responsibility concerns one's personal life and family and

does not include one's fellow man. It is a life of bad

faith. The term bad faith is defined by Marjorie Grene in

the following quotation. "In Sartre . . . the values by

which I live depend not on divine fiat or metaphysical

necessity but on myself alone. Contrasted with such aware­

ness is bad faith, the stultification of freedom in the

enslavement to an 'objective' truth or a consuming passion."'1'

Transcendence is a necessary part of existence in

the existential sense. Women by being consigned to the role of the "other" are incapable of achieving this objective.

"Pour un grand nombre de femmes les chemins de la transcen-

dance sont barres : parce qu'elles ne font rien, elles ne se

font etre rien; elles se demandent indefiniment ce qu'elles

aurait pu devenir, ce qui les conduit a s'interroger sur ce qu'elles sont : c'est une vaine interrogation; si l'homme

echoue a decouvir cette essence secrete, c'est que tout simplement elle n'existe pas" (D.S. I, 390). This leads us back to the principle idea of existentialism, existence precedes essence.

Women are not the only ones who lead inauthentic existences. Most men do so also. According to Simone de

1. Ibid. p. 266. 42

Beauvoir, this is particularly true with regard to their relationship with women.

L'homme s'autorise volontiers de l'idee hegelienne selon laquelle le citoyen acquiert sa dignite ethique en se transcendant vers l'universel : en tant qu'individu singulier il a droit au desir, au plaisir. Ses rapports avec la femme se situent done dans une region contingente ou la morale ne s'applique plus, ou les conduites sont indiffe- rentes. Aupres de la femme—elle a ete inventee a ce dessein—il cesse d'assumer son existence, il s'abandonne au mirage de l'en-soi, il se situe sur un plan inauthentique (D.S. II, 439).

The inauthenticity which lies at the heart of the traditional male-female relationship can be better under­ stood if we remember that for men, women are the "other," and according to Simone de Beauvoir, this is a false category, or should be.

It will be seen that for Simone de Beauvoir, woman has currently two unsatisfactory functions: she is both object and image. Once man has branded her with the stigma of otherness "alterite" she has been throughout history a mere object in a male society; thereafter, when the object is obliged to incarnate man's dream, she becomes an image. This representational function accounts for the in- authentic attitude which Simone de Beauvoir calls woman's "etre-pour-les-hommes," which will, at least in part, explain for the frequent references to mirrors and looking-glasses in her novels and autobiography as well as in Le Deuxieme Sexe.

Inauthenticity in the lives of women results at least in part from the roles which society has designed for them. Our traditional idea of what is feminine and what is

1. C. B. Radford, "Simone de Beauvoir: Feminism's friend or foe? I," Nottingham French Studies. VI, No. 2 (October, 1967), 88. 43

masculine can only lead to inauthenticity, for as Simone de

Beauvoir has pointed out femininity is defined by men who

pose their subjectivity and then relegate women and feminine

values to the category of "other."

The confusion implicit in the terms feminine and

masculine can be seen in the criticism which Suzanne Lilar

levels at Simone de Beauvoir. "Consideree comme inauthenti-

que, condamnee, rangee du cote du Mai, toute attitude

feminine se voit une fois de plus, sous l'effet de cette

reprobation, isolee et montree du doigt. Pour la femme qui

ne s'aligne pas sur le Masculin ou, a la rigeur, sur une

neutralite prudente, c'est plus que jamais la segregation et

1'ostracisme.

Suzanne Lilar makes the mistake of accepting the

traditional categories of Masculine and Feminine. What

Simone de Beauvoir is saying is that these categories are

artificial to begin with, and that they should be replaced

with a single category of Humanness. Historically and

actually, the category labeled Masculine contains a larger

part of Humanness than the Feminine. If we could stop

thinking in terms of a dichotomy between the sexes and

include all positive values, some of which are now labeled

Feminine, and some of which are now labeled Masculine, in one large category, every person would be freer to choose

1. Lilar, p. 216. 44 an authentic life based on the possibilities inherent in their own situation, without having to align themselves on some artificial model of what is proper to their sex.

As of now, some women, trying to assume and justify the feminine situation in an exaggerated way, lead blatently inauthentic lives. Three examples of this are discussed by

Simone de Beauvoir under the labels of the narcissist, the lover, and the mystic.

The narcissist is the woman who accepts to the fullest the idea of herself as an object. She therefore abdicates any possibility of concrete action or transcend­ ence, because to act and transcend, one must view oneself as a subject and not as an object, "En fait, le narcissisme est un processus d1alienation bien defini : le moi est pose comme une fin absolue et le sujet se fuit en lui" (D.S. II,

457).

What propels the narcissist is the idea that she can become a subject through making herself an object. In

Simone de Beauvoir's terms she wishes to "devenir dieu," but: "Devenir dieu, c'est realiser l1impossible synthese de l'en-soi et du pour-soi : les moments ou un individu s'imagine y avoir reussi sont pour lui des moments privi- legies de joie, d'exaltation, de plenitude" (D.S. II, 462).

It is impossible to attain this state, and women who try are chasing an illusion labeled Femininity. One cannot be at the same time a subject and an object for oneself. 45

"En verite, il n'est pas possible d'etre pour soi positive-

ment autre. et de se saisir dans la lumiere de la conscience comme objet. Le dedoublement est seulement reve" (D.S. II,

460).

As the narcissist grows older she faces a terrible tragedy, for to have objectified herself completely places a large burden on a woman. The ravages of time eat away at her self esteem. As Simone de Beauvoir says, "plus elle vieillit, plus elle cherche anxieusement eloges et success, plus elle supcjonne autour d1 elle de complots; egar^e, obsedee, elle s'enfonce dans la nuit de la mauvaise foi et finit souvent par edifier autour d'elle un delire para- no i'aque" (D.S. II, 476). Society is partly to blame in the fate of the narcissist for she is merely exaggerating one of the demands of a male dominated world and that is to be a pleasing object.

Her attitude, however, is in itself blamable and subject to the label of inauthenticity. She has not taken the responsibility of questioning her values. She has merely adopted those which were preordained by men. "Le paradoxe de son attitude, c'est qu'elle reclame d'etre valorisee par un monde auquel elle denie toute valeur, puisqu'elle seule compte a ses propres yeux" (D.S. II, 475).

Closely related to the narcissist is the lover.

Love means different things to men and women. This differ­ ence is reflected in the following quotation. "Le mot 46

'amour1 n'a pas du tout le meme sens pour l'un et 1'autre sexe et c'est la une source des graves malentendus qui les separent. Bryon a dit justement que 1'amour n'est dans la vie de l'homme qu'une occupation, tandis qu'il est la vie meme de la femme" (D.S. II, 477). But this difference can be attributed to their respective situations, according to

Simone de Beauvoir. "En verite, ce n'est pas d'une loi de nature qu'il s'agit. C'est la difference de leur situation meme qui se reflete dans la conception que l'homme et la femme se font de 1'amour" (D.S. II, 478).

Just like the narcissist who turns herself into an object, the lover turns herself into love. "Un existant est ce qu'il fait; pour etre, elle s'est fiee a une conscience etrangere et elle a renonce a rien faire. ... elle n'est plus rien" (D.S. II, 503).

This situation is inauthentic because once again the woman has refused to take responsibility for her actions and to achieve transcendence. The person that she loves becomes the final value in her life and everything must be directed towards him, until her very existence is dependent on his approval. "Elle a cherche d'abord dans 1'amour une confir­ mation de ce qu'elle etait, de son passe, de son personnage; mais elle y engage aussi son avenir : pour le justifier, elle le destine a celui qui detient toutes les valeurs; c'est ainsi qu'elle se delivre de sa transcendance : elle la 47 subordonne a celle de 1'autre essentiel dont elle se fait la vassale et l'esclave" (D.S. II, 487).

Just as the narcissist finds herself in a para­ doxical situation so does the lover. "Elle s'abandonne d'abord a 11 amour pour se sauver; mais le paradoxe de

1'amour idolatre, c'est qu'afin de se sauver elle finit par se renier totalement" (D.S. II, 486).

Many women find the life of the lover attractive, even some to whom independence is a concrete possibility.

It just seems so much easier to abdicate the responsibility for one's own life and to rely on someone else. The trap of course is that the one who abdicates, loses everything, even her identity.

Women sometimes see love as the only escape from their situation. "L1amour chez la femme est un supreme tentative pour surmonter en l'assumant la dependance a laquelle elle est condamnee; mais meme consentie la dependance ne saurait se vivre que dans la peur et la servilite" (D.S. II, 506).

The extreme case of the lover is what Simone de

Beauvoir calls the "erotomane." She describes this state as follows:

L'erotomanie peut apparaxtre au sein de divers psychoses; mais son contenu est toujours le meme. Le sujet est illumine et glorifie par 11 amour d'un homme de grande valeur, qui a ete brusquement fascine par ses charmes—alors qu'elle n'attendait rien de lui— ... mais ce qui la Tthe relation] caracterise essentiellement c'est que le demi-dieu 48

puissant et glorieux aime plus qu'il n'est aime et qu'il manifeste sa passion par des conduites bizarres et ambigues (D.S. II, 472).

Paule in Les Mandarins comes close to this description. For love to become a positive feature in the life of all people, equality between the sexes must exist. "Ici encore, pour que la femme put etre amoureuse a la maniere d'un homme, c'est-a-dire sans mettre son etre meme en question, dans la liberte, il faudrait qu'elle se pensat son egale, qu'elle le fut concretement : il faudrait qu'elle s'engageat avec la meme decision dans ses entreprises, ce qui ... n'est pas encore frequent" (D.S. II, 539).

The third inauthentic way of assuming the female condition is closely related to the lover, but instead of a man, God is the idol. The mystic has all of the same faults as the lover, only God is her beloved.

La ferveur mystique, comme 1'amour et le narcissisme meme, peuvent etre integres a des vies actives et independantes. Mais en soi ces efforts de salut individuel ne sauraient aboutir qu'a des echecs; ou la femme se met en rapport avec un irreel : son double, ou Dieu; ou elle cree un irreel rapport avec un etre reel; elle n'a en tout cas pas de prise sur le monde; elle ne s'evade pas de sa subjectivite; sa liberte demeure mysti- fiee; il n'est qu'une maniere de l'accomplir authentiquement : c'est de la projeter par une action positive dans la societe humaine (D.S. II, 517).

Inauthenticity is not limited to these three areas; it can be seen as Radford states, "that the principal fea­ tures of what Simone de Beauvoir considers to be 49

inauthenticity are revealed by her attacks against tradi­

tional values, oppression and appearances.""'"

Inauthenticity is not limited to women. Indeed by

the very role they play in relationship to man as cited in

the above instances, they condemn him to inauthenticity

also.

La complexite de toute cette affaire provient de ce que chaque camp est complice de son ennemi; la femme poursuit un reve de demission, l'homme un reve d'alienation; 11inauthenticite ne paie pas : chacun s1 en prend a 1'autre du malheur qu'il s'est attire en cedant aux tentations de facilite; ce que l'homme et la femme haissent l'un chez 1'autre, c'est l'echec eclatant de sa propre mauvaise foi et de sa propre lachete (D.S. II, 563).

Until many changes come about this situation is

destined to persist. "Tant qu'une parfaite egalite economi-

que ne sera pas realisee dans la societe et tant que les

moeurs autorisent la femme a profiter en tant qu'epouse et

maitresse des privileges detenus par certains hommes, le

reve d'une reussite passxve se maintiendra en elle et frei-

nera ses propres accomplissements" (D.S. II, 128).

Authenticity

The ideal attitude toward life for an existentialist

is the authentic one. Marjorie Grene underlines the impor­ tance of the idea of authenticity for an existentialist when

she says: "What the existentialist admires is not the

1. C. B. Radford, "The Authenticity of Simone de Beauvoir," Nottingham French Studies. IV, No. 2 (October 1965), 98. 50 happiness of a man's life, the goodness of his disposition, or the rightness of his acts but the authenticity of his existence. This is, I think, the unique contribution of existentialism to ethical theory.

It is easier to define this attitude by contrasting it to the inauthentic attitude, and that is why I have dis­ cussed inauthenticity first. Since it is inauthentic to accept ready-made values and moral choices as exemplified by the church, society, and tradition, we can assume that it is authentic to create one's own values and moral code; however, this must not be seen as a license to justify all acts, for along with whatever choice we make, we must assume full responsibility for our choice and its outcome, seeking always to transcend the immediate choice in favor of a future possibility.

In discussing love and friendship, Simone de

Beauvoir gives a definition of one of the ingredients of authenticity, namely liberty.

Mais il en est de 1'amitie comme de 1'amour physi­ que : pour qu'elle so it authenticate, il faut d'abord qu'elle soit libre. Liberte ne signifie pas caprice : un sentiment est un engagement qui depasse 1'instant; mais il n'appartient qu'a l'individue de confronter sa volonte generale et ses conduites singulieres de maniere a maintenir sa decision ou au contraire a le briser; le senti­ ment est libre quand il ne depend d'aucune con- signe etrangere, quand il est vecu dans une sin- cerite sans peur. La consigne de "1"amour conjugal"

1. Grene, p. 266. 51

invite au contraire. a tous les refoulements et a tous les mensonges (D.S. II, 275).

Liberty, then can be seen as forming a part of what

Simone de Beauvoir means when she speaks of authenticity.

This freedom is precisely what is missing in the lives of

most women. This idea will be more fully treated in Chapter

IV, but a little clarification is necessary here for an understanding of authenticity. The liberty to which Simone de Beauvoir refers is defined as follows by Radford. "In a word Simone de Beauvoir is concerned with the fundamental conflict between personal liberty and the liberty of

•autrui,1 a problem which must be neither concealed nor evaded.

To face this problem creates anqoisse which is a basic feature of life for the existentialist and which is experienced when one feels that the entire responsibility for an action belongs to oneself. To accept this responsi­ bility and act accordingly is to be authentic. "In this way, the individual creates his own essence and, in fact, creates 'authenticite' out of 'gratuite1. . . . Importance 2 is thus placed upon the individual and upon the future."

Another element of authenticity resides in not accepting unearned privileges, such as those of birth or

1. Radford, "The Authenticity of Simone de Beauvoir," p. 99.

2. Ibid. 52 accident. "To cast off the expressions of false privilege in our private lives is to become authentic, to become ourselves, just as political revolution will, in this view, cast off for us the shackes [sic] that bind us in our economic and political lives.

A third element of authenticity can be seen in the philosophy of phenomenology. In reviewing La Phenomenoloqie de la Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Simone de

Beauvoir says: "un des immenses merites de la phenomeno- logie, c'est d1avoir restitue a l'homme le droit a une authentique existence, en supprimant 1'opposition du sujet et de l'objet; il est impossible de definir un objet en le coupant du sujet par lequel et pour lequel il est objet; et le sujet ne se revele qu1 a travers les objets dans lesquels

2 il s'engage.". „

Liberty, the casting off of false privilege, and the retention of the necessary connection between a subject and an object, all form a basis for what Simone de Beauvoir means by authenticity.

It will be easier to understand this idea by quoting specific examples of what she considers to be authentic. So as not to prolong the discussion but merely to illustrate

1. Grene, p. 270.

2. Simone de Beauvoir, "Revue de La Phenomenoloqie de la Perception de Maurice Merleau-Ponty," Les Temps Modernes. lere annee, No. 2 (November 1945), p. 363. 53 authenticity, I will use three examples of different roles, as in the preceding section. The three examples which illustrate authentic ways of assuming a situation are: the mother, the actress, and the lover. It will be seen that authenticity is a very difficult state to achieve.

"II arrive malgre tout que certaines femmes s'enga- geant tout entieres dans quelque entreprise deviennent vraiement agissantes, alors, elles ne cherchent plus seulement a s'occuper, elles visent des fins" (D.S. II, 420).

Simone de Beauvoir does not say that it is entirely impossible to live authentically as a mother, she says it is almost impossible. "II y a une fonction feminine qu'il est actuellement presque impossible d'assumer en toute liberte, c'est la maternite; ... il est rare qu'on puisse devenir

i mere sans accepter les chaines du mariage ou sans dechoir"

(D.S. II, 539).

Motherhood, to be lived authentically, requires that: "Le rapport des parents aux enfants, comme celui des epoux, devrait etre librement voulu" (D.S. II, 338). Not only must the relationship between a mother and her child be freely chosen, but the mother must respect the free human being in her child, thus admitting the subject-object rela­ tionship mentioned earlier. "Rien de plus rare que celle qui respecte authentiquement en son enfant la personne humaine, qui reconnait sa liberte jusque dans ses echecs, 54 qui assume avec lui les risques impliques par tout engage­

ment" (D.S. II, 410).

To be an authentic mother then, means not only living the situation in complete freedom, which is difficult because marriage limits freedom, and society disapproves of unwed mothers, but also accepting the subjectivity of one's own child. The situation seems to evoke feelings of des­ pair. The truth is, according to Simone de Beauvoir, that maternity can be lived authentically but it is very rare.

"Le devouement maternel peut etre vecu dans une parfaite authenticity; mais en fait, c'est rarement le cas. Ordinai- rement, la maternite est un etrange compromis de narcissisme, d'altruisme, de reve, de sincerite, de mauvaise foi, de devouement, de cynisme" (D.S. II, 326).

Certain women in the arts manage to live authentic lives, but to do this, they must achieve transcendence through their accomplishments. Simone de Beauvoir makes a distinction between those artists, in this case actresses, who live authentically and those who do not. She says, "les plus grandes—Rachel, la Duse—sont des artistes authenti- ques qui se transcendent dans le role qu'elles creent; la cabotine, au contraire, se soucie non de ce qu'elle accomp- lit, mais de la gloire qui en rejaillira sur elle; elle cherche avant tout a se mettre en valeur" (D.S. II, 470).

To be authentic then, one must not be self-seeking. 55

The woman with a career faces many problems. "En tant que la femme se veut femme, sa condition independante creee en elle un complexe d1inferiorite; inversement, sa feminite lui fait douter de ses chances professionnelles.

C'est la un point des plus importants" (D.S. II, 542).

Since, as has been said earlier (Chapter II, Existen­ tial ), love and marriage do not co-exist for Simone de

Beauvoir in the actual world, one would assume that authen­ tic love resides outside of marriage, but this is not neces­ sarily so. "De toutes fagons, adultere, amities, vie mondaine ne constituent dans la vie conjugale que des divertissements; ils peuvent aider a en supporter les contraintes mais ne les brisent pas. Ce ne sont la que de fausses evasions qui ne permettent aucunement a la femme de reprendre authentiquement en main sa destinee" (D.S. II,

375).

In general, authentic love cannot be found within marriage, because the institution of marriage traditionally inhibits freedom, nor can it be found outside of marriage, for one who is married. This is because:

L1 amour authentique devrait etre fonde sur la reconnaissance reciproque de deux libertes* chacun des amants s1eprouverait alors comme soi-meme et comme 11 autre : aucun n'abdiquerait sa transcen- dance, aucun ne se mutilerait; tous deux devoile- raient ensumble dans le monde des valeurs et des fins. Pour l'un et 1'autre 1'amour serait reve­ lation de soi-meme par le don de soi et enrichisse- ment de l'univers (D.S. II, 505). 56

Freedom is the basis for authentic love, and mar­ riage is synonymous with loss of freedom, so therefore authentic love cannot exist for someone who is married.

Authentic love is not romantic love either, for in romantic love the loved one is idealized. "Un amour authentique devrait assumer la contingence de 1'autre, c'est-a-dire ses manques, ses limites, et sa gratuite originelle; il ne pretendrait pas etre un salut, mais une relation inter- humaine" (D.S. II, 491).

The three above roles: the mother, the actress, and the lover, can only be lived authentically, if they are based on freedom, and are devoid of self-seeking.

Suzanne Lilar sees a contradiction in Simone de

Beauvoir1s ideas on authenticity. She objects that Simone de Beauvoir claims that a woman can become authentic by accepting her situation, while at the same time saying that the only woman who can be authentic is the one who revolts against her situation. The contradiction is, according to

Lilar, "a tenir pour seul authentique le comportement de la femme qui conteste sa condition et a conceder qu'elle peut y atteindre dans le cadre de cette condition. M'1"

Lilar cites pages 177 and 118 of Volume II as being examples of women who can assume their condition and achieve authenticity, but on these pages Simone de Beauvoir

1. Lilar, p. 128. 57 is speaking of heroines of novels, young girls, Maggie of

The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot on page 118, and on page 177 she talks about the revulsion felt by young girls at being sexual prey for men, neither of these examples seem to be of women who live authentically. Lilar admits later that the attitude of refusal and revolt is the only authen­ tic one for Simone de Beauvoir. "Ce qui se profile derriere les theses de Deuxieme Sexe. avec l'effacement de la speci­ fication feminine et 1'encouragement donne a 1'attitude feminine de refus et de revolte—tenue pour seule authenti- que—, c'est une neutralisation des sexes, une desexualisa- tion. This then is Lilar's main criticism. She objects to the loss of sexual differentiation which is what Simone de Beauvoir desires.

For the woman who tries to live authentically within her traditional situation there is little hope. "A une femme qui entend vivre sa situation dans la lucidite, dans

11 authenticity, il ne reste souvent d'autre secours qu'un orgueil stoique. ... mais sa reserve hautaine, son adhesion a la formule 'Supporte et abstiens-toi1 ne constituent qu'une attitude negative" (D.S. II, 280).

There is only one way for women to achieve authen­ ticity. "II n'y a qu'un travail autonome qui puisse assurer a la femme une authentique autonomie" (D.S. II, 277).

1. Ibid., p. 176. 58

Marjorie Grene, in discussing authenticity, an existential virtue, criticizes the whole concept. She says:

Sarte's authentic existent ... remains a mere ideal, or a ghost of a person. . . . The trouble is that an authentic existent, as Sartre conceives him, has no end given him except his own authen­ ticity; but authenticity is not so much an end of acts as a value which is realized as a by-product of acts. The failure to recognize this essential complexity of the ethical situation is a serious lack of existentialism as it is of most other systematic moralities.^

She says later in criticizing Pour une morale de

1'ambiqui'te . by Simone de Beauvoir:

Perhaps this failure of existentialism—its failure adequately to relate my freedom to freedom in general—is connected with the more limited or concrete problem which it equally fails to treat, that is, the problem of the manner in which authenticity is determined or defined or influenced by the direct relation of one individual to another in his freedom.

Later in this same article, Grene says: "Yet if, for the existentialist, freedom is transcendence, he should perhaps be willing to acknowledge that in the projective creation of the future, existentialism itself is among the 3 data to be transcended."

Authenticity is an idea which is open to criticism, but it seems clear that the elements which are necessary to achieve it, are freedom, and the lack of self-interest. Of

1. Grene, p. 270.

2. Ibid. p. 272.

3. Ibid., p. 273. 59 the latter, Simone de Beauvoir says: "Pour faire de grandes choses, ce qui manque essentiellement a la femme d'aujourd' hui, c'est l'oubli de soi : mais pour s'oublier il faut d'abord etre solidement assure qu'on s'est d'ores et deja trouve. Novuelle venue au monde des hommes, pietrement soutenue par eux, la femme est encore trop occupee a se chercher" (D.S. II( 545-46).

Women must overcome many obstacles in the search for transcendence and authenticity. Because of tradition, his­ tory, and society, they are handicapped more than men are, and this inequality must be eliminated.

Both men and women have to face problems in search­ ing for authenticity: "Sous des formes diverses, les pieges de la mauvaise foi, les mystifications du serieux les guettent les uns comme les autres; la liberte est entiere en chacun. Seulement du fait qu'elle demeure chez la femme abstraite et vide elle ne saurait authentiquement s'assumer que dans la revolte : ... il n'y a pour la femme aucune autre issue que de travailler a sa liberation" (D.S. II,

455).

This last quotation makes it abundantly clear that in all the roles which constitute a woman's life, she must avoid inauthenticity and seek authenticity by working towards her liberation. CHAPTER IV

LIBERATION

To elucidate the idea of liberation, I will first attempt to define it; next I will show the methods to be used in obtaining it, and finally I will indicate some possible results to be achieved by liberation.

Definition

In order to define a term like liberation, it is first necessary to define the state from which one wishes to be liberated. It was the purpose of the first two chapters to illustrate the conditions inherent in woman's situation, which is the state from which she wishes to be liberated.

A brief recapitulation will be helpful. To do this I have chosen a definition of the thesis of the Le Deuxieme Sexe cited by Karl Menninger which is as follows:

The thesis, according to the translator [H. M. Parshley], ... is that "since patriarchial times, women have in general, been forced to occupy a secondary place in the world in relation to men, a position comparable in many respects to that of racial minorities in spite of the fact that women constitute numerically at least half of the human race, and further that this secondary standing is not imposed of necessity and natural "feminine" characteristics but rather by strong environmental forces of educational and social tradition under the purposeful control of men. This, the author maintains, has resulted in the general failure of women to take a place of human dignity as free and independent existents, associated with men on a

60 61

plane of intellectual and professional equality, a condition that has not only limited their achieve­ ment in many fields but also has given rise to pervasive social evils and has had a particularly vitiating effect on the sexual relations between men and women.-1-

This then is the state from which women wish to be liberated. It is, in a word, from their traditional place as the second sex. Women no longer wish to be "mysterious11 nor "mythical" creatures, because these designations merely becloud the issue of their inequality. They wish henceforth to be liberated from their standing as second-class citi­ zens.

It is Simone de Beauvoir's position as Georges

Hourdin says, "que la femme est l'egale de l'homme, absolu- 2 ment, exactement, totalement"; but that she is not treated as such.

Woman wants liberty. What is liberty for the existentialist? One definition is offered by Georges

Hourdin.

Ce n'est pas seulement ce jaillissement continu et createur de la conscience capable de choix. Cela, c'est le donne de la liberte; c'est la liberte, si j'ose dire a 1'etat pur. II faut en outre, vouloir la liberte, etre decide a en faire usage, avoir un pro jet, l'assumer en sachant une fois encore qu'il ne sera jamais completement ou definiment realise. C'est accepter cette tension, c'est a travers le temps des hommes ou tout s'inscrit mysterieusement,

1. "A. S. R. panel takes aim at 'The Second Sex," pp. 26-27.

2. Georges Hourdin, Simone de Beauvoir et la liber- te (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1962), p. 116. 62

preserverer dans la volonte qu'on a de poursuivre la realisation d'un projet.1

Liberty, then is not merely the possibility of

having a choice, but also the will to exercise that choice,

and the courage to persevere in that which is chosen, to

have a project. It must also be remembered that this pro­

ject must not be given from the outside, but pulled out from

within. In other words one does not merely become a doctor

because one's mother wanted a doctor for a daughter, but

because one wants to be a doctor.

Liberty, then is liberty for oneself, but since the

existentialist accepts the responsibility for the conse­

quences of his actions on others besides himself, he must

also wish liberty for others. This is the only moral atti­

tude possible for the existentialist.

"Puisque l'homme, pour devoiler l'etre, doit se

faire d'abord manque d'etre, il a besoin de la liberte des

autres. II s'appuie sur elle. II la cree. Au fond,

l'homme moral est celui qui, dans 1'usage delibere et per-

severant qu'il fait de son inepuisable liberte, devoile

l'etre de autres, c'est-a-dire rend ceux-ci capables 2 d'exercer eux memesa leur propre liberte." Liberty for others is an essential part of liberty for oneself. Women

1. Ibid., p. 21.

2. Ibid., pp. 24-25. 63

must wish it for other women, as well as for men. Men must

wish it for women as well as for themselves.

In the light of conditions at present, however, this

liberty is only a word and not a fact as far as women are

concerned. Some reasons for this given by Simone de

Beauvoir are:

Le privilege economique detenu par les hommes, leur valeur sociale, le prestige du mariage, l'utilite d'un appui masculin, tout engage les femmes a vouloir ardemment plaire aux hommes. Elles sont encore dans 11 ensemble en situation de vassalite. II s'ensuit que la femme se connait et se choisit non en tant qu'elle existe pour soi, mais telle que l'homme la definit (D.S. I, 228).

Women must first know themselves, in order to be able to choose their lives. When they do, they will have a possibility of choices, but not as some (Freud, Adler) pre­ tend, between being a woman or a man. "Pour Simone de

Beauvoir, le choix qui s'ouvre a la femme est ailleurs. II est entre l'autonomie et 11heteronomie, entre 1'independance, l'assomption de la liberte humaine originelle et 1'abandon aux forces et a la volonte e tranger es "'L In other words, she will have to choose between authenticity, and inauthenticity, just as men now do.

Suzanne Lilar criticizes Simone de Beauvoir's ideas on liberty. She says: "Au lieu de nous montrer la jeune fille 1partagee entre des tendances 'viriles et feminins1 comme font les psychanalystes—Beauvoir nous la decrit

1. Buytendijk, p. 202. 64

•hesitant entre le role d'objet. d'Autre qui lui est assigne et la revendication de sa liberte' (I., 92-93). Singuliere liberte qui se ramasse tout entiere dans le refus, excluant qu'on choisisse d'acquiescer a la condition feminine."'''

Lilar misses the point, that to accept the current condition of women, is to exclude liberty. This is true because, woman's traditional role is to repeat life, to remain in a state of immanence and to forsake transcendence. As Armand

Hoog explains the existentialist's conception of liberty, we can see that to choose woman's traditional role is to deny the possibility of liberation. "La liberte n'existe que par un depassement perpetuel de soi vers d'autres libertes. Une liberte qui s1accepterait comme telle, et croirait que

'c'est arrive,1 retomberait du meme coup en 'facticite' et cesserait aussitot d'etre libre. La morale existentialiste * 2 est elan et affranchissement perpetuel de soi." Not only must one continually seek transcendence through projects, but also one must not think of oneself as having attained freedom, as such an attitude is sufficient to lose it.

Furthermore, as was said earlier (Chapter II, Existential). to choose oppression is a moral fault.

What women want in essence is equality of possi­ bility. They want an equal chance in life to test their

1. Lilar, pp. 120-121.

2. Armand Hoog, "Madame de Beauvoir et son sexe," La Nef. No. 56 (Aout, 1949), p. 90. 65

wills, assume their own responsibility, and face their own

"angoisse." "Elles veulent qu'enfin leur soit accordes les droits absi:raits et les possibilites concretes sans la con- jugaison desquelles la liberte n'est qu'une mystification"

(D.S. I, 222).

There are those (mostly men) who would contend that women are in some ways inferior, and should not be granted equality. Women have long been considered the property of men, making them seem inferior, even some women have this idea, but Simone de Beauvoir says it is not because they know themselves to be inferior, but because of their situa­ tion. "Bien loin qu'elle se voue a l'homme parce qu'elle se sait inferieure a lui, c'est parce qu'elle lui est vouee qu'acceptant l'idee de son inferiorite elle la constitue"

(D.S. II, 88).

Others cite the fact that there have been no women geniuses, as an indication of their inferiority. It is per­ haps true that there have not been any female geniuses, but once again it is the situation which is to blame. "II y a des femmes qui sont folles et il y a des femmes de talent : aucune n'a cette folie dans le talent qu'on appelle le genie"

(D.S. II, 552).

There are several statements which can be made con­ cerning woman's attempts to gain transcendance through a project. In general women do not give completely of them­ selves. "Au lieu de se donner genereusement a l'oeuvre 66 qu'elle entrepend la femme trop souvent la considere comme un simple ornament de sa vie" (D.S. II, 550).

In speaking of women writers, Simone de Beauvoir contends that: "Meme si elle parle de themes generaux, la femme ecrivain parlera encore d'elle" (D.S. II, 550). This quotation will be of particular interest in Part II. She offers an explanation for these shortcomings on the part of women, however. She says of women writers in particular:

"Elles ne contestent pas la condition humaine parce qu'elles commencent a peine a pouvoir integralement l'assumer" (D.S.

II, 555). She continues and cites a chief lack among women.

"Ce qui manque d'abord a femme c'est de faire dans l'angoisse et l'orgueil 1'apprentissage de son delaissement et de sa transcendance" (D.S. II, 555). Far from being criticisms then, the lacks one finds in woman are often only the indica­ tions of her situation, which as now constituted is to be inferior.

"Le fait que sa transcendance lui est refusee lui interdit normalement l'acces aux plus hautes attitudes humaines : heroi'sme, revolte, detachement, invention, crea­ tion; mais chez les males memes elles ne sont pas si com­ munes" (D.S. II, 451). We must remember that liberation for women, will help to liberate those men who are stuck in some preordained definition of masculinity. "II y a beaucoup d'hommes qui sont, comme la femme, confines dans le domaine de 1'interm^diaire, du moyen inessentiel" (D.S. II, 451). 67

Of course this does not mean that upon liberation we shall all be geniuses.

Throughout history, many criticisms have been leveled at what is called woman's character:

Elle a l1esprit de contradiction, elle est prudente et mesquine, elle n'a pas le sens de la verite, ni de 1'exactitude, elle manque de moralite, elle est bassement utilitaire, elle est menteuse, comedienne, interessee. ... II y a dans toutes ces affirmations une verite. Seulement les conduites que l'on denonce ne sont pas dictees a la femme par ses hormones ni prefigurees dans les cases de son cerveau : elles sont indiquees en creux par sa situation (D.D. II, 422).

Once again we see that Simone de Beauvoir blames the situation of woman for her traditional shortcomings and does not accept the idea that these faults could be inherent in her being.

Woman in her actual function of housewife and mother is utilitarian and nothing more.

Sa vie n'est pas dirigee vers des fins : elle s'absorbe a produire ou entretenir des choses qui ne sont jamais que des moyens : nourriture, vetement, habitat; ce sont la des intermediaires inessentiels entre la vie animale et la libre existence; la seule valeur qui s1 attache au moyen inessentiel, c'est l'utilite; c'est au niveau de l'utile que vit la menagere et elle ne se flatte elle-meme que d'etre utile a ses pro'ches (D.S. II, 430).

Woman is perhaps mediocre in what she manages to do, but that does not make her necessarily inferior. Her situa­ tion must be considered in stating her mediocrity. "Les constraintes dont elle est entouree et toute la tradition qui pesent [sic] sur elle empechent qu'elle ne se sente 68 responsable de l'univers : voila la profonde raison de sa mediocrite" (D.S. II, 557).

Woman's present situation makes many things diffi­ cult for her. "Ce qui est certain, c'est qu'aujourd'hui il est tres difficile aux femmes d'assumer a la fois leur condition d'individu autonome et leur destin feminin" (D.S.

I, 395).

There are several results which can be attributed to the fact that woman is not yet liberated. One of these is her failure to accept responsibility. "Un individu libre ne s'en prend qu'a soi de ses echecs, il les assume : mais c'est par autrui que tout arrive a la femme, c'est autrui qui est responsable de ses malheurs" (D.S. II, 432). In not accepting the responsibility for her actions, she becomes powerless in effect, and as a result resents her situation.

"La majorite des femmes a la fois revendiquent et detestent leur condition feminine; c'est dans le ressentiment qu'elles la vivent" (D.S. II, 333).

Woman's basic attitude toward society is, according to Simone de Beauvoir, manichean. This attitude prevents her from attaining transcendence and liberty.

Son attitude est celle du manicheiste. Le propre du manicheisme n'est pas seulement de reconnaxtre deux principes, l'un bon, 1'autre mauvais : mais de poser que le bien s'atteint par 1'abolition du mal et non par un mouvement positif; ... . Toute doctrine de la transcendance et de la liberte subordonne la defaite du mal au progres vers le bien (D.S. II, 236-37). 69

This attitude makes her create a poetic world, of

which the world of nature is a reflection. This helps to

explain why she is considered closer to nature than men.

Cette double appartenance au monde charnel et a un monde "poetique" definit la metaphysique, la sagesse, a laquelle adhere plus ou moins explicite- ment la femme. Elle s'efforce de confondre vie et transcendance; c'est dire qu'elle recuse le car- tesianisme et toutes les doctrines qui s'y appar- entent; elle se trouve a son aise dans un natural- isme analogue a celui des Stoiciens ou des neoplatoniciens du XVIe siecle : ... . Socialement manicheiste, la femme a un besoin profond d'etre ontologiquement optimiste : les morales de 1'action ne lui conviennent pas puisqju'il lui est interdit d'agir : elle subit le donne : il faut done que le donne soit le Bien; ... . Elle reclame un bien qui soit une Harmonie vivante et au sein duquel elle se situe par le seul fait de vivre (D.S. II, 447).

But her error is to passively accept what is given and declare that therefore it must be good. "Le Bien n'est

pas le monde n'est pas harmonie et aucun individu n'y a une

place necessaire" (D.S. II, 448).

Woman's current situation denies her transcendence.

She is forced into immanence, and cannot therefore accom­

plish any transcending action. She cannot "devoiler l'etre."

The only way for her to do this is to make herself "manque d'etre" which can only be accomplished through a transcend­ ing action or project. This is necessary to achieve liberty. Simone de Beauvoir says that the only path open to her is revolt. 70

Method

Potentially free, but existentially far from free, women need to acquire their freedom. Radford contends that in Le Deuxieme Sexe. one sees, "the absence of a clearly defined route""L for the liberation of women. It is true that Simone de Beauvoir offers no general solution to the problem of women. However, it is clear that in certain of her statements she has an idea of the method to be used in liberating women. One thing woman will need that she does not now possess is a taste for definitive solutions. With­ out this she will never escape from her prison of immanence.

"Elle n'a pas le gout des solutions definitives : elle pro­ test contre sa condition, mais elle ne s'en evade pas"

(D.S. II, 436). Protests are not enough, and will never achieve, by themselves, liberation.

Women who claim they love their position in society, cannot really love it. They can assume it, but only by casting it off will they be truly authentic and moral in the existential sense. "On assume son corps, son passe, sa situation presente : mais 11 amour est mouvement vers un autre, vers une existence separee de la sienne, une fin, un avenir; la maniere d'assumer un fardeau, une tyrannie, ce

1. C. B. Radford, "Simone de Beauvoir: Feminism's friend or foe? II," Nottingham French Studies. VII, No. 1 (May, 1968), 52. 71

n'est pas de 1'aimer mais de se revolter" (D.S. II, 274-

275).

Within her present situation then, only through revolution, not only against her feelings of inferiority, but against the very social structure, which constitutes her inferiority, will she achieve liberation. "Le fait est que la femme traditionelle est une conscience mystifiee et un instrument de mystification; elle essaie de se dissimuler sa dependance, ce qui est une maniere d'y consentir; denoncer cette dependance, c'est deja une liberation; contre les humiliations, contre la honte, le cynisme est une defense :

c'est 1'ebauche d'une assomption" (D.S. II, 553).

Radford sees the general aim of Simone de Beauvoir's feminism as follows: "Thus in her feminism, as in her other non-fictional writings, the aim is the removal of unjusti­ fiable privilege.

Without the consent of society, which is slowly but surely being given, women in the past were often forced into negative actions to prove their independence, "c'est seule- ment par le mensonge et l'adultere qu'elle peut prouver qu'elle n'est la chose de personne et qu'elle dement les pretentions du male" (D.S. I, 299). These negative actions will no longer be justified when women are liberated, and they are not to be used at present in her efforts at

1. Ibid., p. 52. 72 liberation, except where the oppression is tremendous, and no other methods are available.

To achieve liberation, revolt alone is not enough.

Social changes must be made. Woman must be freed from the burdens of maternity, child-rearing, and those activities which keep her locked up in her immanence. The family pattern must change. Girls should be raised in the same manner as boys. Mothers should work and assume as much prestige as fathers.

Simone de Beauvoir proposes certain changes of family structure, but she maintains the family unit, and does not consider abolishing it. She does, however, mention some changes with regard to the education of children.

II serait evidemment souhaitable pour le bien de 11 enfant qjue sa mere fut une personne complete et non mutilee, une femme qui trouve dans son travail, dans son rapport a la collectivite, un accomplis- sement de soi qu'elle ne chercherait pas a atteindre tyranniquement a travers lui; et il serait souhaitable aussi qu1il soit abandonne a ses parents infiniment mo ins qu1il ne l'est a present, que ses etudes, ses distractions se deroulent au milieu d'autres enfants, sous le controle d'adultes qui n'auraient avec lui des liens impersonnels et purs (D.S. II, 340).

The relationship between husbands and wives will have to change also. "Pour qu'il y ait entre epoux loyaute et amitie, la condition sine qua non c'est qu'ils soient tous deux libres a 1'egard l'un de 11 autre et concretement egaux"

(D.S. II, 269). In Simone de Beauvoir's ideally constituted world, people would only be joined by their freely chosen 73 love. "L1ideal serait ... que des etres humaines se suffisant parfaitement chacun ne soit enchaines l'un a l1autre que par le libre consentement de leur amour" (D.S.

II, 274).

One of the main instruments of liberation, and the method mentioned most often by Simone de Beauvoir is work, which is also the way to achieve transcendence. "C'est par le travail que la femme a en grande partie franchi la dis­ tance qui la separait du male; c'est le travail qui peut seul lui garantir une liberte concrete" (D.S. II, 521).

Women also must unite to accomplish their goals.

Independent action can only produce independent liberty, and since the liberty of others is a necessary ingredient for true liberty, a collective effort on the part of women must be made. "Cependant il y a eu, il y a encore quantite de femmes qui cherchent solitairement a realiser leur salut individuel. Elles essaient de justifier leur existence au sein de leur immanence, c'est-a-dire de realiser la trans- cendance dans 1'immanence" (D.S. II, 455). This is impos­ sible as we have seen in the case of the narcissist, the lover, and the mystic (Chapter III, Inauthenticity).

There are those who would fear that equality in the social and economic spheres of life will threaten sexual differentiation, creating a world of unsexed people. How­ ever, women are not refusing to be women, merely to be what is not defined as "Feminine." "Elle refuse de se 74 cantonner dans son role de femelle parce qu'elle ne veut pas se mutiler; mais ce serait aussi une mutilation de repudier son sexe. L'homme est un etre humain sexue; la femme n'est un individu complet, et l'egale du male, que si elle est aussi un etre humain sexue" (D.S. II, 524).

It is not sex which is at issue here, but the sexual role as now defined by society. There is a difference between "•thes e two.

In the political sphere Simone de Beauvoir favors socialism, above any other system for the liberation of women. "Tout socialisme, arrachant la femme a la famille, favorise sa liberation" (D.S. I, 189).

In sum, to liberate herself, woman must be aware of her situation as inferior; she must then revolt, and cause social changes to come about. This must be accomplished by women working together, not independently. The family struc­ ture must be changed, and women must be allowed to work at meaningful jobs, benefitting economically in the same way as men do. Then and only then will woman be liberated from her existential category of "other."

Results

What will be the results of woman's efforts to liberate herself? Simone de Beauvoir's attitude toward the future of women is very optimistic. She sees liberation as being inevitable. "L'existant que l'on considere comme 75 inessentiel ne peut manquer de pretendre retablir sa souve- rainete" (D.S. II, 561).

The future is bright and remains open to woman. Her inability to liberate herself thus far, can only be attrib­ uted to her situation. "Encore une fois, pour expliqer ses limites c'est done sa situation qu'il faut invoquer et non une mysterieuse essence : 1•avenir demeure largement ouvert"

(D.S. II, 558).

Women will have the possibility to become geniuses, just as men now do. To illustrate this idea Simone de

Beauvoir cites Rimbaud's well known letter to Pierre Demeny,

May 15, 1871.

La femme libre est seulement en train de naitre; quand elle se sera conquise, peut-etre justifiera- t-elle la prophetie de Rimbaud" : "Les poetes seront! Quand sera brise 11infini servage de la femme, quand elle vivra pour elle et par elle, l'homme—jusqu'ici abominable—lui ayant donne son renvoi, elle sera poete elle aussi! La femme trouvera 1'inconnu1 Ses mondes d'idees differont- ils des notres? Elle trouvera des choses etranges, insondables, repoussantes, delicieuses, nous les prendrons, nous les comprendrons. 11 II n'est pas sur que ses "mondes d'idees" soient differents de ceux des hommes puisque c'est en s'assimilant k eux qu'elle s'affranchira (D.S. II, 559).

Some of the prophesied changes have come about, and it appears that a woman in the year 19 71 is well on her way to being fully liberated. This does not mean, however, that she will completely reject all of her traditional functions.

She will continue to bear children, if she wishes, for example, but she will and does have the right to exercise a 76 choice in the number and spacing of her children. She is capable of making a more responsible decision in this matter.

"Elle reclame aujourd'hui de participer au mouvement par lequel 1'humanite tente sans cesse de se justifier en se depassant; elle ne peut consentir a donner la vie que si la vie a un sens; elle ne saurait etre mkre sans essayer de jouer un role dans la vie economique, politique, sociale"

(D.S. II, 340-41).

It is Simone de Beauvoir's opinion that women will continue to be assimilated more and more into all facets of life. "II semble done que la partie soit gagnee. L'avenir ne peut que conduire a une assimilation de plus en plus profonde de la femme a la societe nagufere masculine" (D.S.

I, 216).

She also feels that women will not merely become a part of male or human society, but that they will show them­ selves to be fully capable of handling their new responsi­ bilities. "Qu'on lui ouvre l'avenir, elle ne se cramponnera plus au passe. Quand on appelle concretement les femmes a

1'action, quand elles se reconnaissent dans les buts qu'on leur designe, elles sont aussi hardis et courageuses que les hommes" (D.S. II, 428-29). She continues and repeats this same sentiment: "Le fait est que lorsqu'une femme est engagee dans une entreprise digne d'un etre humain, elle sait se montrer aussi active, efficace, silencieuse, aussi ascetique qu'un homme" (D.S. II, 430). 77

From all of her statements about the future of woman's cause, it is clear that this change in consciousness is to be a gradual process dictated by the needs of society and the natural evolution of mankind, but which needs for its realization, the awareness of all women.

To be fully liberated, woman must be aware of her own contingence, her freedom, and she must assume existential anguish. Thus she will be able to accomplish transcending actions, and to reject the idea that the pattern of life is pre-ordained for her. She will no longer try to justify her situation, through such futureless attitudes as narcissism.

"La fillette ne chercherait done pas de steriles compensations dans le narcissisme et le reve, elle ne se prendrait pas pour donnee, elle s1interesserait a ce qu'elle fait. elle s'en- gagerait sans reticence dans ses entreprises" (D.S. II, 571).

This new freedom and consequent responsibility will also change much of her behavior, notably her behavior toward men. The erotic situation is much discussed by

Simone de Beauvoir, and her prognosis for relations between men and women is also optimistic.

Before liberation women tried to pull men into immanence. Now with the advent of liberation they are trying to escape immanence and assume transcendence. This difference in attitude is clearly visible on a sexual plane.

Cette difference d'attitude se marque sur le plan sexuel comme sur le plan spirituel; la femme feminine essaie en se faisant une proie passive de 78

reduire aussi le male a sa passivite charnelle; elle s•emploie a le prendre au piege, a l'enchafner par le d~sir qu'elle suscite en se faisant docilement chose; au contraire la femme ''emancip~e" se veut active, prehensive et refuse la passivite que l'homme pr~tend lui imposer (D.S. II, 562).

The traditional war between the sexes will also be

altered through liberation. This also can be shown in the

realm of changing sexual values. "On a vu qu'il est possi-

ble d'~chapper aux tentations du sadisme et du masochisme

lorsque les deux partenaires se reconnaissent mutuellement

comme des semblables; des qu'il y a chez l'homme et chez la

femme un peu de modestie et quelque g~n~rosite, les idees de

victoire et de defaite s'abolissent : l'acte d'amour devient

un libre ~change" (D. S. II, 534).

This whole discussion of liberation implies the

liberation of men from their traditional ideas and concepts

of superiority. No matter how free women become, they will

not be able to accomplish complete freedom without a corres-

ponding change of attitude on the part of men. If woman

becomes liberated without this corresponding change on man's

part, the relation between the sexes will continue to be bellicose.

Du moment ou la femme est libre elle n•a d'autre destin que celui qu'elle se cree librement. Le rapport des deux sexes est alors un rapport de lutte .•.. Une meme dialictique fait de l'objet ~rotique une noire magicienne, de la servante une traftresse, de Cendrillon une ogresse et change toute femme en ennemie : c•est la ran~on 79

que l'homme paie pour s'etre pose avec mauvaise foi comme le seul essentiel (D.S. I, 302).

It is Simone de Beauvoir's opinion that men need not fear the liberation of women. On the contrary she maintains that they can only benefit by her liberation. "L'homme n'aurait rien a perdre bien au contraire, s'il renongait a deguiser la femme en symbole" (D.S. I, 393).

Man's liberation, and woman's will be mutually bene­ ficial. "Plus le male s'individualise et revendique son individuality, plus aussi il reconnaitra en sa compagne un individu et une liberte" (D.S. I, 274).

The ultimate result of liberation for women will be that they no longer will be defined by their sexual role.

This does not mean, however, that they will reject this role, but merely that they will integrate it into their lives.

Affranchir la femme, c'est refuser de 1'enfermer dans les rapports qu'elle soutient avec l'homme, mais non les nier; qu'elle se pose pour-soi elle n'en continuera pas moins a exister aussi pour lui : se reconnaissant mutuellement comme sujet chacun demeurera cependant pour 1'autre un autre; la reciprocite de leurs relations ne supprimera pas les miracles qu'engendre la division des etres humains en deux categories separees (D.S. II, 576).

The future seems bright. The changes will be not only iexterior, but also interior on the part of both men and women. A change of attitude will take place, indeed is already taking place. It is in man's favor to further emancipate women. He is already aware of this, to some 80 degree. "Ainsi les hommes ont ete amenes, dans leur propre interet, a emanciper partiellement les femmes : elles n'ont plus qu'a poursuivre leur ascension et les succes qu'elles obtiennent les y encouragent; il semble a peu pres certain qu1elles accederont d'ici un temps plus ou moins long a la parfaite egalite economique et sociale, ce qui entrainera une metamorphose interieure" (D.S. I, 574).

Biologically, historically, and existentially, woman's situation has been different than man's. She cannot alter biology, nor can she change history; however, she can redefine her existential self. Away from roles which incor­ porate a large amount of bad faith, she can liberate herself through work, changes in society, and most importantly changes in her own consciousness. Indeed the future is bright. It remains to be seen how Simone de Beauvoir treats these ideas in her works of fiction. Is there such a thing as an authentic woman? It will be the purpose of Part II to deal with this question. PART 2

FICTIONAL REPRESENTATION OF WOMAN'S SITUATION

81 CHAPTER V

SITUATIONS REPRESENTED

Not all possible situations of women are repre­ sented in the works of fiction of Simone de Beauvoir. In order to understand the female characters of her novels and play, it is first necessary to define their situation in terms of setting, role, and age.

Setting

By setting, I mean the historical, political, and socioeconomic groups to which the female characters belong.

In general the novels of Simone de Beauvoir are contemporary.

Most of them are set around the time of World War II. This is true of L'Invitee (1943), which takes place just before, and during the first part of the war. It is true of Le Sang des autres (1945), which is set during the Resistance with flashbacks to the past life of Jean Blomart, the main charac­ ter. It is also true of Les Mandarins (1954), which opens at the time of the Liberation. The war is a central pre­ occupation of the above novels. According to Helene Nahas:

"C'est cette preoccupation [the war] que la litterature existentielle, et une certaine portion de la litterature contemporaine, ont placee au premier plan de la conscience de leurs personnages, avec une insistance qui les expose au

82 83

danger de 'dater' si cette obsession s'affaiblit aux depens

d'une autre.""''

Simone de Beauvoir's only play, Les Bouches Inutiles

(1945), is also placed in a period of war; however, this war

takes place in the fourteenth century. This setting does

not really count for much, except that it allows the central

theme of the plot to be more credible. This theme is, that

in order to survive the siege, the leaders of the village of

Vauxcelles in Flanders decide to get rid of the useless

mouths because they have only enough food for six weeks and

must make it last for three months. The useless mouths are those belonging to the people who do not fight, or the women, children, and old people. In the end, a general sacrifice is decided upon. The whole village will attack the besiegers, instead of condemning "les bouches inutiles."

This same theme is repeated in the novel Tous les hommes sont mortels (1946), which is a fresco of history from the thirteenth century to the present day, wherein the main character, Antoine Fosca, drinks the elixir of immor­ tality and is condemned to live forever. Once again the historical importance of the setting is secondary to the principal idea that mortality is a necessary and good condi­ tion of human existence. The periods of history which are

1. Helene Nahas, "Etude de la femme dans la litte- rature existentielle franchise : Jean-Paul Sartre et Simone de Beauvoir" (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Languages, University of Minnesota, 1954), p. 52. 84 examined in this novel are the first 300 years of Antoine

Fosca's life in the town of Carmona in Italy, the time of

Emperor Charles V, the Reformation, the exploration of

America, the eighteenth century in France and life in the salons, the War of 1848, and present day France.

Except for the setting, Les Bouches Inutiles. and

Tous les hommes sont mortels, both explore psychological dramas which could just as easily be contemporary. The fact that these works are placed in the past, is not of major importance to this study, for Simone de Beauvoir does not really explore woman's role in terms of history in either work.

It must be noted that Les Bouches Inutiles. and Tous les hommes sont mortels. as well as L'Invitee and Le Sang des autres predate Le Deuxieme Sexe (1949), and therefore all references to woman's situation in the above works are not to be considered as having been formulated from the ideas in Le Deuxieme Sexe. but rather as representing a manner of thought of Simone de Beauvoir before she clarified her stand on woman's situation. In Les Mandarins. the references to women are more precise, and show that the formulation of her ideas about women's situation in general, marks her female characters in particular.

The two most recent works of Simone de Beauvoir, a novel Les Belles Images (1966), and a collection of three short stories, La Femme Rompue (1967), which includes "L1 age 85 de discretion" and "Monologue" as well as the short story

"La Femme rompue," are all set in the 1960's in France. In these latest works, we also find more precise references to woman's situation. The novel and all three short stories deal entirely with problems of women.

The historical setting of the works of fiction, with the exception of Tous les hommes sont mortels. and the play

Les Bouches Inutiles. is contemporary. This fact is pointed out by Nahas when she says, "les femmes de la litterature existentielle sont fortement situees dans 11 age present.""''

In the domain of politics we see that in the main, in those works which deal with politics, Le Sang des autres and Les Mandarins in particular, the principal characters belong to leftist political groups. This fact is important in Le Sang des autres. because Helene, the main female character, only decides to become engagee. when contem­ plating the thought of collaborating with the Germans. She realizes that she can not do it and later decides to join the Resistance, with the other characters in the novel. She joins the Resistance because the Gestapo are after her

Jewish friend, Yvonne, who needs a way to escape. Helene goes to see Jean Blomart with whom she is in love and asks to join his group.

1. Ibid., p. 64. 86

In Les Mandarins. it is mostly the male characters

who are politically oriented. Anne Dubrueilh is interested

in politics, but not active. Nadine takes part in an act of

reprisal against a former collaborator, but politics is not

central to her life. In the other novels the political opinions of the women are almost non-existent. It is

important to note that, although political issues are main

themes in Les Mandarins and Le Sang des autres. the female

characters except Helene are affected only circumstantially

in this regard.

The male characters are the only ones whose lives

are changed through politics. Lambert, a rich young re­

porter in Les Mandarins who joined the Resistance, feels guilty because he is rich, but does not understand why Henri

Perron, editor of "L'Espoir," feels he must become involved politically. Henri explains: "Quand la situation est injuste, tu ne peux pas la vivre correctement; c'est bien pour ga qu'on est amene a faire de la politique; pour essayer de changer la situation.

The importance of politics is thus underlined. Once again we must note that the female characters are not poli­ tically active. Love is at the center of their lives.

According to the above citation, and Chapter IV, Method..

1. Simone de Beauvoir, Les Mandarins (Paris: Gallimard, 1954), p. 133. This book will be referred to henceforth as M. 87 above, women are the ones who should be politically active, but as explained in Chapter IV, Definition. women do not contest their situation, because they are just beginning to be able to assume it. (See also Chapter III.)

When the women do express political opinions, those opinions coincide with the opinions of their men. Helene, the only female character for whom politics is an issue, is placed at a period in history, the Resistance, where a political stand is inevitable. Her political engagement is coincidental with her decision to live for something, to have a project. She is described as follows by Jean Blomart after having joined the Resistance:

Maintenant, elle n'etait plus jamais seule, plus jamais inutile et perdue sous le ciel vide. Elle existait avec lui, [Jean] avec Marcel, avec Made­ leine, Laurent, Yvonne, avec tous les inconnus qui dormaient dans les baraques de bois et qui n'avait jamais entendu son nom, avec tous ceux qui souhai- taient un autre lendemain, avec ceux memes qui ne savaient rien souhaiter. La coquille s1etait brisee : elle existait pour quelque chose, pour quelqu'un. La terre entiere etait une presence fraternelle.

—Quelle belle nuit! dit-elle."1"

Although political questions become more and more important in the life of Simone de Beauvoir, as shown by the book she co-authored, Djamila Boupacha (1962), and some of her essays sucii as "La Pensee de droite aujourd'hui" (1955),

1. Simone de Beauvoir, Le Sang des autres (Paris: Gallimard, 1945), p. 220. This book will be referred henceforth as S. 88 it is significant that her female characters are, with the exception of Helene, politically uninvolved. In her latest works, political issues are almost entirely absent. The women in these works, with the exception of the main female character in "L'age de discretion," who is not named, and who will be referred to as La Femme, are politically ignor­ ant. This is especially true of Laurence who finds it difficult to follow current events, and who espouses the opinion that young girls working in factories can do nothing else.

While the historical and political settings of

Simone de Beauvoir's fiction are somewhat limited, the socioeconomic situation of her female characters is more inclusive. The emphasis in the early novels and in "L'age de discretion" is placed on intellectuals.

The main female characters of all the novels, up to and including Les Mandarins are either real or pseudo- intellectuals. This is true whether they are of the working class, like Helene, or whether they are of the middle class like the intellectuals, Fran^oise, Anne, Nadine, and La

Femme. The other characters or the pseudo-intellectuals such as Elisabeth, Paule, Denise, and Regine also belong to the middle class, for the most part.

The female characters who belong to the poorest economic group are Helene; Madeleine; Murielle, of 89

"Monologue"; Xaviere, who is a peasant; and Laure, of Tous

les hommes who appears in the nineteenth century.

Those who belong to the richest economic class

include Josette and Lucie Belhomme, rich bourgeoises with

murky backgrounds; most of the episodic female characters in

Tous les hommes ... : the female characters in Les Bouches

Inutiles. which include Catherine,"*" the wife of Louis who is

an echevin. and her daughter Clarice as well as her adopted daughter Jeanne; the female characters in Les Belles Images.

Laurence, Dominique, Louise, and Catherine; the female

characters in "La Femme Rompue." Monique, Lucienne, Colette,

Noellie, and Isabelle; and Irene in "L1 age de discretion."

None of these characters is intellectual with the exception of Marianne, in Tous les hommes ..., who lives during the eighteenth century in France and has a salon.

The socioeconomic group to which the female char­ acters belong includes a wide spectrum, from the lower class to the upper class. The most important factor in this aspect of the setting is that the main female characters such as

Anne, Frangoise, and La Femme reject bourgeois values. The only true bourgeoises we find are Josette and her mother

Lucie Belhomme in Les Mandarins. the women in Les Belles

1. To avoid confusion between the two Catherines and the two Paules, I will refer to Catherine of Les Bouches Inutiles as Catherine (B.), and Paule of L1Invitee as Paule (I. ). 90

Images. those in "La Femme Rompue," and Irene in "L'age de discretion."

The female characters portray a limited vision of the situation of women historically and policitally, and a somewhat broader vision of woman's socio-economic situation.

To further elucidate those aspects of woman's situation explored by Simone de Beauvoir in her works of fiction, it is necessary to examine in more detail the roles that her female characters portray.

Roles

The roles to be considered include: the working status of the female characters, their relationship to their children, and their relationship to the male characters.

Most of the female characters in Simone de Beauvoir's novels work at one thing or another, with a few notable exceptions such as Monique and Madeleine. The functions they perform are artistic or literary in nature. Franijoise,

Denise, and La Femme write; Elisabeth and Helene are artists;

Paule sings; Paule (I.) dances; Regine and Josette are actresses as is Xaviere from time to time. Those women who do not fall into this category do other sorts of work. Anne is a psychiatrist, Nadine is a secretary for her father,

Dominique works in television, Laurence is in advertising, and Noellie is a lawyer. 91

Although we never know exactly what it is that

Framboise writes, it is apparent that for her, her work is an essential part of her life. She spends many hours a day working and sometimes resents the fact that Xaviere takes up her time. She feels a solidarity with Pierre that is re­ flected in her attitude towards her work, and when he laughs at himself for trying to capture the exact color of the dawn in a stage decoration, when the world is rapidly heading for a war, she is upset: "Elle se sentait toute deconcertee; c'etait Pierre qui 11avait convaincue qu'on n'avait rien de mieux a faire sur terre que de creer de belles choses; toute leur vie etait batie sur ce credo. II n'avait pas le droit de changer d 1 avis sans prevenir.

Of the women who do work, only Francoise, Anne, and

La Femme seem to be satisfied with their work. They all find some positive value in it, however, Anne goes through a crisis when she wonders if psychoanalyzing people leaves them more artificial than before, La Femme goes through a crisis when her latest book is badly received, and Frangoise goes through a crisis when her relationship with Pierre is threatened.

For certain female characters, such as Regine,

Paule, Elisabeth, and Denise, work takes second place to

1. Simone de Beauvoir, L'Invitee (Paris: Gallimard, 1943), p. 56. This book will be referred to henceforth as I. 92

emotional involvement. Regine at first believes herself to

be such a great actress that she disdains all others. This

is evident in the following passage where she thinks of a

fellow actress, Florence: "Florence se trompe; elle n'est

qu'une petit fille sans genie; aucune femme ne peut se

comparer a moi. Mais comment le prouver? En elle comme en

moi, la meme certitude. Et elle ne s1inquiete pas de moi;

tandis qu'elle est cette blessure acide dans mon coeur. Je

le prouverai, se dit-elle avec passion.""1' Regine never

manages to show how great she is. Instead she renounces her

career as an actress after having gotten drunk at a party

and in the end, after hearing Fosca's story, she screams

from a sense of futility. The intervention of Fosca in her

life changes her attitude toward her work. It becomes

secondary for her. The same is true of Paule who renounces

her singing career to devote her life to Henri.

For Elisabeth, who is a mediocre artist, more inter­

ested in thinking of herself as an artist than in what she

is painting, work is secondary to her emotional involvement

with Claude. Pierre describes his sister Elisabeth in the

following way. "—Le pire chez Elisabeth, reprit Pierre,

c'est que meme ses sentiments sont faux; au fond, elle se

fout de la peinture; elle est communiste et elle avoue

1. Simone de Beauvoir, Tous les hommes sont mortels (Paris: Gallimard, 1946), p. 13. This book will be referred to henceforth as T. 93

qu'elle se fout du proletariat" (I., p. 58). Elisabeth

thinks that she is sacrificing her life to her art. This is

an illusion, for in reality she sacrifices her life to her

feeling for Claude. She thinks she wants to be someone, but

does not realize that to do so she would have to commit her­

self sincerely to her painting. She is jealous of Franchise,

who incarnates all of the things Elisabeth wants; devotion

to a career, the glory of a name, and in general a well

filled purposeful life. We understand that Elisabeth will

never succeed in her desire, because she is aiming at glory

instead of communication.

Marcel's wife, Denise, finds herself being swallowed

up in his life. Marcel, after having stopped painting, al­

though he was talented, took up sculpture, then becoming dis­

couraged , dumped all his work into the Seine. Denise com­

plains to Jean Blomart who replies: "—Vous devriez essayer

de vivre pour votre propre compte, ..., et ne pas rester

suspendue a la vie de Marcel" (S., p. 58). Consequently,

Denise tries her hand at writing a novel, which Jean reads

and finds very poor. Jean says of Denise, "— elle n'avait

pas envie de l'ecrire; elle avait envie d'etre un ecrivain,

c'est bien different" (S., p. 139). This citation under­ lines the basic fault of all the pseudo-intellectuals. They

are not sincerely committed to their work, and they are unable to forget themselves. (See Chapter III, Authenti­

city. ) 94

In Les Belles Images we have one example of a woman who is bored by her life as a housewife and finds a job.

Laurence thinks of the first years of her marriage. "II me semblait n'avoir plus d'avenir : Jean-Charles, les petites en avaient un; moi pas; alors a quoi bon me cultiver? Cercle vicieux : je me negligeais, je m'ennuyais et je me sentais de plus en plus depossedee de moi.""'' To overcome this feeling she gets a job in advertising, but it does not satisfy her, so she takes a lover. After awhile she still feels empty.

Her career merely fills her empty hours.

In general the common lot of most women, house­ wifery, is not discussed in Simone de Beauvoir's novels.

Anne reflects at one point while starting a fire, "J'avais moins de repugnance qu'autrefois pour ce genre de travaux; avec l'aide de Nadine et quelquefois un coup de main de la concierge je tenais tant bien que mal la maison. Du moins, pendant que je triturais ces vieux journaux, j'etais sure de faire quelque chose d'utile. L1 ennui c'est que <£a n'oc- cupait que mes mains" (M., p. 58). This is one of the only references to housework that can be found in Simone de

Beauvoir's fiction. The criticism it contains is consistent with the criticism of "woman's work" found in the Le Deux- ieme Sexe. Simone de Beauvoir does not believe in woman's

1. Simone de Beauvoir, Les Belles Images (Paris: Gallimard, 1966), p. 58. This book will be referred to henceforth as B. Images. 95 work, and the female characters in her novels reflect this idea. It must be pointed out, however, that in this respect her world of fiction neglects an essential element inherent in woman's situation.

Of the women who do not work, and they are in the minority, Madeleine and Monique are the most revealing.

Madeleine is Jean Blomart's mistress and he describes her in the following way.

D'ailleurs il etait vrai que sa vie ne valait pas cher puisqu'elle la mettait elle-meme a si bas prix; son corps ne valait pas cher, elle le livrait avec indifference a qui 1'en sollicitait; son temps ne valait pas cher, elle l'employait surtout a dormir ou a fumer, les yeux dans le vague; elle n'aurait pas ete depourvue d1 intelligence si elle n'eut estime qjue ses pensees non plus ne valaient pas cher : c1etait rare qu'elle consentit a s'y arreter (S., p. 59).

From this description it is possible to conclude that Madeleine is something of a non-person since she does nothing, which repeats the fundamental idea of existen­ tialism that existence precedes essence.

Monique, the main character in "La Femme Rompue," is the only real housewife that we find in Simone de Beauvoir's fiction. She has devoted her life to her husband, Maurice, who is a doctor, and to their two daughters, Lucienne and

Colette who have grown up and moved away at the time of the story. Monique discovers slowly and painfully that her husband is unfaithful and has been for the last ten years.

He had at one time, several years ago, encouraged her to get 96 a job, but she did not want to and explains herself in the following way. "Voila une des raisons—la principale—pour lesquelles je n'ai aucune envie de m'astreindre a un metier : je supporterais mal de n'etre pas totalement a la disposi­ tion des gens qui ont besoin de moi. Her vocation of being useful to others has its obvious limits. Now that no one needs her she does not know what to do with herself.

For a time her married daughter, Colette, is sick and she feels needed once again. However, this situation is only temporary, and she is faced with the derisive problem common to many women, as pointed out by Simone de Beauvoir, how to kill time.

On the advice of her friend Isabelle, Monique tries to be patient while Maurice is having his affair with

Noellie. She does not succeed, however, and ends up accus­ ing Noellie of being a snob and a social climber. Her husband says to her, "les femmes qui ne font rien ne peuvent pas blairer celles qui travaillent" (F.R., p. 157). This wounds Monique and makes her reflect: "Je commence a voir clair dans le jeu de Noellie : elle essaie de me reduire au role de femme d'interieure aimante et resignee qu'on laisse a la maison" (F.R., p. 158). Maurice becomes more and more serious about Noellie, and Monique realizes this.

1. Simone de Beauvoir, "La Femme Rompue" in La Femme Rompue (Paris: Gallimard, 1967), p. 125. This story will be referred to henceforth as F.R. 97

She says to Maurice: "—Ton plus grand tort, c'est de m'avoir laissee m'endormir dans la confiance. Me voila a quarante-quatre ans, les mains vides, sans metier, sans autre interet que toi dans 1'existence. Si tu m'avais prevenue il y a huit ans, je me serais fait une vie inde- pendante et j'accepterais plus facilement la situation"

(F.R. , p. 204).

Most of the characters in Simone de Beauvoir's fic­ tion work. Those who do rarely find satisfaction in their work, with the exception of Franqjoise, La Femme, and to a lesser degree Anne. This of course ignores the majority of women and much of woman's real situation, as Radford points out: "It is significant that in every novel the women are freed from many of the major problems which face women in real life.This lacune is partially filled by the admirable portrait of Monique, who personifies the tradi­ tional unliberated woman.

In this entire discussion it must be pointed out that although the women in Simone de Beauvoir's fiction do illustrate examples of the problems women face, which are discussed in the Le Deuxieme Sexe. they are more than that.

Radford says, "it would be dangerous to see her novels as a •. 2 mere reflection of Le Deuxieme Sexe." This statement is

1. Radford, "Simone de Beauvoir: Feminism's friend or foe? II," p. 43.

2. Ibid. 98 true for most of her fiction. However, Les Belles Images and La Femme Rompue deal almost exclusively with different aspects of woman's situation. Nonetheless it is true as

Radford states, that, "her novels can only be seen as re­ flecting a reduced part of the feminist problem.

We find in Simone de Beauvoir's fiction representa­ tions of the various familial roles of women, the most important of which is the role of the mother. Simone de

Beauvoir neglects the practical side of motherhood and con­ centrates on the psychological side, examining several different types of mothers from the mere feelings of maternal sentiment to examples of mothers who try to live their motherhood in freedom and have authentic relationships with their children.

Fran

Canzetti, Xaviere lui appartenait; rien ne donnait jamais a Franijoise des joies si fortes que cette espece de poses- sion" (I., p. 19). This desire for the possession of another being is certainly one aspect of motherhood.

Xaviere represents also the eternal threat of autrui. for

1. Ibid., p. 44. 99

Frangoise slowly becomes aware that Xaviere exists for

herself and that she has no control over Xaviere1s life.

This is the same drama which appears in motherhood. From

the possession of an infant, a mother goes through a slow

process of recognizing her offspring's autonomy.

Two examples of intensely devoted mothers who try to

direct the lives of their children are La Femme and Monique.

Whereas La Femme has pursued her own interests, while at

the same time trying to exercise complete control over her

son's life, Monique has completely devoted herself to her

children, to the exclusion of her own life. Both ways lead

to failure. La Femme wants her son Philippe to become a

university professor. He decides, however, to work at the

Cultural Ministry for his father-in-law. This decision

shatters his mother who regrets that he does not follow the

mold she created for him and who considers him a traitor,

for she and her husband belong to the anti-gaullist left.

This mother reflects after she hears her son's decision:

"Non, il ne m1appartenait plus, plus du tout. ... c'est moi qui ai fagonne sa vie. Maintenant j'y assiste du dehors, en temoin distant. C'est le sort commun a toutes les meres :

mais qui s'est jamais console en se disant que son sort est le sort commun?"^

1. Simone de Beauvoir, "L'age de discretion," in La Femme Rompue (Paris: Gallimard, 1967), p. 27. This story will be referred to henceforth as A.D. 100

The result of her son's decision is that La Fernme breaks off all relationship with him. He accuses her of loving him badly. "Pour toi 1'amour il faut que 9a se merite. Mais si : je me suis donne assez de mal pour ne pas demeriter. Tous mes desirs—etre aviateur, ou coureur automobile, ou reporter, 1'action, 1'aventure~tu les tenais v. pour des caprices; je les ai sacrifies, pour te faire plaisir. La premiere fois que je ne te cedes pas, tu te brouilles avec moi" (A.D., p. 56). Philippe is correct when he estimates that her love must be earned. She does not love him in the freedom of his being, but rather she loves her creation, and when it breaks out of the mold, she rejects it.

Nadine, who marries Henri Perron toward the end of

Les Mandarins because she is pregnant, is the only mother of a baby pictured in the works of Simone de Beauvoir. All of the other mothers, with the exclusion of Laurence who has two young daughters, and Murielle, who has a young son, are mothers of grown children. Nadine is not the traditional new mother. Henri describes her in the following terms:

Ce qui etait sur, c'est qu'elle se resignait mal a n1etre plus qu'une mere de famille. ... elle mettait son point d'honneur a etre une mere compe- tente, elle avait acquis de solides principes de puericulture et un tas d'objets hygieniques; mais jamais Henri n'avait surpris de vraie tendresse dans ses yeux quand elle s'occupait de Maria. Oui, c'est 9a qjui la rendait difficile a aimer : meme avec ce bebe elle gardait ses distances, elle restait toujours muree en elle-meme (M., p. 543). 101

Murielle of "Monologue" is a mother whose son

Francis has been taken away from her. Her daughter Sylvie has committed suicide. From all indications, Murielle is a very poor mother. She is alone in her room the night of Le

Reveillon and thinks about what she will say to Tristan, her second husband, when he visits her with their son the next day.

Moi j' en aurais fait un gosse bien. Je lui dirai a Tristan : un gosse prive de sa mere finit tou- jours par mal tourner il deviendra un voyou ou une tante tu ne souhaites pas 5a. Elle m'ecoeure ma voix ponderee; j'aurais envie de gueuler : c'est contre nature qu'on enleve un fils a sa mere! Mais je depends de lui. "Menace-le de divorce" disait Dede. II a rigole. Les homraes se tiennent tenement entre eux la loi est tene­ ment injuste et il a le bras long que le divorce serait prononce a mes torts. II garderait Francis plus un sou et pour 1'appartement tintin! Rien a faire contre ce chantage degueulasse : une pension et 11appartement contre Francis. Je suis a sa merci. Sans fric on ne peut pas se defendre on est mo ins que rien un double zero.

Here we see not only the state of Murielle's affairs, but a condemnation of woman's lot. Murielle also had a daughter whose privacy she invaded when she read her journal.

She was worried about her and says she read the journal to see what type of company Sylvie kept. "Je ne voulais pas que ma fille devienne une putain comme ma mere" (Mono., p.

95). Her daughter committed suicide, for a reason not

1. Simone de Beauvoir, "Monologue," in La Femme Rompue (Paris: Gallimard, 1967), pp. 92-93. This story will be referred to henceforth as Mono. 102 stated. Obviously she was unhappy and her mother must share some of the blame.

Murielle gives us her opinions on children. "On ne devrait pas avoir d'enfant en un sens Dede a raison ils ne vous rapportent que des emmerdements. Mais si on en a il faut les elever correctement. Tristan prenait toujours le parti de Sylvie; or meme si j'avais tort—mettons que ga me soit arrive—c'est detestable pedagogiquement qu'un des parents desavoue l'autre" (Mono., p. 103). Sylvie killed herself five years ago, and Murielle remembers her own mother accusing her of causing Sylvie's death: "Si une fille se tue la mere est coupable; c'est comme 9a qu'elles raisonnent par haine contre leur propre mere" (Mono., p.

112). La Femme, Monique, and Murielle are examples of mothers who have not respected the human being in their children. They have all failed in one way or another. We can not judge Nadine, because her child is too young.

Laurence, who represents a mother who converts from inauthenticity to authenticity, is another who feels that people blame her for her daughter's mistakes. She has two daughters, Catherine and Louise. Catherine, who is ten, has been crying at night recently and Laurence is worried.

"Mais aujourd'hui si ma fille de dix ans sanglotte, c'est moi qui ai tort. Dominique et Jean-Charles me donneront tort. Elle est capable de me conseiller une visite a un psychologue" (B. Images, p. 32). Laurence is a protective 103

mother. She does not allow her daughters to read the paper.

She is really an empty person who feels love only for her children. "Elle a 1'impression que les gens lui son juxta­ poses, ils n'habitent pas en elle; sauf ses filles, mais ga doit etre organique" (B. Images, p. 92). She is truly con­ cerned about her eldest daughter Catherine and this concern runs throughout the book. Laurence describes how she has raised her children, in particular Catherine. "Je 11ai laisse tres libre tout en la traitant en bebe, je n'essayais pas de causer avec elle; alors je pense que les mots 1'inti- mident, du moins en ma presence. Je n1arrive pas a trouver le contact" (B. Images, p. 107).

Catherine's grades fall and her father thinks she should see a psychiatrist because she cries at night.

Laurence disagrees. "Laurence a parle d'un ton violent qui l'etonne elle-meme. Suivre son bonhomme de chemin, sans devier d'un pouce, defense de regarder a droite ou a gauche, a chaque age ses taches, si la colere te prend avale un verre d1 eau et fais des mouvements de gymnastique.

Images, pp. 185-86).

Laurence is aware that she is incapable of feeling and in the end, after her daughter has been sent to a psychiatrist, she rebels, says exactly what she thinks to her husband and reflects. 104

Je ne permettrai pas qu'on lui fasse ce qu'on m'a fait. Qu'a-t-on fait de moi? Cette femme qui n'aime personne, insensible aux beautes du monde, incapable meme de pleurer, cette femme que je vomis. Catherine : au contraire lui ouvrir les yeux tout de suite et peut-etre un rayon de lumiere filtrera jusqu'a elle, peut-etre elle s'en.sortira ... De quoi! De cette muit. De 1'ignorance, de 1'indifference (B. Images, pp. 254-55).

Laurence senses that her life is unexamined, that

she lives according to pre-set rules and she feels deprived.

This awareness produces a conversion in her attitude toward

childrearing. From being overprotective and guiding her

children along well established paths of behavior, she in­

tends to change, to become more of an authentic mother, and

allow her children a chance to exercise their freedom. She

sees herself in the mirror and says, "Pour moi les jeux

sont faits, pense-t-elle en regardant son image—un peu

pale, les traits tires. Mais les enfants auront leur

chance. Quelle chance? elle ne le sait meme pas" (B.

Images, p. 258).

There are three mothers in the fiction of Simone de

Beauvoir who nearly embody the authentic mother. They are

the prototypes for mothers who respect the free human being

in their children. We meet two only as secondary charac­

ters. One of these is Noellie. Maurice says of her, "En

fait Noellie ne neglige pas du tout sa fille. Elle lui apprend a se debrouiller seule, a vivre par elle-meme, et

elle a bien raison" (F.R., p. 176). 105

The other is Jean Blomart's mother. He describes

how she raised him and his two sisters.

Nous etions libres, libres de salir nos ames, de gacher nos vies; elle ne prenait que la liberte d1 en souffrir. C'etait pire que si elle avait exige quelque chose. J'aurais pu hai'r ses ex­ igences et ses reproches. Mais elle etait la, rien de plus : je lui en voulais d'etre la; simplement parce qu'elle etait la. C'etait sa presence meme qu'il me fallait detester. Pouvais- je l'aimer et hai'r sa presence?" (S., p. 22).

Jean, who is leaving home and trying to erase his bourgeois background by becoming a worker, feels a responsibility towards his mother. He tries to live authentically and we realize that his mother has succeeded in respecting and cultivating the free human being in him. He can feel anguish and does at his condition. He reflects this anguish when he realizes that he is responsible for his mother's suffering. "'C'est ce que j'ai voulu. II n'y a rien a regretter.' Elle restait la-haut, agenouillee devant la pile de bas seule. Je 11ai fait. Mais j'ai fait autre chose aussi : je ne voulais pas sa souffrance" (S., p. 25).

Being able to leave one's children free does not insure that the mother will be satisfied with her children nor with herself. Jean's mother says to him after he ex­ plains that Helene chose to love him while knowing that he did not love her, "—Oui, c'est tres beau de laisser les gens libres dit ma mere. Elle soupira; elle avait laisse

Elisabeth et Suzon libres de se marier a leur guise; le menage d'Elisabeth marchait mal, celui de Suzon marchait 106

bien; et ma mere ne savait pas lequel des deux foyers

l'attristait davantage" (S., p. 122).

Anne is the most thoroughly explained mother, and

the one who indicates a new way of raising children. It

should be pointed out, however, that she is by no means a

perfect mother, and has just as many if not more emotional

and psychological problems with her daughter as any of the

more traditional mothers. The main element of Anne's child-

rearing is to leave her daughter free, and to respect this

freedom, even against her own will.

Anne thinks about her relationship with Nadine before Diego, Nadine's boyfriend was killed in the war.

Anne and her husband Robert left Nadine free to have sexual relations with Diego. "Cette annee-la nous avons ete des amies, ma fille et moi. Je lui savais gre d'etre capable d'un sincere amour; elle m'etait reconnaissante de ne pas avoir contrarie son coeur. Pourquoi l'aurais-je fait? Elle n'avait que dix-sept ans : mais nous pensions Robert et moi qu'il n'est jamais trop tot pour le bonheur" (M., p. 28).

This happiness is only temporary, however, for Diego dies and Nadine starts to sleep with any and everyone. Anne does not approve. Robert thinks it is just a phase. Never­ theless Anne tries to get Robert to talk to her. He says:

"Laisse-la done libre. II ne faut pas la buter," m'a dit Robert. Je n'avais pas le choix. Si ^1avais continue a lutter, Nadine se serait mise a me hair et elle aurait fait expres de me narguer. Mais elle sait que j'ai cede a contre-coeur et que 107

je la blame : elle m'en veut. Peut-etre n'a-t-elle pas tout a fait tort; si je l'avais aimee davantage nos rapports auraient ete differents : peut-etre aurais-je su 1'empecher de mener une vie que je blame. Je restai longtemps debout a regarder les flammes en me repetant : "Je ne l'aime pas assez."

Je ne 1'ai pas desiree; c'est Robert qui a souhaite tout de suite un enfant. J1en ai voulu a Nadine de deranger notre tete a tete. J'aimais trop Robert et je ne m'interessais pas assez a moi pour que cja m1attendrisse de retrouver ses traits ou les miens chez cette petite intruse (M., p. 61).

Here we see the one aspect of Anne's relationship to

Nadine that is not in accordance with Simone de Beauvoir's ideas on freedom. Since every relationship must be freely chosen to be lived authentically, Anne should have chosen to have a child and not allowed her husband to force her.

Many of the female characters share a dislike for their mothers and a love for their fathers. This is true in particular of Anne, Nadine, and Laurence. In this respect, as in many others, Simone de Beauvoir's female characters resemble her.

The role of mother is widely treated in Simone de

Beauvoir's fiction. Anne is the most thoroughly studied and indicates the way to authentic motherhood with some rather grave reservations. It should also be noted, that none of the mothers whether they try to live their motherhood authentically or not, is really successful. There are no perfect mothers represented in Simone de Beauvoir's fiction.

They all fail in one way or another. 108

In considering the roles represented by the female characters, the most important is the relationship of women to men. This aspect of woman's situation is dealt with at some length in the novels and play. Almost all of the female characters are in love, and for every one who is, love is the center of her existence.

In an interview reproduced in Simone de Beauvoir. by

Serge Julienne-Caffie, Madeleine Gobeil remarks that Simone de Beauvoir's female characters are always in love. She then asks:

Question : Pourquoi 1'amour apporte-t-il plus aux femmes qu'aux hommes? Simone de Beauvoir : Parce que, malgre tout, dans 1'amour ce sont les femmes qui donnent le plus d'elles memes parce qu'elles n'ont pas tellement autre chose, la plupart d1entre elles. Elles sont peut-etre capables aussi de la sympathie profonde qui est a la base de 1'amour. C'est peut-etre aussi que je me projette plus facilement dans des femmes que dans des hommes. Mes personnages feminins sont plus riches que mes personnages masculins.1

Dominique, after Gilbert leaves her, expresses the same idea to her daughter, Laurence. Here, however, she goes somewhat further, and claims that even an important career such as hers in television, cannot fill a woman's life. She says to Laurence,

1. Serge Julienne-Caffie, Simone de Beauvoir (Paris: Gallimard, 1966), p. 217, quoting an interview with Madeleine Gobeil, Paris-Review. June, 1965. 109

Socialement une ferame n'est rien sans un homme.

—Pas toi, voyons. Toi tu as un nom. Tu es quelqu"un.

Dominique secoue la tete :

—Meme avec un nom une femme sans homme c'est une demi-ratee, une espece d'epave ... Je vois bien comment les gens me regardent : crois- moi, ce n'est plus du tout comme avant (B. Images, p. 200).

Another characteristic of Simone de Beauvoir's female characters is that they are involved in more than one relationship with men. Both Frangoise and Xaviere have affairs with Gerbert, as well as with the third person of their trio, Pierre. The whole concept of the trio involves a sharing between three people, to the extent that the relationship between Xaviere and Francoise is somewhat lesbian in nature. Elisabeth who is in love with Claude has an affair with Guimiot. This same triangular structure is evident in Le Sang des autres. Paul is in love with

Helene who is in love with Jean Biomart. In Les Bouches

Inutiles. Jacques is in love with Clarice who is in love with Jean-Pierre. The list could go on, however, in spite of the triangular structure and the freedom it implies, the women almost always base their lives on the love of one man in particular. Their other affairs are secondary. The most important result of this structure is to emphasize that the female character is essentially faithful, which is not true at all of the male characters, whose love for a woman, as in 110 the case of Henri and Paule or Lewis and Anne, is subject to change.

This is not to say that love is unimportant for the male characters. It is, as is shown by Fosca in Tous les hommes ..., who only starts to live again by loving. When in 1848 he sees Laure, who loves him, he says: "J'etendis la main. Par la force de son amour, voila que pour la premiere fois depuis des siecles, malgre le passe, malgre l'avenir, je me retrouvais tout entier present, tout entier vivant" (T., pp. 346-47).

There are female characters whose lives are entirely devoted to their men. Monique is one of these. She says about Maurice, her husband who is a doctor: "II m'a suffi, je n'ai vecu que pour lui. Et lui, pour un caprice, il a trahi nos serments!" (F.R., p. 133). She later finds out that Maurice really loves Noellie and of course this shat­ ters her. Later, she says: "Mais pour moi il n'y a que

Maurice qui compte. Moi, qu'est-ce que c'est? Je ne m'en suis jamais beaucoup souciee. J'etais garantie puisqu'il m'aimait" (F.R., p. 237).

This same situation is also depicted in L'Invitee.

Elisabeth loves Claude Battier, but he is married to

Suzanne, and his feelings toward Elisabeth are cooling. She refuses to admit this, but she is really very dependent on

Claude's love. She tries to incite his jealousy by telling him that she has taken Guimiot as a lover. This ruse Ill backfires; Claude will not leave his wife. Elisabeth is an example of the lover who tries to justify her existence by making herself an object for the loved one. (Chapter III,

Inauthenticity).

Paule is a real erotomane. She is the type of woman who lives completely for a man. Henri finds this devouring love difficult to handle. As Les Mandarins opens we see that Henri is thinking of leaving Paule. He says of the way he feels in her presence: "Sous ces yeux qui le devoraient avec sollicitude il se sentait un grand tresor fragile et dangereux : c'etait 9a qui le fatiguait" (M.f p. 10).

Paule has grasped on to Henri with the terror of a woman who realizes she has nothing else left. Their affair is already quite old as the story opens and their relationship is full of bad faith. Henri lies to Paule, and she lies to herself, to the extent that she eventually believes her lies and ends up completely insane.

Paule's devotion to Henri, and her desire to respect his liberty extend to her permitting him to have affairs on the side, but she makes a scene when he says that he is planning to take Nadine to Portugal. On his return, however, she apologizes profusely and insists that she is sorry for the scene she caused.

"—Si! dit-elle, et je te repete que je le regrette. Vois-tu, je sais depuis longtemps qu1une femme ne peut pas etre tout pour un homme tel que toi; pas meme toutes les femmes; mais je ne l'acceptais pas vraiement. Maintenant je suis 112

prete a t'aimer dans une totale generosite, pour toi, non pour moi. Tu as ta mission et elle doit passer avant tout (M. , p. 98).

Her self-abnegation extends to such a point that she says to

Henri, who is beginning to detest her: "'S'il le faut, je supporterai meme ta haine, dit-elle; pour 11 amour de toi'"

(M., p. 258).

In the novel Henri is writing, he makes an un­ flattering portrait of Paule, and thus feels revenged. He thinks:

Paule ne lirait jamais ces pages; pourtant il triomphait comme s'il 1'avait obligee a se reconnaitre dans le portrait qu1il avait trace d'elle : une fausse amoureuse qui n'aime que ses comedies et ses reves; une femme que joue la grandeur, la generosite, 1'abnegation alors qu'elle est sans orgueil et sans courage, butee dans l'egoisme de ses feintes passions (M., pp. 262-63).

Paule gets progressively worse, and exalts Henri out of proportion, while at the same time reducing herself to a pure object for him. She says to him after the opening night of his play:

La nuit de cette generale et les jours qui ont suivi, j'ai compris beaucoup de choses. II n'y a pas de commune mesure entre toi et les autres gens, entre toi et moi. Te vouloir tel que je t'avais reve et non pas tel que tu es, c'etait me preferer a toi; c'etait de la presomption. Mais c'est fini. II n'y a que toi : moi je ne suis rien. J'accepte de n'etre rien, et j1accepte tout de toi (M. , p. 379).

At this point, however, Henri is sleeping with Josette and has ceased living with Paule. Paule slowly becomes insane and imagines all sorts of things. The slightest provocation 113 turns into a motive, and she interprets everything as a sign from Henri. She says that he has stopped sleeping with her because he does not feel worthy of her. Later she imagines that he is jealous. She invites Anne to dinner, and the table is set for many people. She suspects a plot against her. Finally she accuses Anne of sleeping with Henri which of course is not true. Anne gets her to see a psychiatrist and she becomes "cured."

This type of love situation, where the woman exists for love alone is explored in L'Invitee also. The frequent occurrence of this situation leads Madeleine Gobeil to ask

Simone de Beauvoir:

Question : Dans chacun de vos romans, il y a toujours un personnage feminin menace par de faux semblants et guette par la folie. Simone de Beauvoir : C'est une des attitudes feminines les plus repandues aujourd'hui. Les femmes sont obligees de jouer ce qu'elles ne sont pas, de jouer par exemple les grandes amoureuses, de se truquer. Elles sont au bord de la nevrose. J'ai beaucoup d'amitie pour ce genre de femmes. Elles m'interessent plus que la bonne mere de famille bien balancee. II y a naturellement des femmes qui m1interessent plus, celles qui sont a la fois vraies et independantes et qui travaillent et qui creent.l

This answer explains the occurrence of Paule and

Elisabeth, and also the lack of the traditional good mother, noted above.

The woman who is truthful and independent is accorded the largest place in Simone de Beauvoir1s writing. However,

1. Ibid., p. 213. 114 it must be noted that she is always in love with one man, and often has affairs with others. The most important examples of this type of woman are Francoise, Anne, La

Femme, and Helene.

The two female characters exhibiting the closest approximation to authentic love are Anne and Frangoise.

They will be more thoroughly discussed in the next chapter.

It is important to point out that even for Francoise who is independent, Pierre's love is really the center of her life.

Xaviere threatens this love, and the attempts at creating a trio fail. Frangoise kills Xaviere not only because Xaviere is an independent conscience, whom Frangoise cannot control, but also because Xaviere threatens Pierre and Francoise's relationship. In spite of all attempts to live the three- sided relationship authentically, Francoise cannot conquer her jealousy. Thinking of trying to save Xaviere, Francoise contemplates the future of her relationship with Pierre.

Elle l'aimait et pour sauver Xaviere avec qui aucun amour n'etait possible, elle se dressait devant lui comme une etrangere; peut-etre demain deviendrait-il son ennemi. II allait souffrir, se venger, hair, sans elle, et meme malgre elle; elle le rejetait dans sa solitude, elle qui n'avait jamais souhait<£ que d'etre unie a lui! Elle retira sa main; il regardait au loin; elle l'avait deja perdu (I., p. 333).

It is obvious that Frangoise, who values her relationship with Pierre above anything else, will not tolerate for long the threat posed by Xaviere. 115

In sum, Francoise puts her love for Pierre, and his love for her, on a plane where it is never to be questioned.

The appearance of Xaviere makes their love come into the plane of reality and leaves it vulnerable.

Anne does essentially the same thing with her love for Robert. When she was younger, she lost her faith in God and was afraid, but she says: "Du moment ou j'ai aime

Robert, je n'ai plus jamais eu peur, de rien" (M., p. 27).

This deification of the loved one places her love for Robert on a plane outside of reality. Their love is platonic.

Anne, by having a career, keeps her independence and her identity intact. She explains how she feels about her independence within marriage. "La seule question, c'etait de m'y tailler ma place a moi. Etre la femme de Robert,

Whether or not they have careers and lead independ­ ent existences (they are both free to have affairs), Anne and Framboise center their lives on Robert and Pierre. Even when Anne falls in love with Lewis Brogan, she knows that she must return to Robert. He is the center of her life.

The effect of this passionate love and Anne's refusal to let it dominate her life, is that Lewis falls out of love with her.

The one element shared by both Anne and Franchise as well as La Femme, Helene, and in the beginning of her 116 relationship with Maurice, Monique, is that they try to be completely honest with the person they love.

Marriage is not really an issue in the novels. Some women, Anne for example, are married and some are not;

Fran^oise is not. But as has been said above, their rela­ tionship to their men is similar. The fact of being married does not affect their love. This would seem to contradict what Simone de Beauvoir says in the Le Deuxieme Sexe. as well as what Radford says about Simone de Beauvoir: "For her, marriage kills love, by setting out to socialize erot­ icism, the authentic spirit is destroyed and the 'lutte des sexes' is encouraged."'1'

The traditional marriage is examined in "La Femme

Rompue." Monique has no independent identity. She is

Maurice's wife, nothing more. This position leaves her vulnerable. "Tel est le sens atrocement pessimiste de ce livre : la situation de la femme, sa dependence rendent toujours plus tragique chez elle 1'echec de 1'amour, la ride * 2 du coeur et les deceptions de 1'esprit." Since the same could be said for Elisabeth and Paule, neither of whom is married, it must be concluded that the institution of

1. C. B. Radford, "Simone de Beauvoir: Feminism's friend or foe? I," p. 93.

2. Jean Onimus, "Beauvoir, Simone: La Femme Rompue; Bazin, Herve: Le Matrimoine." La Table Ronde. No. 244 (mai, 1968), p. 113. 117

marriage is not at issue in the fiction of Simone de

Beauvoir.

Of the roles presented in Simone de Beauvoir's

fiction, it can be said that they dwell on the working

woman, examine the psychological side of motherhood, and

emphasize love. There are few if any women in Simone de

Beauvoir's fiction who are not in love.

Age

The female characters in Simone de Beauvoir's novels

are generally about the same age that she was when the novels

were written. Except for Laurence's daughters, who are

children I and La Femme in ''L I age de discretion'' who is in

her sixties, they fall into two main categories, consisting of the young girls Xaviere, Nadine, Helene, Regine, Clarice,

Irene et al., and the older more mature woman, Fran~oise,

Anne, Paule, Laurence, Monique, Dominique, Murielle, and

Elisabeth.

Simone de Beauvoir' s female c.haracters are very aware of the perils of old age. The young girls serve the

function 1of pointing out lost youth no the older women. This is true of Xaviere, whose function is revealed in the

following passage, where Pierre is talking to Fran~oise about Xaviere. "--Cette petite sorciere, dit-il. Elle regarde les choses avec ses yeux tout neufs; et voila que les choses se mettent a exister pour nous, juste comme elle 118

les voit. Les autres fois, on serrait des mains, il n'y

avait qu'une suite de petits soucis : grace a elle, c'est

une vraie nuit de Noel que nous vivons cette annee!" (I.,

p. 160).

Toward the end of the novel, Xaviere is no longer a

young girl, at least not as seen by Frangoise. "Ce qui

transparaissait dans 1'accent de Xaviere, dans ses sourires

sournois, c'etait tout autre chose a present qu'une hostilite

enfantine et capric.ieuse : une vraie haine de femme. Jamais

elle ne pardonnerait a Francoise d1avoir garde 1'amour de

Pierre" (I., p. 401).

Helene feels insulted when Jean treats her like a

child. Jean talks to Paul and ignores her. "Maintenant ils

causaient, entre hommes; et elle n'etait rien qu'une petite

fille superficielle, capricieuse" (S., p. 48).

Nadine, the third important girl is described as

follows while at a party: "Appuyee a la balustrade, Nadine

machonnait un piment; & dix-huit ans, en depit de ses vaga­

bondages dans des lits fran^ais et americains elle semblait

encore en plein age ingrat" (M., p. 13).

What these young girls share is a sense of emptiness.

None of them seems to believe in anything. They are not looking for husbands as the traditional young girl would be, nor do they seem to get any joy out of life. Xaviere is listless and difficult to motivate, and Nadine is depressed and depressing. Helene is lost, and out of the three, she 119 is the only one who actively engages her life in some cause.

She joins the Resistance and dies.

Helene Nahas says of the young girls in the novels of Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir: "Le vocable 'jeune fille,' pour les existentialistes, est denue de sens. Pour eux le mythe de la jeune fille est creux et vide car il n'offre qu'un masque et un visage d'emprunt derriere lequel se cache le vrai drame de la recherche de l'etre.

All three young girls share a rejection of estab­ lished values. Xaviere disdains people who live according to a schedule, Helene steals a bicycle, and Nadine sleeps with many men. This fact is pointed out by Nahas who says:

"Toutes les jeunes filles de la litterature existentielle, a des titres et a des degres divers, sont des revoltees ...

Toutes excepte Jeanne des Bouches Inutiles. qui est d'ailleurs un personnage episodique.In the books written after this statement was made we find more examples of young girls who are not revoltees. They are Irene and Colette.

In describing Elisabeth to Xaviere, Fran^oise defines adolescence in the following way:

—On cherche 1'approbation des gens, on ecrit ses pensees, on se compare a des modeles eprouves. Tenez, regardez Elisabeth, dit Franchise. En un sens elle n'a jamais franchi ce stade. C'est une eternelle adolescente. ... Elisabeth est tout affolee quand elle regarde au dedans d'elle-meme parce qu'elle ne trouve que du vide et du creux; elle ne se rend pas compte que c'est le sort

1. Nahas, p. 69. 120

commun; les autres gens, au contraire, elle les voit du dehors, a travers des mots, des gestes, des visages qui sont du plein. Ca produit une espece de mirage (I., pp. 142-43).

The young girls are unaware of their age. The older women, on the other hand, are very much aware of aging.

Through these women, Simone de Beauvoir studies the various effects of aging on women.

Anne, who is 39, feels that her life as a woman is over; she no longer sleeps with Robert. Her daughter accuses her of never letting herself feel and this makes her accept a proposition to sleep with a friend, Scriassine, but she feels no passion for him. It is not until she meets Lewis

Brogan that she is aware of her body again.

At a party with Paule and a group of older women,

Anne makes a vow. "Si jamais je perds Lewis, quand j1aurai perdu Lewis, je renoncerai tout de suite et pour toujours a me croire encore une femme; je ne veux pas leur ressembler"

(M. , p. 507 ).

Anne at this point begins to realize that she no longer appears young to others, even though she feels young inside. "Sous ma chair defraichie j'affirme la survivance d'une jeune femme aux exigences intactes, rebelle a toutes les concessions, et qui dedaigne les tristes peaux de quarante ans; mais elle n'existe plus elle ne renaitra jamais, meme sous les baisers de Lewis" (M., p. 508). 121

Aging is a difficult phenomenon for Simone de

Beauvoir's female characters to cope with. They are aware of other people aging, but it always comes as something of a shock when they observe themselves aging.

Dominique is an older woman in love for the last time. She is in love with Gilbert, an older man who leaves her for a young girl, Patricia. "Dans le miroir, Laurence examine sa mere. La parfaite, l'ideale image d'une femme qui vieillit bien. Qui vieillit. Cette image-la, Dominique la refuse. Elle flanche pour la premiere fois. Maladie, coups durs, elle a tout encaisse. Et soudain il y a de la panique dans ses yeux" (B. Images, p. 18). Dominique, who feels that a woman is a social zero without a man, and who is afraid to spend her old age alone, finally ends up going back to her husband.

The phenomenon of aging is most thoroughly examined in "L'age de discretion." Andre, the husband of La Femme complains that he will never have another idea. This bothers her. She says:

Que faire quand le monde s'est decolore? II ne reste qu'a tuer le temps. Moi aussi j1ai tra­ verse une mauvaise periode, il y a dix ans. J'etais degoutee de mon corps, Philippe etait devenu un adulte, apres le succes de mon livre sur Rousseau, je me sentais videe. Vieillir m1angoissait. ... Je me suis resignee a mon corps. II m'a semble que je ressuscitais. Et aujourd'hui, si Andre n'avait de son age une conscience aussi aigue, j'oblierais facilement le mien (A.D., p. 16). 122

Her conclusions about old age after having gone through the deception of losing her son, having her latest book fail, and doubting Andre's love, are as follows:

"Nous sommes ensemble, c'est notre chance. Nous nous aiderons a vivre cette derniere aventure dont nous ne reviendrons pas. Cela nous la rendra-t-il tolerable? Je ne sais pas. Esperons, Nous n'avons pas le choix" (A.D., p. 84).

The ages of the female characters cover most of the span of a woman's life from the childhood of Catherine to the old age of La Femrne. In all the situations presented, certain elements stand out. The characters are contempo­ rary, belong to the left politically, and generally work outside the house. The women are all in love, whether married or not, and center their lives on one man. The female characters who experience motherhood fail to live it authentically. The situations represented are not truly reflective of woman's real situation, because they favor the intellectual, creative woman who is rather rare in con­ temporary society. CHAPTER VI

ASSUMPTION OF FICTIONAL SITUATION

Through their existential search for being, the

female characters assume their situation. The manner in

which they live it can be considered authentic or inauthen-

tic, depending on the "degree to which they are able to

transcend their situation.

Search for Being

In each work a crisis situation is encountered.

This causes the main characters to question their reasons

for living. The female characters are also forced to

resolve the basic conflict at the heart of their situation.

They are forced to face the dilemma of reclaiming their

transcendence against a world and a set of values which tend

to thrust them into immanence. These last statements are

particularly true for Les Mandarins and the later works.

All of the main female characters question their

lives. This is the case for the intellectuals, Anne,

Franchise, and La Femme, as well as for those who are not at

all intellectual, Laurence, Monique, and Murielle. The

pseudo-intellectuals also question their situations, but

rarely do so lucidly. For Elisabeth and Paule, at the

123 124 height of her insanity, to be completely lucid would be tantamount to self-destruction.

The basic and most authentic state of being for the

existentialist is anguish. The more the characters are aware of the contingence, and absurdity of their existence the more they are likely to feel anguish. This is pointed out by Helene Nahas, who studied the female characters up to but not including Les Mandarins. She says, "plus 1'heroine est lucide, consciente, plus elle cherche a 'etre' vraiement, plus elle s'offre a 1'angoisse.

Anguish is also encountered when one character realizes that hers is not the only conscience in the world, that she must face and recognize the existence of others.

When Fosca explains to Regine that he also loves

Annie, her friend, she realizes that she is not unique.

"Elle cacha son visage dans ses mains. Un brin d'herbe, rien qu'un brin d'herbe. Chacun so croyait different des autres; chacun se preferait; et tous se trompaient; elle s1etait trompee comme les autres" (T., p. 78).

Regine, however, is not completely blind to the existence of others. Fosca says to her: "—Quand vous- jouez, vous croyez a votre existence avec une foi si passionnee! J'en ai vu cela chez deux ou trois femmes a l'asile; mais elles ne croyaient qu'en elles. Pour vous,

1. Nahas, p. 54. 125 les autres aussi existent et quelquefois vous avez reussi a me faire exister moi-meme" (T., p. 71).

Jean Blomart is the character who is most aware of the guilt attached to the fact that he exists. When he was a young child and heard that the maid's child had died, he cried and was chastised. This event makes him very aware that just existing as "other" is a fault. His act of crying was an engagement and he felt the guilt and responsibility that accompanies authentic existence. None of the female characters is so totally aware of this guilt, but Fran^oise comes close.

Our "being-for-others" is a dimension of our being that escapes us. We have little control over it, but we are responsible for it. The existentialist realizes that people are not alone in the world and that their relationship to others is a primary facet of their existence. This idea is illustrated by Jean, who is with Helene, when Paul, her former boyfriend, sees them.

Ce que je comprenais soudain avec atterrement, c'est que ces dehors n'etaient pas une fausse apparence : ils m1appartenaient aussi surement que mon corps et dans la gene qjui me nouait la gorge je confirmais leur verite : "C'est in- juste." Mais 1'injustice n'etait pas dans la rancune de Paul; elle etait au coeur de mon etre dans cette malediction si souvent pressentie, si farouchement refusee; la malediction d'etre un autre (S., p. 96).

The drama of the existence of others is at the center of L'Invitee. Xaviere exists for herself. Fran^oise 126 slowly realizes this and in a rather long passage her aware­ ness is crystalized:

Elle l'avait enfin rencontre cet infranchissable obstacle qu'elle avait pressenti sous des formes incertaines depuis sa plus petite enfance : ... en face de Francoise, et cependant sans elle, quelque chose existait comme une condamnation sans recours : libre, absolue, irreductible une con­ science etrangere se dressait. C'etait comme la mort, une totale negation, une eternelle absence, et cependant par une contradition bouleversante, ce gouffre de neant pouvait se rendre present a 1 soi-meme et se faire exister pour soi avec pleni­ tude; l'univers tout entier s'engloutissait en lui, et Franqoise, a jamais deposedee du monde, se dissolvait elle-meme dans ce vide dont aucun mot, aucune image ne pouvait cerner le contour infini (I., p. 301).

What has happened to Francoise is that she has be­ come an object in Xaviere's world, and recognizes herself as such. "Elle n'existait plus qu1 a travers les sentiments capricieux que Xaviere lui portait" (I., p. 245). The final resolution of this dilemma is of course Xaviere's death. Francoise opens the gas in Xaviere's room, and while so doing reflects: "Aneantir une conscience. Comment puis- je? ... Mais comment se pouvait-il qu'une conscience existat qui ne fut pas la sienne. Alors, C'etait elle qui n'existait pas. Elle repeta : 'Elle ou moi.' Elle abaissa le levier" (I., p. 418).

The inherent problem in "being-for-others" is that it is unstable. This is explained by thinking of oneself as a subject at the center of one's world. The moment that another person comes into my world she becomes an object for 127 me. If she becomes a subject, and I recognize her as such,

I become an object in her world. Thus each one is trying to retain her subjectivity at the expense of others.

In love this situation is particularly precarious, because one who is in love wants to be a fascinating object for the loved one. He wishes to be her entire world. He wants to love her in her subjectivity, but the contrary is also true if she loves him. She wants to love him in his subjectivity, and be a fascinating object for him. Two subjects cannot exist in such a manner. Sartre explains the problem in the following way: "L1unite avec autrui est done, en fait, irrealisable. L1 assimilation du pour-soi et d'autrui dans une meme transcendance entrainerait necessairement la disparition du caractere d'alterite d 1 autrui.

This problem will be discussed in Inauthenticity. but suffice it to say here, that Helene and Jean illustrate this dilemma to a certain degree. The difference is that

Helene loves Jean, while the reverse is not true. "Ce dont

Helene avait besoin, e'est que j'eusse d1elle un besoin essentiel; alors elle eut existe tout entiere; elle eut ete miraculeusement justifiee d'etre telle qu'elle etait, telle que je l'eusse aimee" (S., pp. 115-16).

1. Sartre, p. 433. 128

It is often only through the eyes of a third person

that our acts are revealed to us as they appear on the out­

side. In the same way Fran«joise who is at the station saying good-by to Pierre, who is off to war, is aware of

the tragedy of separation. When she sees other couples

embracing she thinks: "En devenant anonyme, 1'evenement qu'elle etait en train de vivre se faisait saisissable; sur

ces visages etrangers, dans leurs sourires tremblants, tout le tragique de la separation se revelait" (I., pp. 397-98).

The dilemma of our existence for others is particu­ larly well presented in the earlier works. In the later works including Les Mandarins. the problem of existing as the "other" in the sense that Simone de Beauvoir attributes to myths, is treated. Josette is objectified by Henry; she becomes an absolute object in his eyes, with no hope for transcendence. He describes her as follows: "Elle tendait sa bouche avec un air charme. Une princesse persane, une petite indienne, un renard, un volubilis, une belle grappe de glycine,

Women who are caught in the tragedy of trying to live up to society's values, while at the same time seeking transcendence, are much more common in the latest works of

Simone de Beauvoir. Monique and Laurence are both victims 129 of society. They are unable to find transcendence.

Murielle, on the other hand, has rejected society's values, but is alone and miserable. Her fate is no better than theirs.

Many of the female characters believed in God in their youth, and this belief provided a reason for living.

Both Helene and Anne rejected their belief in God. This left them without justification. Helene, speaking with

Jean, explains her doubts. Jean says:

—Je crois que votre tort, c'est de vous imaginer que vos raisons de vivre devraient vous tomber du ciel toutes faites : c'est a nous de les creeri

—Mais si on sait qu'on les cree soi-meme, on ne peut plus y croire. Ce n'est qu'une maniere de se duper.

—Pourquoi? on ne cree pas comme ga, en l'air; on cree par la force d'un amour, d'un desir; et alors ce qu'on a cree se dresse devant soi, bien solide, bien reel (S., p. 67).

The necessity to create, and to create from a desire is thus underlined. Action, creation, or the transcending values are needed to live authentically. Frangoise also illustrates this idea. She is walking in Montmartre, just before she gets sick. "Fran^ise regarda autour d'elle avec detresse; mais non, rien ne pouvait 1'aider. C'est d'elle- meme qu'il aurait fallu s'arracher un elan d'orgueil, ou de pitie pour soi, ou de tendresse" (I., p. 180).

To be able to create, or pull from oneself one's reasons for living is not enough. This action, once 130

accomplished is liable to fall back into immanence. The

creation must be continually repeated, to be valid and

authentic. Nothing is fixed in the world of the existen­

tialist and everything must be continually questioned from

whatever the present situation might be, in view of some

future possibility.

When Frangoise gets sick, she loses control over her

life. She cannot believe that this sickness is happening to

her. She has to go to a clinic but does not want to. She

says to Pierre. "—Je veux rester avec toi, ... elle se mit

a pleurer tout a fait; voila qu'elle etait a la merci

d'autrui, rien qu'un corps frissonnant de fievre, sans

vigueur, sans parole et meme sans pensee" (I., p. 183).

We can see, therefore, that while the search for

being is at the heart of the problems that face the female

characters, no absolute victory is to be hoped for. Degrees of victory can be examined. Those who only succeed par­ tially are to be considered inauthentic. Those who succeed

in existing to a greater degree, are to be considered authentic.

Once again I have chosen to discuss the inauthentic actions first. It must be stressed that almost every female character achieves some degree of authenticity, therefore a description of an inauthentic attitude does not necessarily imply that the woman displaying this attitude is always in- authentic. 131

Inauthenticity

Examples of inauthentic conduct are frequent in

Simone de Beauvoir's work. No character is completely free of inauthentic behavior.

We can talk about types of inauthentic behavior.

These include the refusal of transcendence, a refusal to be lucid, a refusal to accept the existence of others, and a

failure of honest communication in love. These groups are arbitrary, but allow us to discuss different types of inauthentic behavior.

By refusing to become transcendent, to engage in a

project in complete freedom in view of transcending it toward some future project, some of the female characters exist in a world of immanence. They are passive. Nahas says: "Dans la mesure ou la femme est attente elle est aussi immanence, elle depend d'une force exterieure qui la hissera ou la poussera.This definition applies to such obvious examples as Monique, Laurence, Elisabeth, and Paule, as well as to Anne in isolated instances.

Laurence has never decided anything concerning her life. She has merely followed a path created for her by her family as well as society. This is obvious in the following passage: "J'ai toujours ete sur des rails.

Jamais je n'ai rien decide : pas meme mon mariage; ni mon

1. Nahas, p. 80. 132 metier; ni mon histoire avec Lucien : elle s'est faite et defaite, malgre moi. Les choses m'arrivent, c'est tout"

(B. Images, p. 166).

This refusal to be transcendent, to act, is also exhibited by those who live for love (Chapter III, Inau- thenticity). Elisabeth, even when she sees the mistake of her life with Claude, does not change. She is a victim of custom, in that she has made herself into an object and lost all possibility of being transcendent. "Au cours de ces journees, la verite lui etait apparue dans son intolerable erudite : c'est par lachete qu'elle s1etait nourrie de vains espoirs, elle n'avait rien a attendre de Claude; et pourtant elle accepterait n'importe quoi pour le garder, elle ne pouvait pas vivre sans lui" (I., p. 222).

Paule who is the extreme example of Elisabeth loses her loved one, Henri. Since she has completely changed her­ self into an object for him, when he leaves her, she goes insane. Her cure is described by Anne and shows the ulti­ mate consequences for the woman who has become totally immanent. "Oui pour delivrer Paule il fallait ruiner son amour jusque dans le passe; mais je pensais a ces microbes qu'on ne peut exterminer qu'en detruisant l'organisme qu'ils devorent. Henri etait mort pour Paule, mais elle etait morte elle aussi; je ne connaissais pas cette grosse femme au visage mouille de sueur, aux yeux bovins, qui lampait du 133 whisky a cote de moi"1 (M. , p. 496). The words Anne uses to describe Paule qrosse. yeux bovins. indicate passivity and by extension immanence.

Anne, in her affair with Lewis, occasionally slips into immanence. When she says: "Je prendrai ce que vous me donnez et je n'exigerai jamais rien" (M., p. 448). She parallels Paule1s attitude to Henri. The difference is, that for Anne, love is not everything, and that Lewis does love her.

There are many ways to escape transcendence.

Accepting ready-made values is one. Denise does this:

"Marcel hai'ssait cette bergerie fraternelle ou Denise pretendait vivre, un paradis humain bien ratisee, ou cou- laient les vertus abondantes, ou le merite, la verite, la beaute pendaient aux arbres comme des fruits dores. ... elle essayait de se liberer ainsi du souci de sa propre vie; seule comptait la marche universelle de I'histoire" (S., p. 116).

Refusing to be lucid is another method of being inauthentic. One instance of this can be seen in those female characters who choose attitudes, and refuse to be truthful with themselves. As mentioned earlier by Radford, the use of mirrors reflects this choosing of an attitude.

1. The criticism implicit in the above passage is partly directed at Freudian psychoanalysis, with which the existentialists do not agree. 134

Elisabeth, waiting for Claude, illustrates this. "Elle jeta

un coup d'oeil sur la glace, elle n'avait pas l'air trop

ravagee, mais le temps manquait pour choisir une attitude"

(I., p. 89). Paule, after her cure, also chooses an atti­

tude. Anne says of her, "elle jouerait probablement jusqu'a

sa mort le role d'une femme normale, mais c'etait un travail qui ne la disposait guere a la sincerite" (M., p. 494).

Inauthentic attitudes are also exhibited by some of the male characters. Henri lies to Paule, because it is

easier than telling her the truth.

A refusal to accept the existence of others is an

indication of inauthenticity. Regine does not like the idea that others exist and she is mean to Annie. She will not

take her to the country. Regine says to Fosca, "—C'est

vrai. Je n'aime pas le bonheur des autres, et il me plait de leur faire sentir mon pouvoir, Annie ne me generait pas;

c'est par mechancete que je ne 11emmenerai pas" (T., p.

60). This sadistic attitude indicates that Regine con­

siders Annie an object, and refuses to see her as a separate, subjective conscience.

Xaviere considers people as objects also. She

judges people as objects, and not as subjects. This is

pointed out by Fran^oise: "Xaviere jugeait les gens bien

moins d1apres leurs actes que d'apres les situations dans lesquelles ils se trouvaient, fut-ce malgre eux" (I., p.

192). 135

Mothers who treat their children as objects are also inauthentic. La Femme, who tried to mold Philippe into a professor is guilty of this type of conduct. Catherine B. who has decided that her adopted daughter, Jeanne, will marry her son Georges, has also treated her offspring as an object. When Jeanne dies, murdered by Georges, Catherine B. says to her husband; "Comment ai-je ose croire que le monde etait une pate docile qu1il m1appartenait de fa^onner a mon gre. "

Another mother who treats her offspring as an object is Yvonne's mother. She is an invalid and Yvonne waits on her like a slave. Murielle, by invading her daughter's privacy, has also failed to respect the free human being in her child.

There are many examples of women treating men as objects as well as the contrary. Monique is tempted to have an affair with Quillan when she finds out about Maurice's affair. She is thus using Quillan as an object. Helene uses the boy who gets her pregnant as an object for revenge against Jean. Nadine is guilty of this type of conduct also, when after Diego's death, she becomes promiscuous.

In all these actions the female characters are refusing to recognize the liberty of others. In this way they endanger

1. Simone de Beauvoir, Les Bouches Inutiles (Paris: Gallimard, 1945), p. 119. This play will be referred to henceforth as B. 136 their own liberty, and are inauthentic. Men are also guilty of this type of behavior. Scrisassine uses Anne as an object for pleasure and Henri does the same with Josette.

Franijoise considers her "being-for-others" in the eyes of Xaviere, for whom she has become a jealous person getting revenge on Xaviere by sleeping with Gerbert and thinks: "Xaviere existait, la trahison existait. Elle existe en chair et en os, ma criminelle figure" (I., p.

416). Fran

Another type of inauthenticity resides in the love relationship. Helene Nahas says: "L*amour n'est pas une occupation authentique, une recherche fondamentale de l'etre."'1' This can be seen in the inauthenticity of

Elisabeth and Paule. The failure of the love relationship to be authentic is apparent, however, even in those loves which seem authentic, in those which were freely consented to in liberty.

This failure is usually shown as a failure to communicate. Anne, by crying, forces Lewis to say that he loves her. She remembers this when he points it out to her.

"Je me revoyais pleurant sur son epaule, nous etions unis a

1. Nahas, p. 66. 137

jamais : mais j1etais unie toute seule. II avait raison :

j'aurais du me soucier de ce qui se passait dans sa tete,

au lieu de me contenter des mots que je lui arrachais.

J'avais ete lache, egoiste et lache" (M. , p. 446).

The relationship between two people is infinitely

complex and continually changing. For this reason, it is inauthentic to assume that once united in love, a couple

will continue to love one another in their liberty. Habit takes over. Francoise feels this when she says to Pierre:

"—Je suis ta vie, ... mais vois-tu ce que je sens si fort

ce soir, c'est que nos vies, elles sont la autour de nous,

presque malgre nous, sans qu'on les choisisse. Moi non

plus, tu ne me choisis plus jamais. Tu n'est plus libre de

ne pas m'aimer" (I., p. 168).

In love, when one person wishes to be a fascinating object for the other, the relationship is bound to be in- authentic. This is so because if the loved one considers himself a subject, and the lover an object, he is refusing to accept the other's freedom. This is illustrated by

Helene who wants to be a fascinating object for Jean. He cannot love her in this way. He says to her:

—Jamais tu n'as cherche a partager ma vie, tu ne m'as aime que pour toi.

Je voulais etre ta vie, dit-elle avec deses- poir.

C'est impossible. Je ne peux pas t'aimer comme tu le souhaites (S., p. 170). 138

Pierre wants to be a fascinating object for Xaviere.

This is evident when he says to Frangoise; "—Tout ce que je demande, c'est de pouvoir retrouver n'importe quand des visages comme ceux de cette nuit, des moments ou moi seul au monde existe pour elle" (I., p. 216).

Inauthenticity is a part of every female character's life. Some are inauthentic to a greater degree; Paule,

Elisabeth, Monique, and Laurence for example. Some are inauthentic to a lesser degree; Anne, Frangoise, and La

Femme for example, but none escapes completely from inau­ thentic behavior.

Although none of the female characters is completely authentic, some exhibit a great deal of authenticity in their lives. Who they are and how they do this will be discussed now.

Authenticity

Authenticity is realized when one is lucid and truthful with oneself. To accept the freedom and subjective conscience of others, and to love them in their freedom is authentic. To accept responsibility for one's actions and oneself is authentic. Authenticity does not necessarily imply happiness. Sometimes, to be authentic, means to experience anqoisse. For women in particular, to cast off the false privileges of their situation is to be authentic, to become transcendent, and go beyond immanence is to be 139 authentic, in a word to become engage. All of these con­ ducts can be discussed under two headings, non-love and love relationships.

Truthfulness or lucidity is one existential virtue that is shared to different degrees by nearly all of Simone de Beauvoir's female characters. Murielle describes herself in the following way: "Je suis propre je suis vraie je ne joue pas le jeu; 9a les fait gueuler ils n'aiment pas qu'on voit clair en eux ils veulent qu'on croie leurs belles paroles ou du moins qu'on fasse semblant" (Mono., p. 90).

Laurence never stops questioning herself. She fails to find many answers, but she does make an effort to be lucid. Monique, through her journal, attempts to be lucid also; however, complete lucidity is what destroys her, much in the same way that it destroys Paule and threatens to destroy Elisabeth. Frangoise, Anne, and La Femme attain the highest degree of lucidity with themselves. We can see how

Frangoise at first hesitates to admit to herself the reality of her situation. She feels uncomfortable about Pierre's relationship to Xaviere: "Elle hesita; un instant elle fut tentee d'elucider clairement; et puis elle fut prise de paresse" (I., p. 116).

When speaking with Gerbert she again hesitates:

"—C'est dangereux. Au fond, elle ressemblait a Elisabeth; une fois pour toutes elle avait fait un acte de foi, et elle se reposait tranquillement sur des evidences perimees. II 140 aurait tout fallu remettre en question, par le debut, mais

9a demandait une force surhumaine" (I., p. 131).

She realizes at last that she must be lucid. "Elle avait toujours refuse de vivre parmi les reves, mais elle n'acceptait pas davantage de s'enfermer dans un monde mutile.

Xaviere existait et on ne devait pas la nier, il fallait assumer tous les risques que son existence comportait"

(I., p. 172).

Helene becomes authentic when contemplating the idea of collaborating with the Germans. It is at this time that she realizes that she exists and controls her life. "lis

[ses amis] me voient, ils existent. Jean existe. Elle mit la tete dans ses mains. C'est parce que je ne voulais pas souffrir : j'ai menti, j1existe. Je n'ai jamais cesse d'exister. ... C'est ma vie que je suis en train de vivre"

(S. , p. 200).

Her lucidity and her assumption of her situation in all its ramifications, such as her "being-for-others," create an authentic attitude.

Lucidity can also cause frightening emotions to surface. These must be assumed as Fran^oise illustrates.

"En face de Xaviere, elle sentait avec une espece de joie se lever en elle quelque chose de noir et d1amer qu'elle ne connaissait pas encore et qui etait presque une delivrance : puissante, libre, s'epanouissant enfin sans contrainte, c'etait la haine" (I., p. 369). 141

Frangoise's ultimate authenticity is somewhat more difficult to explain. She has been inauthentic in refusing to accept the existence of Xaviere as a subject, but her specific act and the way she feels when she accomplishes it reflect authenticity. "Son acte n'appartenait qu'a elle.

'C'est moi qui le veux.' C'etait sa volonte qui etait en train de s'accomplir, plus rien ne la separait d'elle-meme.

Elle avait enfin choisi. Elle s'etait choisie" (I., p.

418). Frangoise indicates that she will tell Pierre about killing Xaviere. They hide nothing from one another.

This mutual honesty is one of the main ingredients of authentic love. Freedom, lucidity, and honesty all constitute the basis of authentic love. Recognizing the other person as a free, separate human being is also paramount to the success of love. This is explained as follows by Simone de Beauvoir: "Ce n'est qu'en tant qu'etranger, interdit, en tant que libre, que 11 autre se devoile comme autre; et 1'aimer authentiquement, c'est

1'aimer dans son alterite et dans cette liberte par laquelle il s'echappe. L'amour est alors renoncement a toute posses­ sion, a toute confusion; on renonce a etre afin qu'il y ait cet etre qu'on n'est pas.""''

1. Simone de Beauvoir, Pour une morale de 1'ambi- qulte suivi de Pyrrhus et Cineas (Paris: Gallimard, 1966), p. 96. 142

These conditions are met to a certain degree by

Pierre and Francoise, Franchise and Gerbert, Clarice and

Jean-Pierre, Catherine B. and Louis, Helene and Jean, Anne

and Robert, Anne and Lewis (to a lesser degree), and La

Femme and Andre.

Complete honesty is one element of love that

Francoise shows when she says she will tell Pierre about killing Xaviere. La Femme illustrates this trait also.

"II m'arrive de taire a Andre des humeurs, des regrets, de

menus soucis; sans doute a-t-il lui aussi ses petits

secrets, mais en gros nous n'ignorons rien l'un de 1'autre"

(A. D. , p. 9 ).

Honesty and freedom also form a part of Anne's re­ lationship to Robert. She says: "Nous sommes libres Robert et moi et nous ne nous cachons rien" (M., p. 71).

Fran

The importance of freedom or liberty in love is well illustrated by Jean Blomart. Jean cannot love Helene when she wants to become an object for him. It is only when she leaves, after he has told her he does not love her, that she begins to assume her freedom. Then he loves her. Jean says: "Je I'aimais pour sa sincerite et son courage, je 143 l'aimais parce qu'elle partait : je ne pouvais pas la rappeler" (S., p. 171).

For love to be authentic, it must also be con­ sciously renewed all the time. It has to be lived and consented to again and again ad infinitum. Francoise and

Pierre make the mistake of not renewing their love.

Frangoise realizes this.

Dans la tete de Frangoise, le brouillard se dechira; elle voyait avec lucidite ce qu'il y avait entre Pierre et elle; ils avaient edifie de belles con­ structions impeccables et ils s'abritaient a leur ombre, sans plus s'inquieter de ce qu'elles pour- raient bien contenir; Pierre repetait encore : "Nous ne faisons qu'un" et pourtant elle avait de- couvert qu'il vivait pour lui-meme; sans perdre sa forme parfaite, leur amour, leur vie se vidait lentement de leur substance; comme ces grandes chenilles a la coque invulnerable mais qui portent dans leur chaire molle de minuscules vermisseaux qui les recurent avec soin (I., p. 161).

Besides having to be honest, freely consented, and continually renewed, authentic love must be a common engage­ ment in some project. This is pointed out by Simone de

Beauvoir in "Pyrrhus et Cineas." "Vivre un amour, c'est se jeter a travers lui vers des buts neufs : un foyer, un travail, un avenir commun.

This idea is echoed by Catherine B. in Les Bouches

Inutiles. "Si un homme et une femme se sont jetes d'un meme elan vers un meme avenir, dans l'oeuvre qu'ils ont construi- te ensemble, dans les enfants qu'ils ont engendres, dans ce

1. Ibid., p. 258. 144

monde tout entier qu'a rnodele leur volonte commune, ils se retrouvent confondus d'une maniere indissoluble" (B., p.

56).

When her husband Louis has decided that instead of condemning "les bouches inutiles," the whole village will fight or perish together, he says to Catherine B.: "Une seule chair, un seul destinl Nous triompherons ensemble, ou nous serons enfouis ensemble dans la terre" (B., p.

119).

La Femme and Andre have the same feeling of union.

She says: "Nous sommes ensemble, c'est notre chance. Nous nous aiderons a vivre cette derniere aventure dont nous ne reviendrons pas. Cela nous la rendra-t-il tolerable? Je ne sais pas. Esperons. Nous n'avons pas le choix" (A.D., p. 84).

Authenticity is the measure of a person's success for the existentialist. As we have seen several of the female characters in Simone de Beauvoir's fiction manage to live some part of their lives authentically. Almost all are lucid. Anne and Helene accept others as free and inde­ pendent consciences. Francoise, Helene, Anne, La Femme, and

Catherine B. assume their situations, and transcend them through action. They have engaged their lives in a freely chosen project and all succeed in this respect in love.

These women fulfill the requirements for authentic love as defined by Helene Nahas: "L1amour se propose done 145 des buts eleves : il doit surmonter la fuite incessante des instants, ne pas devenir pitie et devouement, ne pas'sombrer dans le desir physique, ne pas se couler dans l'orniere d'un bonheur de routine. En un mot l'amant ne veut en face de lui, rien moins que 'libre, absolue, irreductible : une conscience etrangere.'This is a demanding formula in­ deed , and its difficulty is verified by the problems en­ countered by Francoise and Pierre, Anne and Lewis, La Femme and Andre in attaining it. They all manage in certain respects, however, to live authentically.

1. Nahas, p. 93. CHAPTER VII

LIBERATION IN FICTION

Simone de Beauvoir's female characters are described in terms of traditional sexual roles. In spite of this, they occasionally attempt to liberate themselves from their status as second class citizens. It must be said, however, that nearly all of these attempts abort, and the picture that rests is one of failure.

Sexual Roles

We find generalizations about women, men, and the relationship between the sexes, in the works of Simone de

Beauvoir.

To define women in general terms is to resuscitate the myths about them which Beauvoir has revealed and de­ nounced in Le Deuxieme Sexe. Generalizations about women are made by both men and women. Those which are pronounced by men are condescending and reveal chauvinist attitudes, as shown by Scriassine, who feels that France's situation has changed radically after the war. Anne says to him: "—On dirait que cette perspective vous rejouit, ... II haussa les epaules : 1 Voila bien une reflexion de femme; elles sont incapables de rester sur un terrain objectif" (M., p. 35).

Somewhat later Scriassine bets Anne that Robert will have

146 147 quit either politics or writing within a year. She refuses to bet and he says: "'Vous etes comme toutes les femmes; il vous faut des etoiles fixes au ciel et des bornes kilo- metriques sur les routes" (M. , p. 37).

These generalizations reveal more about Scriassine than they do about Anne. Once he has categorized her as incapable of being objective, and as being afraid of uncer­ tainty, he feels that he has defined her, and every other female along with her. This is a false yet traditional attitude on his part. In this same vein he says to her:

"'Ahl ne parlons pas de politique : j'ai horreur de parler politique avec les femmes" (M., p. 69).

Another example of male chauvinism exhibited by

Scriassine is the 'divide and conquer' attack. In flatter­ ing Anne, he distinguishes her from other women and thus encourages her to despise her sex in general. He says to her, "'Vous n'etes vraiment pas sotte. ^En general je n'aime pas les femmes intelligentes : peut-etre parce qu'elles ne sont pas assez intelligentes; alors elles veulent se donner des preuves, elles parlent tout le temps et elles ne comprennent rien. Ce qui m'a frappe la premiere fois que je vous ai vue, c'est votre maniere de vous taire" (M., p. 70).

Another male chauvinist is Thirion, a famous lawyer who appears briefly in Les Belles Images, and who when asked what he thinks of female lawyers, replies: "Le plus 148 grand bien; beaucoup sont des femmes charmantes et beaucoup ont du talent (en generale ce ne sont pas les memes). Mais une chose est sure : jamais aucune ne sera capable de plaider aux Assises. Elles n'ont pas le coffre, ni 1'auto- rite, ni—je vais vous etonner—le sens theatral necessai- res" (B. Images, p. 138).

Henri also borders on chauvinism when he thinks:

"'Les femmes ne sont pas gaies,1 ... Son histoire avec

Paule s'achevait minablement; Nadine, il n'avait rien su lui donner. Josette ... eh bien! 9a serait different.

Elle voulait arriver : il la ferait arriver" (M., p. 293).

He considers Josette as an object.

Fosca considers women as objects also. He adopts

Beatrice and raises her, but fails to make her happy. He says: "Je regardai avec remords son visage empate. Si je n'avais pas voulu si imperieusement son bonheur, elle eut aime, souffert, vecu. Je l'avais perdue plus surement que je n'avais perdu Antoine" (T., p. 155).

Some statements made by men about women are actually flattering. Jean Blomart compliments Helene when he thinks:

"Elle suffoquait de jalousie avec une impudeur que me fit rire au dedans de moi-meme. Jamais je n'avais vu de femme si ignorante de tous les artifices feminins" (S., p. 69).

Armand, Fosca1s great grandson says of Marianne:

"—Les femmes sont souvent plus genereuses que nous" (T., 149 p. 309). However, most general statements pronounced by men reveal traditional, condescending attitudes.

The reflections on women, made by women are never flattering. The women are more aware of their second class condition and none accepts it lightly. This is illustrated in particular by Nadine, who, being an adolescent, is even more acutely aware of the condition inherent in woman's situation against which she fights. She reproaches Henri for considering her as a sex object. "—Avec d'autres gens tu discutes, dit Nadine dont la voix brusquement s'aigrit.

Avec moi, tu ne veux jamais; je suppose que c'est parce que je suis femme; les femmes, c'est tout juste bon a se faire baiser." Henri reflects, "Le fait est qu1avec Lambert ou

Vincent, il ne se serait pas derobe; Nadine avait besoin de secours autant qu'eux; mais il avait appris a ses depens que venir en aide a une femme, c'etait toujours lui conce- der un droit; du moindre don, elles faisaient une promesse; il se tenait sur la defensive" (M., p. 155). Henri's ambiguous attitude reveals both lucidity and condescension, which marks him as being stuck in a false idea of mascu­ linity and feminity.

When Nadine asks Henri why he likes women, he says,

"—Eh bienl J'aime bien les regarder quand elles sont jolies, danser avec elles, ou causer. 11 Nadine's reply indi­ cates her awareness of woman's condition. "—Pour causer, il vaut mieux des hommes" (M., p. 53). Her awareness of 150 woman's inferiority as constituted by society is shown when she replies to Anne and Robert's urgings to do something with her life.

—Ohl si j'etais un homme, je ne dis pas, dit Nadine. Mais un reporter feminin qa. n'a pas une chance sur mille de reussir." Elle arreta d'un geste nos protestations. "Pas ce que moi j'appelle reussir, dit-elle avec hauteur. Les femmes, 9a vegete toujours."

Je hasardai : "Pas toujours.

—Tu crois?" Elle ricana : "Regarde-toi par exemple : tu t'en tires, soit, tu as des clients; mais enfin, tu ne seras jamais Freud" (M., p. 171).

Anne explains to Lambert from a psychiatrist's point of view, what it is that is bothering Nadine: "—Nadine se sent mutilee quand elle accepte sa feminite et aussi quand elle la refuse" (M., p. 353). This translates the feeling of women in a masculine dominated society.

Laurence is full of bad faith when she hides her freedom from herself. "J'ai beau me blinder, je ne suis pas aussi solide qu'eux. 'Le cote convulsif des femmes,' dit

Jean-Charles qui est pourtant feministe. Je lutte contre; j'ai horreur de me convulser, alors le mieux c'est d'eviter les occasions" (B. Images, p. 59).

Laurence can be contrasted to Anne and Nadine, who at least fight against their situation. Laurence thinks that by closing her eyes, the problems in her life will disappear; however, when she realizes that ultimately she 151 is not living she revolts and promises to raise her daughters in a different manner.

Immanence, which lies in wait for everyone, threatens

Frangoise who thinks: "Apres toutes ces annees d'exigences passionnees, de serenite triomphante et d'aprete au bonheur, allait-elle devenir comme tant d'autres une femme resignee?"

(I., p. 346). Ultimately she escapes, but her solution to the problem of Xaviere's existence cannot be justified by her assumption of its consequences.

Anne, thinking about the possible results of Paule's cure also reveals the trap of immanence. "Qui sera-t-elle apres? OhI somme toute, c'etait facile a prevoir. Elle serait comme moi, comme des millions d'autres : une femme qui attend de mourir sans plus savoir pourquoi elle vit"

(M., p. 420).

The sexual roles of women are thus underlined, with the result that they can be considered as reflecting woman's situation as it now exists. Even the more lucid women such as Frangoise, Anne, and Nadine are victims of their situa­ tion and alternate between frustration and resignation.

The differences between the sexes are pointed out by contrasting the opinions of male and female characters within sexual or love situations.

Pierre and Frangoise exhibit different attitudes with regard to sex. Pierre says that he likes the begin­ nings of affairs and asks if Frangoise understands. 152

"—Peut-etre, dit Frangoise, mais moi 9a ne m'interesserait pas une aventure sans lendemain. ... c'est plus fort que moi : je suis une femme fidele" (I., p. 25). This attitude is representative of every female character, with the excep­ tion of Nadine and Madeleine. As Simone de Beauvoir pointed out in Le Deuxieme Sexe. love is only one event in the life of a man, but it is the center of a woman's life. All the female characters illustrate this trait. Paule. after her cure chides Anne for centering her life on Robert. "—Aucun homme ne merite 1'adoration qu'ils exigent de nous, aucunI

Toi aussi, tu es dupe; donne a Robert du papier et du temps pour ecrire : il ne lui manque rien" (M., p. 497).

This attitude on the part of women is difficult for men to understand. Anne who has been speaking to Henri about Paule thinks: "II avait 11 air vraiment tourmente; une fois de plus je me dis que j'etais bien contente d'etre une femme : parce que c'est a des hommes que j'ai affaire, ga pose beaucoup moins de problemes" (M., p. 191). Woman is forced by her situation to adopt one of two alternatives.

She must either resign herself to accepting the role of wife, mother, mistress, or rebel and become independent while renouncing her traditional role. But neither alterna­ tive can satisfy her completely. She needs to be able to develop her human capacities, and also if she desires to fulfill her biological capacities, which is not possible in 153 her present situation. Nadine reflects the frustration of this dilemma.

Nadine hai'ssait toujours la solitude d'autrui; a sa jalousie il se melait cette fois de l'envie; devant la resistance de Lambert et mon opposition formelle, elle avait renonce a conduire la machine; ... la motocyclette demeurait a ses yeux le symbole de tous les plaisirs virils dont elle n'etait pas la source et qu'elle ne pouvait pas non plus partager; c'etait le plus frequent pretexte de ses disputes avec Lambert (M., p. 346).

Anne and Robert discuss Nadine's promiscuity which does not worry Robert. Anne thinks: "Jamais Robert n'avait voulu considerer que Nadine n'etait pas un gargon; je dis :

'Ce n1est pas pareil; Nadine s1agrippe a un homme apres

1*autre parce que quand elle est seule elle ne se sent pas vivre; c'est

Nadine feels worthless unless she has a man to justify her existence. We have seen that the same can be said for Dominique, and in general for many of the female characters. Henri wants to make Josette happy. "II aurait fallu 1'aimer c'est toujours a 9a qu'on en revient avec les femmes; il faudrait toutes les aimer d'un amour ex- clusif" (M., p. 284).

Every woman centers her life on one man, but the same is not true for the men. Henri explains this to Paule.

"—En tout cas, moi j'ai change, dit-il doucement. Une femme c'est peut-etre different, mais un homme, c'est im­ possible qu'il desire indefiniment le meme corps. Tu es 154 aussi belle qu'autrefois, mais tu m'es devenue trop fami- liere" (M., p. 284).

The difference experienced in the erotic situation is underlined in a dialogue between Henri and Josette who wants him to go to a snobish nightclub with her. He says:

—Mais, mon amour, qu'est-ce que tu fais pour moi?

—Moi? mais je ...

—Oui tu ..., dit-il gaiement. Mais moi aussi, je ...

Elle ne riait pas. "Ce n'est pas pareil, dit- elle gravement. Je suis une femme."

II rit encore et il pensa : "Elle a raison, elle a mille fois raison : 9a n'est pas pareil" (M., p. 291).

The sexual role forced on men is illustrated by

Lambert, whose father, suspected of having been a collabo- rater, has just died. Lambert says to Henri: "II parait que ce n'est pas viril d'etre secoue quand on vous assassine votre perei" Henri replies, "—Je comprends, ... C'est des idees de femme, ces histoires de virilite" (M., p. 294).

Anne understands Lambert's reaction but Nadine does not, she says: "Voila qu'il pleure comme un bebe. II a pleure avec de vraies larmes, je l'ai vu!" Anne says: "Et alors? il n'y a pas de honte." But Nadine insists, "—Aucun des hommes que je connais n'aurait pleure" (M., p. 338).

The sexual roles depicted are traditional. Women have secondary places in the general scheme and love is more 155 central to their lives. Even Anne and Frangoise who both have love affairs, center their lives on one man. As far as sexual roles are concerned, Simone de Beauvoir's women are not liberated.

t Attempts at Liberation

Predisposee par ses postulats philosophiques a une vue sombre du monde dominee par l'angoisse et la desesperance, la litterature existentielle presente une generation de femmes hantees par 1'inquietude et le desarroi. En plus du drame originel de la recherche de 11etre elles sont confrontees avec une situation de crise qui appelle la mise en proces de l'homme et de toutes ses valeurs.^

This analysis would seem to indicate that it is against men that women must forge their liberty. However, this is not the case, for almost every female character has to conquer what liberty she manages to acquire, against herself.

Frangoise illustrates this idea. Fundamentally, in accordance with the first part of Nahas' observation, she is seeking being. "Elle pouvait savoir avec beaucoup de certi­ tude ce qu'elle n'etait pas : c'etait penible de ne se connaitre que comme une suite d'absences" (I., pp. 153-54).

In her relationship with Pierre, she seeks authen­ ticity, and realizes the importance of freedom, his as well as hers. "Les decisions que Frangoise attendait de lui, c'est de sa volonte qu'elle les exigeait : tout son bonheur

1. Nahas, p. 64. 156

reposait sur la libre volonte de Pierre et c'etait precise-

ment sur quoi elle n'avait aucune prise" (I., p. 177). The

fact that Francoise's happiness hinges on Pierre's love,

indicates once again the importance of a man to a woman's

life. We feel throughout that the male characters are

complete in themselves and would be without the female

characters, while the females could not exist without the

males.

Frangoise's awareness of powerlessness with regard

to Pierre constitutes the paradoxical basis for her con­

scious and authentic assumption of her situation, and the

beginnings of her attempt to achieve some degree of libera­

tion.

When she becomes ill, she realizes further that

Pierre has freely chosen to love her. "II se pencha sur

elle et l'embrassa; la joie que refletait son sourire re-

chauffa le coeur de Frangoise; il ne la creait pas expres

pour la lui dedier, il la vivait pour lui-meme avec une

entiere gratuite; son amour etait redevenu une brillante

evidence" (I., p. 200).

Frangoise tries to live her love for Pierre in an

authentic manner, and becomes aware of the error of relying on past evidences. "Elle le regarda, ... trop longtemps

elle l'avait aime aveuglement pour ce qu'elle recevait de

lui; mais elle s'etait promis de 1'aimer pour lui-meme et

jusque dans cette liberte par ou il lui echappait; elle 157

n'allait pas buter contre le premier obstacle" (I., p. 215).

This definition of love is very close to the definition of

authentic love in "Pour une morale de 11 ambigui'te" (see

Chapter VI, Authenticity). and it must be emphasized that

Francoise has to reach an inner realization of her possi­ bilities in order to begin to love authentically.

Many of the female characters reach this self- awareness stage including Helene, Anne, La Femme, and to some degree Laurence, but this stage is only a pre- liberation, and does not constitute complete liberation, for each woman needs to assume the total responsibility for her life, independently of the male characters. None achieves this, as evidenced by the central role the males play in their lives.

True liberation is achieved by Jean Blomart during the strike. "Je me sentais comble. Depuis des annees j'avais lutte patiemment pour en arriver la : a l'affairma- tion de cette solidarite sereine ou chacun puisait chez les autres la force d'imposer sa propre volonte, sans empieter sur la liberte de personne et tout en demeurant responsable de soi" (S., p. 53). This feeling of community with one's fellow man is lacking in the female characters.

The attempt by Frangoise to attain liberation is indicative of the attempts made by the other female charac­ ters. Indeed, she comes closest to being truly liberated.

Her ultimate failure is also indicative of the ultimate 158 failure of the others who nevertheless reach the pre- liberated stage; an awareness of their situation. Nadine is radically aware of her situation but fails to overcome her second-class status.

Failure

Failure is perhaps too strong a word to use with regard to the female characters, who manage to accomplish a certain degree of liberation within their situations.

Success would indicate that the situation of the female had changed, and this is not the case in Simone de Beauvoir's novels, which are grounded in contemporary reality. Never­ theless it is Failure which shines through in the end, and perhaps to a greater degree it is the ultimate failure of every being to be "en-soi" and "pour-soi" at the same time, which colors the failure of the female characters in particu­ lar.

This feeling of failure which permeates her fiction is expressed by Gerbert as follows: "II [Pierre] tenait a ses idees, un peu comme Peclard a ses meubles. Frangoise elle, s'appuyait sur Labrousse; comme 9a les gens s1arrange- aient pour s1entourer d'un monde bien resistant ou leurs vies prenaient un sens; mais il y avait toujours quelque tricherie a la base" (I., p. 270).

Authenticity is an impossible virtue to achieve repeatedly. We have seen examples of authentic behavior, 159 but no character is continuously and consistently authentic.

Elisabeth illustrates lack of authenticity when she reflects,

"elle n*avait plus d'avenir; elle savait que nulle part, jamais elle n'atteindrait le modele authentique dont son present n'etait qu'une copie" (I., p. 223).

All characters escape reality in one way or another as can be seen when Henri describes his friends Anne, Nadine, and Robert. "'C'est vrai que nous sommes tous quelque peu puritains, pensa-t-il. Moi compris. C'est parce que nous detestons qu'on nous mette en face de nos privileges'" (M., p. 293).

While complete authenticity is illusory, liberation seems an attainable goal; as it is described in Le Deuxieme

Sexe. The female characters do not arrive at liberation, however, and Madeleine Gobeil asks why:

Question : Vous n'avez jamais cree un person- nage feminin independant et profondement libre qui illustre en quelque sorte votre these du Deuxieme Sexe ... Pourquoi?

Simone de Beauvoir : J'ai montre les femmes comme elles sont, divisees, et non pas comme elles devraient etre.^

Franchise realizes she is at fault in not being completely independent.

Le tort qu'elle avait, c'etait de reposer sur Pierre de tout son poids; il y avait la une veri­ table faute, elle ne devait pas faire supporter a un autre la responsabilite d'elle-meme. ... Pour devenir totalement responsable d'elle-meme, il

1. Julienne-Caffie, pp. 213-14. 160

lui aurait suffi de le vouloir, mais elle ne le voulait pas reelement. Ce blame meme qu'elle s'adressait, elle demanderait encore a Pierre de l'approuver; tout ce qu'elle pensait, c'etait avec lui et pour lui; un acte qu'elle tirat de soi seule et qu'elle accomplit absolument sans rapport avec lui, un acte qui affirmat une authentique independance, elle ne pourrait meme pas en imaginer (I., pp. 115-16).

When Pierre wants to go on tournee. Francoise, who

thinks it would be disastrous for their careers, reflects

once again this failure to accomplish a liberating act.

"Ce n'etait pas meme la peine de lutter, elle se savait

vaincue : pas par Pierre : par elle-meme. Cette ombre de

resistance qui survivait en elle n'etait pas assez forte

pour qu'elle put esperer mener la lutte jusqu'au bout" (I.,

pp. 36-37).

The most obvious cases of failure are those of women

who try to justify their immanence, such as Elisabeth,

Paule, and Regine. Radford describes this situation: "The

situation becomes particularly pernicious in Simone de

Beauvoir's view when Woman the Image, dissatisfied by the

emptiness which her scrutiny reveals, abandons all claims

to autonomy and takes refuge in compensations and justifica­

tions. ""L

Paule has done this by becoming a love object for

Henri, but according to Henri her motive for quitting her

singing career was not only to devote herself to him, but

1. Radford, "Simone de Beauvoir: Feminism's friend or foe? I," p. 97. 161 also to escape fear of transcendence. "Une fois de plus il se demanda : 'Pourquoi au juste a-t-elle laisse tomber?1

Sur le moment, il avait vu dans son sacrifice une boulever- sante preuve d'amour; plus tard, il s'etait etonne que

Paule eludat toutes les occasions de tenter sa chance et il s'etait demande si elle n'avait pas pris pretexte de leur amour pour se derober a l'epreuve" (M., pp. 17-18).

Fear is certainly one motive behind many of the failures at liberation, fear of being unloved; fear of facing transcendence.

Genevieve Gennari notes this lack of liberation in the female characters. "Mais toutes les femmes n'atteignent pas le degre de liberation necessaire a 1'epanouissement de leur vocation singuliere d1etres-humains-feminins.

Helene Nahas underlines the basic conflict inherent in woman's situation when she says of the majority of women in existentialist literature: "Soumises a l'enorme pression de l'histoire et de la convention elles se sont enfermees dans un systeme d'hypocrisie et de mauvaise foi qui leur a fait revetir des attitudes non-authentiques et des figures d'emprunt commodement offertes en guise de refuges et d'alibis.

1. Gennari, p. 78.

2. Nahas, p. 215. 162

Consistent with her definition of woman's situation in Le Deuxieme Sexe. Simone de Beauvoir has created female characters who are unable to attain liberation. "For Simone de Beauvoir, woman is denied a true individuality, she is torn between the traditional cultural heritage of a man-made society and the desire of every human being to transcend the lmmanence."

The female characters never attain true equality, partly because they continue to center their lives on the love of one man. "In every novel which Simone de Beauvoir has written, man is shown as the controller of society in every sphere.

The failure of the female characters to attain liberation is thus emphasized. It remains to be seen, however, if Simone de Beauvoir herself has attained true liberation. "Les femmes chez Simone de Beauvoir sont a

1'image de leur auteur : elles sont pleines de dynamisme et de vitalite, foncierement gaies, elles mordent la vie a pleines dents. Ce qui ne les empeche pas, toujours a

1'imitation de leur auteur, d'etre des consciences tragiques, * 3 blessees a mort par les deceptions de 11 existence."

1. Radford, "Simone de Beauvoir: Feminism's friend or foe? I," p. 93.

2. Ibid., p. 89.

3. Onimus. p. 111. 163

Does Simone de Beauvoir, like her characters, fail to attain liberation? It will be the purpose of the last section to deal with this qpaestion. PART 3

SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S LIFE

164 CHAPTER VIII

SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S SITUATION

Simone de Beauvoir's situation can be understood

from three points of view. To understand better her atti­

tudes on women it is necessary to discuss her situation in

general terms and to examine in more detail her relationship

to both men and feminism.

General Situation

In discussing her general situation, I will limit

myself to an outline of her historical, familial, and

emotional situations, which will aid in understanding her

particular reactions to men and feminism. For lack of a better term, I use the word history to include the forces

that influence her life such as the contingent facts of her

existence, as well as her economic and religious situations.

Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris on January 9,

1908. She spent her childhood in Paris and her summers at

Meyrignac and La Grillere, properties belonging to her family. She was very intelligent, and her father used to

165 166 remark: M,Simone a un cerveau d'homme. Simone est un homme.' Pourtant on me traitait en fille.m1

She was an assiduous student and took a great interest in literature, writing a story at an early age which pleased her parents. This interest was encouraged by her father who was well versed in literature. After Simone de Beauvoir lost her belief in God she accorded an even greater importance to literature. "La litterature prit dans mon existence la place qu'y avait occupee la religion : elle

11envahit tout entiere, et la transfigura" (M.J.F., p.

168.). After completing her baccalaureat. she decided to go to the University and prepared several diplomes. including literature and later philosophy.

In contemplating her future life she decided: "Elle ne serait pas tapageuse, ni meme eclatante. Je souhaitais seulement 1'amour, ecrire de bons livres, avoir quelquei enfants, 'avec des amis a qui dedier mes livres et qui apprendront la pensee et la poesie a mes enfants.' J'ac- cordais au mari une part bien minime. ... Dans cet avenir, dont je commengais a sentir 1'immanence, l'essentiel demeurait la litterature" (M.J.F., p. 319).

She succeeded brilliantly in her exams and became a professor, first in a lycee in Marseilles and then in

1. Simone de Beauvoir, Memoires d'une jeune fille ranqee (Paris: Gallimard, 1958), p. 123. Referred to henceforth as M.J.F. 167

Rouen and finally in Paris at the Lycee Moliere. She did

not consider herself a professor. "Je remplissais les

fonctions d'un professeur de philosophie, je n'en etais pas

un. Je n1etais pas meme cette adulte que les autres

voyaient : je vivais une aventure individuelle a laquelle

aucune categorie ne s'appliquait pour de bon.

She considered her function to be that of a writer

and explains what she wished to accomplish as a writer.

"Je desirais passionnement que le public aimat mes oeuvres;

alors, ... je deviendrais moi-meme un personnage imagi- naire : j'en aurais la necessite, la beaute, la chatoyante transparence; c'est cette transfiguration que visait mon ambition" (F.A.( p. 375).

She was expelled from the University in 1943, after being accused of corrupting a minor, because she would not

intervene to attempt to persuade a student to marry the man of her mother's choice. She was later reinstated in the

University but did not return to teaching. After a brief

period of working for the national radio, she concentrated

on literature.

She was physically healthy, except for a serious illness of the lungs in her thirties and for a benign breast tumor in her later life. She spent the largest part of her time writing. "Ainsi chacun de mes ouvrages me

1. Simone de Beauvoir, La Force de 1'age (Paris: Gallimard, 1960), p. 355. Referred to henceforth as F.A. 168 demande-t-il de deux a trois ans—quatre pour les Mandarins— pendant lesquels je passe six a sept heures par jour devant ma table. ,I"L

In her middle years she traveled a great deal, visiting China, the United States, Russia, and Brazil, as well as many other countries. In her later life she lives quietly, devoting most of her time to writing and friends.

"Je m'accomodais sans regret de l'austerite de mes journees.

Depuis longtemps nous vivions a 1'ecart : nous cessames tout a fait de sortir" (F.S., p. 603).

This sketch gives a very general idea of her life.

The political events of her time, the two World Wars as well as the Spanish Revolution, the Viet Nam War, and the

Algerian War concerned her to a greater degree as she got older. The Algerian War especially marked her life; she felt guilty to be French and like an exile in her own country because of her unpopular opinions.

Simone de Beauvoir was raised in a bourgeois family of modest means, which was unable to provide a dowry for either her or her sister, and thus she knew at an early age that she would have to work. She explains how she felt about her economic situation as a child. "Toute mon educa­ tion m'assurait que la vertu et la culture comptent plus que la fortune : mes gouts me portaient a le croire;

1. Simone de Beauvoir, La Force des choses (Paris: Gallimard, 1963), p. 294. Referred to henceforth as F.C. 169

j'acceptais done avec serenite la modestie de notre condi­

tion" (M.J.F., p. 50).

Before she decided to become a professor and a

writer, she realized that she would have to work. "Je pre-

ferais infiniment la perspective d'un metier a celle du

mariage; elle autorisait des espoirs. II y avait eu des

gens qui avaient fait des choses; j1 en ferais" (M.J.F.,

p. 106).

Her mother was very religious and her father was a

non-believer. At an early age she was intensely religious.^

At one point, at about the age of ten, she decided to go

into a convent, but the early dichotomy between her father

and mother made her separate radically intellect and reli­

gion. "Mon pere ne croyait pas; les plus grands ecrivains,

les meilleurs penseurs partageaient son scepticisme; dans

1'ensemble, e'etait surtout les femmes qui allaient a

l'eglise; je commengais a trouver paradoxal et troublant

que la verite fut leur privilege alors que les hommes, sans

discussion possible, leur etaient superieurs" (M.J.F., pp.

136-37). The above citation announces not only the paradox of religion versus intellect, but also the uncontested superiority of men in Simone de Beauvoir's young mind. Her

actual renunciation of God took place somewhat later.

1. For a thorough study of the influence of reli­ gion in Simone de Beauvoir's life, see A. M., Henry, o.p., Simone de Beauvoir ou 1'echec d'une chretiente 1 Paris: Librairie Artheme Fayard, 1961). 170

"Je ne crois plus en Dieu," me dis-je, sans grand etonnement. C'etait une evidence : si j'avais cru en lui, je n'aurais pas consenti de gaiete de coeur a 1'offenser. J'avais toujours pense qu'au prix de l'eternite ce monde comptait pour rien; il comptait, puisque je l'aimais, et c'etait Dieu soudainement qui ne faisait pas le poids : il fallait que son nom ne recouvrit plus qu'un mirage (M.J.F., p, 138).

In discussing the influence of her religious up­ bringing on her life, she says to Francis Jeanson: "C'est ainsi qu'avant toute intervention des themes egalitaires d'ordre intellectuel, une espece d'egalite morale. spiritu- elle, en tant qu'etre humain, m'etait donnee—par 1'impor­ tance meme qu'avait eue pour moi, malgre tout, cette educa­ tion religieuse.

In a broad overview of her life, literature, the need to earn her own living, and religious fervor at an early age followed by atheism, are seen to be the pivots of her situation.

Her family consisted of a father who was a lawyer, with a fondness for acting, an intensely religious mother, a younger sister, and a maid, Louise. "C'est a Louise que j'ai du la securite quotidienne" (M.J.F., p. 10). Simone de Beauvoir admired her father tremendously. "II ne m'intimidait pas, en ce sens que je n'eprouvai jamais de- vant lui la moindre gene; mais je n'essayai pas de franchir la distance qui le separait de moi; il y avait quantite de sujets dont je n'imaginais meme pas de lui parler; je

1. Jeanson, p. 258. 171 n'etais pour lui ni un corps, ni une ame, mais un esprit"

(M.J.F., p. 39).

Her parents, except for their different religious beliefs, got along well and Mine, de Beauvoir thought highly of her husband. "Mon pere jouissait a ses yeux d'un grand prestige et elle pensait que la femme doit obeir a l'homme.

Mais avec Louise, avec ma soeur et moi elle se montrait autoritaire, parfois jusqu'a 11emportement" (M.J.F., p. 40).

Her mother had a great influence on her childhood, having complete control of her education and censoring her reading.

Ainsi vivions-nous, elle et moi, dans une sorte de symboise, et sans m'appliquer a l'imiter, je fus modelee par elle. Elle m'inculqua le sens du de­ voir, ainsi que des consignes d'oubli de soi et d'austerite. Mon pere ne detestait pas se mettre en avant, mais j'appris de maman a m'effacer, a controler mon language, a censurer mes desirs, a dire et a faire ce qui devait etre dit et fait. Je ne me revendiquais rien et j'osais peu de choses (M.J.F., p. 43).

As she got older, her relationship to her parents became more troubled as is normal for most adolescents. She says about her mother, "Elle devinait en moi des reticences qui lui donnaient de 11humeur, et elle me grondait souvent.

Je lui en voulais de me maintenir dans la dependance et d'affirmer sur moi des droits. En outre j1etais jalouse de la place qu'elle occupait dans le coeur' de mon pere car ma passion pour lui n'avait fait que grandir" (M.J.F., p. 108). 172

As a young girl she liked having a sister. "J'avais une petite soeur : ce poupon ne m'avait pas" (M.J.F., p.

9). She and her sister Helene, had the relationship of teacher to student. She relished the authority she pos­ sessed over her sister. "Elle seule me reconnaissait de l'autorite; les adultes parfois me cedait; elle in'obeissait"

(M.J.F., p. 47). She further illustrates her egocentricity by considering her sister as her object. "Grace a ma soeur— ma complice, ma sujette, ma creature—j'affirmais mon autonomie. II est clair que je ne lui reconnaissais que

1l'egalite dans la difference,' ce qui est une fagon de pretendre a la preemenince" (M.J.F., p. 48).

At the time of puberty this idyllic family scene changed somewhat. "Ma soeur ne m'idolatrait plus sans re­ serve, mon pere me trouvait laide et m'en faisait grief, ma mere se mefiat de I'obscur changement qu'elle devinait en moi" (M.J.F., p. 113).

Her father's disillusion seems to have affected her cruelly. "Demain j'allais trahir ma classe et deja je reniais mon sexe; cela non plus, mon pere ne s'y resignait pas : il avait le culte de la jeune fille, la vraie" (M.J.F., p. 178).

The closeness of her family, as well as its contra­ dictions and especially her failure in her father's eyes constituted the atmosphere of her youth, which was in no way abnormal. It is important to point out, if only because it 173 is emphasized in her memoires, that she really was a dis­ appointment to her father except in the intellectual sphere.

Somme toute, en dehors des moments ou j1etais regue a mes examens, je ne faisais pas honneur a mon pere; aussi attachait-il une extreme importance a mes diplomes et m1encourageait-il a les accumuler. Son insistance me persuada qu'il etait fier d'avoir pour fille une femme de tete; au contraire : seules des reussites extraordinaires pouvaient conjurer la gene qu'il en eprouvait (M.J.F., p. 179).

Except for brief mention, after she leaves home, her parents play no part in her memoirs and are conspicuous by their absence."^ "Je conservais de bonnes relations avec mes parents, mais ils avaient perdu sur moi toute emprise"

(F.A., p. 20 ).

She says in a later reference: "Je dejeunais assez souvent chez mes parents : comme nous evitions les querel- les, nous avions peu de sujets de conversation; ils igno- raient a peu pres tout de ma vie" (F.A., p. 58). She conserved a close relationship with her sister, however.

The milieu in which Simone de Beauvoir grew up kept her tightly controlled, but allowed for her intellectual development. When she finally broke her family chains, she never returned to the situation which molded her character.

Materially and emotionally secure, she nonetheless in her early youth experienced severe temper tantrums.

"Protegee, choyee, amusee par l'incessante nouveaute des

1. This lacune is partially filled by Une Mort tres douce (Paris: Gallimard, 1964), which is about her mother's death. 174 choses, j'etais une petite fille tres gaie. Pourtant quelque chose clochait puisque des crises furieuses me jetaient sur le sol, violette et convulsee" (M.J.F., p. 15).

This trait disappeared in her childhood and she says, "Je m'etais definitivement metamorphosee en enfant sage" (M.J.F., p. 34). She further states, "Ainsi abdiquai-je l'inde- pendance que ma petite enfance avait tente de sauvegarder.

Pendant plusieurs annees, je me fis le docile reflet de mes parents" (M.J.F., p. 34).

Another trait that marked her youth, besides the arrogance that she found in herself, was a puritan aversion for remaining idle. "Je ne tolerais pas 1'ennui : il tour- nait aussitot a l'angoisse; c'est pourquoi, ... je detestais l'oisivete; mais les travaux qui paralysaient mon corps sans absorber mon esprit laissaient en moi le meme vide" (M.J.F.f p. 69).

The one central element in her life was literature which she saw as the key to immortality. This explains, in part, why literature replaced the void left by her denial of the existence of God. "Si je relatais dans une redaction un episode de ma vie, il echappait a l'oubli, il interessait d'autres gens, il etait definitivement sauve" (M.J.F., p. 71).

She also foresaw as a child her future fame. This faith served to curb any possible disappointment at not being pretty, nor marriageable. "Quelque chose arriverait, 175 qui m'exalterait au dessus de toute preference; j'ignorais sous quelle forme, et par qui, mais je serais reconnue"

(M.J.F., p. 90).

Outside of her immediate family, the one overriding influence on Simone de Beauvoir was her friend and fellow student at the "Cours Desir," Zaza Mabille, for whom she had very strong feelings. "Je ne concevais rien de mieux au monde que d'etre moi-meme et d1aimer Zaza" (M.J.F., p. 95).

The degree to which she exalted Zaza, was in inverse pro­ portion to the degree she felt that she did not exist for

Zaza. Abruptly, she was no longer at the center of her universe. "L'existence de Zaza me parut si hermetiquement fermee sur soi, que la moindre place m'y etait refusee"

(M.J.F., p. 122). The problem posed by the existence of another person is to be found later in every novel that she wrote.

Beauvoir's desire to devote her life to intellectual pursuits grew stronger through the years and was accom­ panied by a renunciation of the role of mother.

She was briefly fascinated by Garric, whose life seemed to incarnate necessity, and after hearing him speak resolved to make her own life useful.

As an adolescent, she experienced some classic malaise and_at the age of 18, feeling imprisoned by her family, unable to see clearly what future lay in store for her, and tempted to fall in love with her cousin Jacques, 176 she became very depressed. "Pour la premiere fois de mon existence je pensais sincerement qu'il valait mieux etre mort que vivant" (M.J.F., p. 210).

At the end of her childhood, her friend Zaza died, and she felt that in some way she owed her freedom to her friend's death. This idea haunted her for many years.

The one constant trait of her youth was a large dose of egoism, tempered by a desire to elucidate the world around her as well as her own emotions. "Je me flattais d'unir en moi 'un coeur de femme, un cerveau d'homme.1 Je me retrouvai 1'Unique. Ce qui tempera, du moins je

11espere, cette arrogance, c'est que j'aimais surtout en moi les sentiments que j1inspirais, et que je m'interessais aux autres beaucoup plus qu1 a ma figure" (M.J.F. , p. 296).

The independence of her first years, as exhibited through her temper tantrums, reappeared on the threshold of adulthood and remained with her for the rest of her life.

She calls this her schizophrenia. In speaking about herself and Sartre, she says: "Nous avions tous deux des santes de cheval et des dispositions riantes. Mais je supportais mal les contrarietes; mon visage changeait, je me fermais, je me butais. Sartre m'attribuait une double personalite; d'ordi- naire, j'etais le Castor; mais par moments cet animal cedait la place a une assez deplaisante jeune femme : Mile, de

Beauvoir" (F.A., p. 23). These divergent currents are best described by Francis Jeanson. 177

Le difficile equilibre sur lequel elle a construit et son oeuvre et sa vie, je crois bien qu'il ne repose en fin de compte que sur la permanence, en elle, d'un tres originel et assez irreductible conflit entre la frenesie de vivre (de participer a l'etre de fagon immediate) et 11 exigence d'ac- ceder a 1'essence meme de l'etre (en tant que conscience acharnee a devoiler toute realite).!

This dichotomy is described by Annie-Claire Jacard,

in her study of the "etre beauvoirien," as follows, "la

mauvaise foi ou 1'aveuglement—la sincerite ou la lucidite.

L'itineraire spirituel beauvoirien n'est qu'une perpetuelle

oscillation entre ces deux antimonies. C'est precisement

ce tiraillment constant qui empeche l'etre de se choisir

continuellement." 2

Another element that marks Simone de Beauvoir's

emotional life is a continual search for happiness. "Dans

toute mon existence, je n'ai rencontre personne qui fut

aussi doue que moi pour le bonheur, personne non plus que

s'y acharnat avec tant d'opiniatrete" (F.A., p. 32).

One of the main elements that constitutes her general

situation, aside from the contingent facts of her life, is a

feeling of uniqueness, which is expressed throughout her

memoires and clearly revealed during her illness, when she

realized that she was not unique but just anyone. "N'importe

quoi pouvait done m'arriver, comme a n'importe qui : quelle

1. Jeanson, p. 187.

2. Annie-Claire Jaccard, Simone de Beauvoir (Zurich: Juris Druck, 1968), p. 159. 178 revolution! C'est tellement etonnant d'etre soi, justement soi, c'est si radicalement unique, qu'on a peine a se persuader que cette singularite se rencontre chez tout le monde et qu'on releve des statistiques" (F.A., p. 300).

This extreme conscience of her existence balances between a reaffirmation of her uniqueness such as in the following: "Jusqu'a trente ans, je me suis sentie plus avertie que les jeunes et plus jeune que les vieux; ... en moi seule 1'existence s'organisait de maniere exemplaire; chaque detail beneficiait de cette perfection. Ainsi etait- il urgent pour l'univers comme pour moi que je connaisse tout de lui" (F.A., p. 369), and a wonderment at the existence of others, beginning with the existence of Zaza, continuing with that of Sartre, and reaching a climax with the existence of Olga. Her first novel deals extensively with this threat.

Fear of aging combined with a fear of death is another main element in Simone de Beauvoir's emotional baggage. At the age of forty, she contemplated the mirror and found: "Ma vieillesse couvait. Elle me guettait au fond du miroir. Cela me stupefiait qu'elle marchat vers moi d'un pas si sur alors qu'en moi rien ne s'accordait avec elle"1 (F.C., p. 185).

1. Simone de Beauvoir's concern for aging is re­ vealed in her latest book, La Vieillesse (Paris: Gallimard, 1971), which deals extensively with the problems of the aged. 179

A personality split between the search for happi­ ness, and a desire for lucidity, an extreme awareness of her own existence coupled with the threat of the existence of others, and a marked aversion for aging as well as a fear of death, make up the elements of Simone de Beauvoir's emo­ tional situation. This plus her privileged and puritanical childhood, and her passion for literature, constitute the main elements of her situation.

In describing her general situation it can be stated that these complexities converge and dissipate to form the basis for her relationship with men in particular.

Relationship to Men

It is important to understand what Simone de

Beauvoir's relationship to men was, in order to show how she dealt with her own identity as a woman.

In the first volume of her memoires, she is extremely candid about her feelings, but in the later volumes she does not reveal everything, especially where Sartre is concerned, and thus the material is restricted, and one of the central problems of her situation is left in the dark. Nevertheless, it is possible to discuss her relationship to men in her childhood, her relationship to Sartre, and her relationship to other men. 180

Not having had any brothers, Simone de Beauvoir was

not conscious of being different. Her early training led

her to believe in the superiority of men.

She was very puritanical with regard to her own body

and says: "On m'avait appris a ne pas regarder mon corps, a

changes de linge sans me decouvrir. Dans mon univers, la

chair n'avait pas droit a l'existence" (M.J.F., p. 60).

This repugnance for the body is a dominant factor in her

childhood, and explains in part her dislike for motherhood.

"Dans mes jeux, je ne consentais a la maternite qu•a condi­ tion d1 en nier les aspects rourriciers " (M.J.F. , p. 58). It also clarifies her early renunciation of marriage. "Je

considerais toujours avec deplaisir le mariage. Je n'y voyais pas une servitude, car maman n'avait rien d'une opprimee; c'etait la promiscuite qui me rebutait" (M.J.F.,

p. 73).

When she became an adolescent, she fell in love with her cousin Jacques, and envisaged the possibility of mar­ riage, while continuing to omit the idea of motherhood. "Je n*envisageais pas de laisser echapper aucun des biens de ce

monde. Quand j1eus renonce au cloxtre, je me mis a rever a

1'amour pour mon compte; je songeai sans repugnance au mariage. L'idee de maternite me restait etrangere" (M.J.F., p. 144).

Her idea of what marriage should be like is not con­ ventional. "Moi je voulais qu'entre mari et femme tout fut 181

mis en commun; chacun devait remplir en face de 1'autre, ce role d'exact temoin que jadis j'avais attribue a Dieu. Cela excluait qu'on aimat quelqu'un de different : je ne me marierais que si je rencontrais, plus accompli que moi, raon pareil, mon double" (M.J.F., p. 146).

She accepted the puritan ethic but insisted that it should apply to men as well as to women. "Ma conduite se conformait a la morale en vigueur dans mon milieu; mais je n'acceptais pas celle-ci sans une importante reserve; je pretendais soumettre les hommes a la meme loi que les femmes" (M.J.F., p. 166).

During the most painful moments of her adolescence, her love for Jacques became a justification of her life.

"La principale raison de mon acharnement, c'est que, en dehors de cet amour, ma vie me semblait desesperement vide et vaine. Jacques n'etait que lui; mais a distance il de- venait tout : tout ce que je ne possedais pas. Je lui devais des joies, des peines dont la violence seule me sau- vait de l'aride ennui ou j'etais enlisee" (M.J.F., p. 219).

Their relationship was purely platonic and intel- lecual. She says: "Malgre mon rationalisme, les choses de la chair restaient taboues pour moi" (M.J.F., p. 289). When she discovered that Jacques, whom she thought was chaste had had an affair, she was forced to revise her vision of the world. "J'avais tort d'exiger que la vie se conformat a un• ideal etabli d'avance; c'etait a moi de me montrer a la 182 hauteur de ce qu'elle m'apportait. J'avais toujours prefere la realite aux mirages; je terminai ma meditation en m'enorgueillissant d'avoir bute sur un evenement sordide et d'avoir reussi a le surmonter" (M.J.F.f pp. 316-17).

However her formal denial of a double standard rested intact with one alteration. "Moi je n'admettais pas qu'il y eut deux poids et deux mesures. Je ne blamais plus

Jacques; mais du coup, j'accordais a present aux femmes comme aux hommes la libre disposition de leurs corps"

(M.J.F., p. 324).

Simone de Beauvoir met Sartre in her last year at the University and was positive that they would always be together. "Plus age que moi de deux ans—deux ans qu'il avait mis a son profit—ayant pris beaucoup plus tot un meilleur depart, il en savait plus long sur tout : mais la veritable superiorite qu'il se reconnaissait, et qui me sautait aux yeux, c'etait la passion tranquille et forcenee qui le jetait vers ses livres a venir" (M.J.F., p. 339).

She had always wanted to find a superior being and in Sartre her desire was fulfilled. "Et en effet, si je me comparais a lui, quelle tiedeur dans mes fievres. Je m'etais crue exceptionelle parce que je ne concevais pas de vivre sans ecrire : il ne vivait que pour ecrire" (M.J.F., p. 340). She further states that with Sartre, "c'etait la premiere fois de ma vie que je me sentais intellectuellement dominee par quelqu'un" (M.J.F., p. 342). He effectively 183

replaced the absolute in her life, this position having been

filled in her childhood by God. "Sartre repondait exacte-

ment au voeu de mes quinze ans : il etait le double en qui

je retrouvais, portees a 11incadescence toutes mes manies.

Avec lui, je pourrais toujours tout partager. Quand je le

quittai au debut d'aout, je savais que plus jamais il ne

sortirait de ma vie" (M.J.F., p. 344).

They slowly commenced to define their relationship.

"—Avant meme de definir nos relations nous leur avions tout de suite donne un nom : 'C'est un mariage morganatique'"

(F.A., p. 24). A morganatic marriage is one in which a man of a superior class takes an inferior woman as his wife with

the understanding that she will not share his possessions

nor will her offspring have any rights. This is a rather

ironic admission on the part of Simone de Beauvoir in the

light of her future stance on woman's situation.

It was Sartre who defined all the terms of their

relationship. "'Entre nous, m'expliquait-il en utilisant un

vocabulaire qui lui etait cher, il s'agit d'un amour neces-

saire : il convient que nous connaissions aussi des amours

contingentes'" (F.A., p. 26). It is apparent that this idea

must have shocked her somewhat if we view her past ideas on fidelity. However, her failure to elucidate her feelings here as in many other instances in the last two volumes

hinders a true understanding of what their relationship was.

They signed a two year pact. "Jamais nous ne deviendrions 184 etrangers l'un a 1'autre, jamais l'un ne ferait en vain appel a 1'autre, et rien ne prevaudrait contre cette alliance; mais il ne fallait pas qu'elle degenerat en contrainte ni en habitude : nous devions a tout prix la preserver de ce pourrissement. J'acquiesgai" (F.A., p. 27).

Beauvoir had great faith in Sartre although the idea of separation worried her. She became so worried about being separated from him before she went to teach at

Marseilles that he offered to marry her. She refused and they continued their former relationship. "Nous conclumes un autre pacte : non seulement aucun des deux ne mentirait jamais a 1'autre, mais il ne lui dissimulerait rien" (F.A., p. 28). Lucidity, one of the elements of authentic love was a basic element in their relationship.

Just to what degree Beauvoir conserved her inde­ pendence, while at the same time centering her life on

Sartre is open to question. We have statements from her that indicate on the one hand that she was lost without him.

"Seul comptait a mes yeux le temps que je passais avec

Sartre; mais pratiquement, il y avait de nombreuses journees ou je vivais sans lui" (F.A., p. 55).

If they had wanted children she says they would have married; however, they were happy without them, feeling sufficient unto themselves, having an aversion for family life, and being dedicated to their chosen life style of writing which would not be conducive to rearing children. 185

Their relationship became stronger. "Notre entente

etait devenue plus etroite et plus exigeante qu'au depart,

elle pouvait s'accomoder de breves separations, mais non de

vastes equipees solitaires" (F.A., p. 83).

When Sartre spent a year in Berlin, he had a girl­

friend. Beauvoir says: "II repartit, et je tirai de mon

mieux le dernier trimestre" (F.A., p. 194). She seemed lost

without him, but claimed she was not jealous of his girl­ friend.

Another indication of the place he played in her world is given by the following: "Pour moi, son existence justifiait le monde que rien ne justifiait a ses yeux"

(F.A., p. 220).

When they both worked in Paris they shared the same hotel, but not the same room. "Nous avions ainsi tous les avantages d'une vie commune, et aucun de ses inconvenients"

(F.A., p. 323). This situation was not permanent, for they both lived in many different places sometimes sharing hotels, and sometimes not. Sartre spent much time living with his mother.

It would seem that as she began to publish and create a name for herself, her life became more distinctly inde­ pendent of Sartre's. "Nos vies avaient trop d1independance pour qu'on put considerer nos relations comme une classique

•union libre1" (F.C., p. 54). 186

In summation, her relationship with Sartre is a unique experience. It is not a marriage in the traditional sense. It allows each partner a great deal more freedom and seems to have brought them more satisfaction than a traditional marriage, although it must be noted that a large part of their relationship is left in the dark.

At about the age of 40, Beauvoir met Nelson Algren, whose story is told in Les Mandarins. where is is Lewis

Brogan. She became very involved with him, but Sartre re­ mained her necessary love. This situation brought about a decline in Algren's feelings, and their relationship became one of friendship rather than love. Beauvoir explains her feelings upon leaving Chicago for the second time.

J'avais une seconde fois enterre mes souvenirs de Chicago, je ne m'y blessais plus : mais quelle tristesse dans cet apaisementl "Viola, c1est fini,11 me disais-je; et je ne pensais pas seule- ment a mon bonheur avec Algren. Moins enclin que jamais a ce qu'on appelle des aventures, mon age, les circonstances ne me laissaient pas, pensais- je, la chance d'un amour neuf. Mon corps, peut- etre par l'effet d'un tres ancien orgeuil, s'adapte aisement : il ne demandait rien. Mais quelque chose en moi ne se soumettait pas a cette indifference (F.C., pp. 273-74).

Upon meeting Claude Lanzmann, Simone de Beauvoir thinks: "Quelque chose etait arrive; quelque chose, j'en etais sure, commencjait. J'avais retrouve un corps" (F.C., p. 302). He was 17 years younger than she, and in contrast to Sartre and most of her other friends, he was less puri­ tanical, and more spontaneous. They decided to live I

187

together, and Beauvoir, true to her principle of lucidity

did not have any illusions about their relationship. "La

presence de Lanzmann aupres de moi me delivra de mon age"

(F.C., p. 387). Their relationship continued for several

years and they ceased being lovers when she felt too old,

remaining close friends.

In her relationship to other men, she kept her

lucidity which was an element of her relationship to

Sartre. However, it is obvious that her "contingent loves"

were few, in comparison to his, and always expressed deep

feelings. Originally her relationship with Algren can be

considered to have been a subconscious desire for revenge

against Sartre who at the time was having an affair with an

American of whom Beauvoir was jealous; however, it turned

out to be more than merely jealous revenge. Her relation­ ship to Lanzmann was in part, she admits as much, to deny for a while the truth of aging, but it also became a deep

commitment. She was not one to have brief encounters for

merely sexual reasons.

As Jeanson says about her relationship to her body:

"Ainsi son attitude a 1'egard de la chair et de son propre

corps, nous est-elle apparue comme un melange d'action et de

passion (au sens fort de chacun des deux termes) : car il

est clair qu'elle se sent tour a tour dangereusement menacee 188

par cet aspect de la contingence et parfaitement capable de

l'assumer dans la joie.

Relationship to Feminism

The last and perhaps most important element of her situation to be examined is her relationship to feminism, her awareness of her situation as a woman, and what it meant to her.

In Simone de Beauvoir's family the woman was sub­ ordinate to the man. Her father used to say: "'La femme est ce que son mari la fait, c'est a lui de la former!"

(M.J.F., p. 39).

She loved and admired her father a great deal and was convinced of the natural superiority of men. "Tout me convainquait que les femmes appartiennent a une caste inferieure" (M.J.F., p. 146). In addition to this initial disposition, she was not really aware of being deprived as a girl.

En particulier, je ne deplorais pas d'etre une fille. Evitant, je l'ai dit, de me perdre en vains desirs, j'acceptais allegrement ce qui m'etait donne. D;autre part, je ne voyais nulle raison positive de m'estimer mal lotie.

Je n'avais pas de frere : aucune comparaison ne me revela que certaines licences m'etaient refusees a cause de mon sexe; je n'imputai qu'a mon age les contraintes qu'on m'infligeait; je ressentis vivement mon enfance, jamais ma feminite (M.J.F., p. 57).

1. Jeanson, p. 225. 189

However, her awareness of her mother's role was an incentive for her to decide not to have children. While playing house with her sister, she says:

Je refusais qu'un homme me frustrat de mes responsa- bilites; nos maris voyageaient. Dans la vie, je le savais, il en va tout autrement : une mere de famille est toujours flanquee d'un epoux; mille taches fastidieuses l'accablent. Quand j'evoquai mon avenir, ces servitudes me parurent si pesantes que je renon^ai a avoir des enfants a moi; ce qui m'importait, c'etait de former des esprits et des ames : je me ferai professeur decidai-je (M.J.F., p. 58).

She avoided effectively the roles of wife and mother in her life, but even much later hung to certain puritan ideals. "Je faisais fi du mariage, je trouvais bon qu'un amour fut complet; mais je ne m'etais pas affranchie de tous les tabous sexuels; les femmes trop faciles ou trop libres me choquaient" (F.A., p. 40).

Until the time when she wrote Le Deuxieme Sexe. she was not particularly aware of the totality of woman's situa­ tion, except for her denial of a double standard, and her experience of man's superiority, especially as constituted by her father. "Je n'etais pas feministe dans la mesure ou je ne me souciais pas de politique : le droit de vote, je m'en fichais. Mais a mes yeux, hommes et femmes etaient au meme titre des personnes et j'exigeais entre eux une exacte reciprocite. L'attitude de mon pere a 1'egard du 'beau sexe' me blessait" (M.J.F., p. 189). 190

She was shocked at the prospect of not being in

complete control of her body and she says: "J'appris avec stupeur en lisant un fait divers que l'avortement etait un delit; ce qui se passait dans mon corps ne concernait que

moi; aucun argument ne m'en fit demordre" (M.J.F.f p. 189).

She did not resent being a woman.

Je ne regrettais certes pas d'etre une femme; j'en tirais au contraire de grandes satisfactions. Mon education m'avait convaincue de 1'inferiorite intellectuel de mon sexe, qu1admettaient beaucoup de mes congeneres. ... au depart, les hommes furent pour moi des camarades et non des adversaires. Loin de les envier, ma position du fait qju'elle etait singuliere, me paraissait privilegiee (M.J.F., p. 295).

Not aware of being inferior, but convinced of the intellectual superiority of men, and of her intellectual superiority, Beauvoir did not suffer from being a woman; on the contrary, she was unique for having a man's brain. In her chosen life style she was not confronted with the tasks and contradictions inherent in woman's situation, which she instinctively rejected, so she never felt that her differ­ ence made her less of a person. Until she was middle-aged, she was not completely aware of the plight of women.

Her situation was privileged in most respects, giving her security, a desire for intellectual achievement, and a sense of identity. The importance of literature in her life, coupled with the need to earn her own living, and her desire to form intellects, led to her choosing the career of professor, and to her desire to write. Her 191 renunciation of God made her face the responsibility for choosing her life style.

Her family situation, emphasizing the importance of intellectual achievement on the one hand (largely through the influence of her father), and enforcing a compliance to accepted moral codes (through her mother's adherence to the puritan ethic), created a conflict between the desire to be liberated and a hesitance to accept all of the consequences of liberation.

Her relationship to men reflects the elements of this situation as does her relationship to feminism. Her puritan upbringing marks her attitude toward the opposite sex, as well as her attitude towards her own sex. She was unaware of the extent of inequality between the sexes, until a fairly late age, not being interested in politics, nor concerned with woman's right to vote. She was not really a feminist, but denied the double standard that was part of her society. It remains to be seen how she assumed this situation. CHAPTER IX

ASSUMPTION OF SITUATION

In order to determine the degree of authenticity in

Simone de Beauvoir's life, it is first necessary to clarify her goals, then and only then can we discuss her success or failure; in existential terms her authenticity or in- authenticity.

Definition of Goals

Perhaps the most important goal that she sought was liberty. But at the heart of this search, there arose the problem of defining liberty. In her memoires she poses the problem, and explains her attempts to resolve it in Phyrrus et Cineas. "La liberte fondement de toute valeur humain est l'unique fin capable de justifier les entreprises des hommes; mais je m'etais ralliee a la theorie de Sartre : quelles que soient les circonstances, nous possedons une liberte qui nous permet de les depasser; si elle nous est donnee, comment la considerer comme un but?" (F.A.,, p. 563).

Liberty is the only valid justification of acts, but it is given to us from the beginning, how, therefore, can we consider it as a goal?

To resolve this problem she distinguishes between two aspects of liberty. It is "la modalite meme de

192 193

1'existence. ... done total en chacun" (F.A., p. 563), but the concrete possibilities available to different people to use their liberty are vastly different. Some people who are disadvantaged by being born poor or into a deprived situa­ tion, spend all of their liberty trying to attain a status which others are born into. "Dans les situations les plus favorables, le projet est au contraire un veritable depasse- ment, il construit un avenir neuf; une activite est bonne quand elle vise a conquerir pour soi et pour autrui ces positions privilegies : a liberer la liberte" (F.A., p.

563).

She thus establishes a hierarchy of situations, but she later denounces her subjectivism and idealism in con­ sidering every man, first as an individual, and not as part of the collectivity that is man, however to the question that was the cause of her essay, "A quoi bon?," her answer remains constant. "Aujourd'hui comme hier la reponse etait la meme : j'opposai a la raison inerte, au neant, au tout

1'ineluctable evidence d'une affirmation vivante" (F.A., p. 564). She further states, "j'etais persuadee qu1il appartient a l'homme, a lui seul, de donner un sens a sa vie, et qu1il y suffit; cependant je ne devais jamais perdre de vue ce vide vertigineux, cette aveugle opacite d'ou emergent ses elans" (F.A., p. 564).

The most important consequence of this concept of liberty is that every man is capable of making his own life, 194 and responsible for his own life within any given situation, taking into consideration the limits of that situation.

Therefore it can be said that liberty or freedom is

Simone de Beauvoir's most important goal. "Ce qui me grisa lorsque je rentrai a Paris, en septembre 1929, ce fut d'abord ma liberte" (F.A., p. 15).

Happiness is also one of her principal goals in life.

She feels that her character makes her gifted in the ability to find happiness. In her confrontation with reality she fights to preserve the happiness that she finds. Francis

Jeanson calls her a volontarist and describes her confronta­ tion with reality: "C'est la contingence a depasser, mais en prennant tres consciemment appui sur elle; c'est le bonheur a justifier, en l'inventant, en en faisant une oeuvre; c'est la vie a exister, en la reprenant a son compte pour lui imposer un sens.""1'

It is his idea that happiness is really the sense of her project in life, as he feels that she searched for it throughout her life. "En fait c'est bien le bonheur lui- meme qu'elle est condamnee a poursuivre, a longueur de vie.• "II 2

Another obvious goal of Beauvoir's is the desire to communicate, which she spent her life pursuing. She wished

1. Jeanson, p. 40.

2. Ibid., p. 26. 195 to impart to others the sense of her life, for as Jeanson points out, in all her works, fiction, and fact, it is her life that she desires to communicate. "Oui, cet ecrivain n'a guere entrepris, sous des formes diverses, que de se dire. de se decrire elle-meme, de nous raconter sa vie, de ramener a soi tous les problemes humains qu'elle a rencon- trees dans ce monde. Presque tous ses livres peuvent etre consideres comme autobiographiques.

Jeanson sees this passion to reach others as being the true justification of her project. "Car _la passion de communiquer aura sans doute ete, tous comptes faits, le sens le plus constant—et la vraie 'justification'—de son 2 entreprise de vivre."

The character of the goals of her life, liberty, happiness, and the passion to communicate can be seen in terms of absolutes, for in all her desires, Beauvoir seeks above all absolute truths, accomplishments, or actions.

This desire for absolutes can be seen in her early wish to have her actions justified by necessity. "J'allais au bout de mes sentiments, de mes idees, de mes entreprises; je ne prenais rien a la legere; et comme dans ma petite enfance je voulais que tout dans ma vie fut justifie par une sorte de necessite" (M.J.F., p. 215). If no necessity

1. Ibid., p. 195.

2. Ibid. 196 exists, she invents one; this is the process she used several times in her life especially when she felt lost or in danger. "Souvent, dans la vie, j'eus recours a ce stratageme : doter mes activites d'une necessite dont je finissais par etre la proie ou la dupe : c'est ainsi qu'a dix-huit ans je m'etais sauvee de 1'ennui par la frenesie"

(F.A., p. 97).

This passion for necessity is her way of fighting against contingence, meaninglessness, and in the end death.

Describing herself at the end of her childhood, she evoked the spectre of death at a time when she did not clearly see any meaning to life. "Et deja la mort me rongeait. Comme je n'etais engagee dans aucune entreprise, le temps se decomposait en instants qui indefiniment se reniaient; je ne pouvais pas me resigner a 'cette mort multiple et frag- mentaire' ... Je trouvais d'autant plus affreux de mourir que je ne voyais pas de raisons de vivre. ... Pourtant j'aimais la vie, passionnement" (M.J.F., p. 229).

A desire for absolutes is translated in the charac­ ter of Henri in Les Mandarins. for when he testifies falsely that a former collaborator was in fact a member of the resistance, he knows he is doing wrong, but the feeling of being completely engaged satisfies him. Beauvoir says of herself at one point, "L'attrait qu'avaient pour moi les bars et les dancings venait en grande partie de leur 197

caractere illicite ... j'eprouvais une grande satisfaction a

me savoir radicalement hors la loi" (M.J.F., pp. 270-71).

Another element of her desire for absolutes can be seen in her egotism. She demands to be completely under­ stood and loved for what she is; if no one can fill this role, she will try to fill it herself. As a young girl she illustrated this desire. "Personne ne m'admettait telle que j'etais, personne ne m'aimait : je m'aimerai assez, decidai- je pour compenser cet abandon. ... je n'existait que par moi, et pour moi" (M.J.F., p. 190).

Needing to be completely understood and accepted can be translated as a desire for security, and in this respect

Sartre fulfills her need. "Cependant, je lui faisais si totalement confiance qu1il me garantissait, comme autrefois mes parents, comme Dieu, une definitive securite" (F.A., p. 31).

These various goals: liberty, happiness, a desire to communicate, and a need of necessity, are not harmonious.

They contradict each other and lead to serious conflicts in her life. Her desire for freedom, and independence is in contradiction to her need of security and justification from outside herself. She exhibits this conflict when she feels that she is abdicating the responsibility for her life, and becoming a reflection of Sartre. "Je regnais, ou je m'abimais. Subjuguee par Zaza, j'avais sombre dans l'humilite; la meme histoire se repetait seulement j'etais 198

tombee de plus haut et ma confiance en moi avait ete plus

brutalement pulverisee" (F.A., p. 66).

The need to be honest with herself and the tempta­

tion to find security and justification in another person's

eyes are in conflict, and she is aware of this threat

throughout her life.

A desire to find absolute truth leads her to recog­

nize only those people who also search for absolute truth,

even if it means accepting nihilism, which seemed to her to

be, at one point late in her childhood, the only truth.

"Seals existaient pour moi les gens qui regardent en face,

sans tricher ce rien qui ronge tout; les autres n'existaient

pas" (M.J.F., p. 228). This declaration announces yet

another conflict in her goals. She wishes to find the

absolute truth, and recognizes only those who have committed

themselves to the same search; however, this ideal world of

philosopher kings in a closed society eventually rubs

against the reality of the existence of others, thus

creating a conflict between what she wishes to be the

absolute truth, and raising the basic problem of the

existence of others.

Francis Jeanson explains this idea. "Toute la

pensee de Simone de Beauvoir s'enracine dans ce conflict originel entre les revendications absolues de la liberte 199

et la relativite des situations concretes, entre le pari

d'exister et cette mort latente au coeur de toute vie.""''

Her goals in life, liberty, happiness, communica­

tion, and necessity, or absolutes can be seen as forming the

base of her project. However as has been pointed out, by

Jeanson as well as Annie-Claire Jaccard there are conflicts

implicit in these various goals, as they pull Beauvoir in

several, and sometimes opposite directions at once. With

this in mind it is possible to discuss the degrees of

authenticity and inauthenticity in her life. In this

section I have chosen to discuss authenticity first,

because that is her initial project and only by seeing

this project put into action, can I explain how it some­

times fails.

Authenticity

The project that Simone de Beauvoir lived, to be

honest, to communicate her life, and above all to attempt

to find the truth constitute the basis of her authenticity.

In her attempt to become authentic there are three

main elements. First and foremost is the search for liberty or freedom, then there is what Jeanson calls her volontarism, and in the final analysis it is her ability to be able to revise her project in the face of reality that constitutes her authenticity.

1. Ibid., p. 122. 200

The recognition of liberty, and its assumption

appear early in her life. The first liberating act that

she accomplished was the renunciation of her belief in God;

however, she admits that the way was opened to her. "Le scepticisme paternel m'avait ouvert la voie; je ne m'engageais pas en solitaire dans une aventure hasardeuse.

J'eprouvai meme un grand soulagement a me retrouver, affranchie de mon enfance et de mon sexe en accord avec les libres esprits que j'admirais" (M.J.F., p. 138).

The authenticity of this act resides in her assump­ tion of most of its consequences. "J'etais seule. Seule : pour la premiere fois je comprenais le sens terrible de ce mot" (M.J.F., p. 139). Not only did she realize that she was without witness or justification, but also: "Un apres- midi, a Paris, je realisai que j'etais condamnee a mort"

(M.J.F., p. 139). She accepted these two ideas, but in the domain of her actions she conserved much of what she for­ merly believed. "Idees de devoir, de merite, tabous sexuels : tout fut conserve" (M.J.F., p. 139). Her libera­ tion in this realm was not entirely complete, and while she did change her thoughts on God, her actions and moral code remained intact and were only revised much later, and never completely.

The sense of her earliest conflicts was an extreme awareness of her liberty and a fight to keep it intact. She felt her liberty threatened when she entertained the idea of 201 becoming her cousin Jacques' wife. "Je craignais que ma tendresse ne m'entrainat a devenir sa femme, et je refusais farouchement la vie qui attendait la future Madame

Laiguillon" (M.J.F., p. 231).

Her desire to retain her freedom caused her to feel like an outcast among her peers. "Pas un de mes amis ne m'acceptat sans reserve, ... Ce qui les effarouchait, c'etait ce qu'il y avait de plus tetu en moi : mon refus de cette mediocre existence a laquelle, d'une maniere ou d'une autre, ils consentaient, et mes efforts desordonnes pour m'en sortir" (M.J.F., p. 258).

In the end she did manage to avoid the destiny which awaits most women, that of being a wife and a mother. She conserved her freedom, but at a certain price, for at the end of her adolescence, she found herself alone, her best friend Zaza had died. "Ensemble nous avions lutte contre le destin fangeux qui nous guettait et j'ai pense longtemps que j'avais paye ma liberte de sa mort" (M.J.F., p. 359). Of course there was no causal relationship between Zaza's death and her freedom, but in her feelings we can see the survival of certain christian moral precepts, especially the idea that sacrifice is necessary in life.

Sartre was her soulmate, and he also was engaged in a fight to conserve his freedom. She explains that when they first met, and started to discuss things, they were unaware of the importance of both marxism and psychoanalysis, 202

which would have limited their freedom. They did not really understand these ideas, but it was in their interest to

remain in ignorance. "II nous importait d'abord de

coxncider avec nous-memes. Plutot que d'assigner theorique-

ment des limites a notre liberte, nous nous souciions

pratiquement de la sauvegarder; car elle etait en danger"

(F.A., p. 26).

Perhaps the largest threat to her liberty was the

existence of Sartre, and the part that he played in her life. For she admits that she spontaneously preferred him to herself. Her awareness of this threat and her refusal to submit constitute her authenticity in this instance;

however, ultimately there is a large dose of inauthenticity

in their relationship.

She was first aware of this threat early in their relationship, and years before she had formulated definite

ideas on feminism, she had an idea of what woman's situation was. "Accepter de vivre en etre secondaire en etre 'rela- tif,' c'eut ete m'abaisser en tant que creature humaine; tout mon passe s1insurgeait contre cette degradation" (F.A., p. 67).

She was sexually involved with Sartre at this time, but what the exact relationship was, between becoming aware of woman's sexual role and her fear of living a relative life, is not discussed, which is a weakness in the second volume of her memoires as well as the last, because it seems 203 to me that in the sexual relationship lies one of the keys to woman's situation. She says as much in Le Deuxieme

Sexe.

Her authenticity was to be aware of the temptation to abdicate some of her freedom, and to fight against this temptation.

On ne reprend pas confiance en soi, on ne ranime pas des ambitions assoupies, on ne reconquiert pas une authentique independance par un simple coup de volonte, je le savais. Ma morale exigeait que je demeure au centre de ma vie alors que spontanement je preferais une autre existence a la mienne : pour retrouver sans tricher mon equilibre, il me faudrait, je m'en rendais compte, un long travail (F.A., pp. 69-70).

She asks herself throughout her life what would have happened if she had never met Sartre, and tries to be as honest with herself as possible. In many areas, if not most she feels that she would have agreed with him. This is particularly true of politics and that is why she lets him do most of the political activity.

She was always aware of her liberty and in her later years it is her liberty and independence that she exhibits to justify her life. In comparing herself to the fictional character Anne, she admits certain similarities but empha­ sizes the differences. "Cependant elle n'a ni mes appetits ni mes entetements, ni surtout l'autonomie que me donne un metier qui me tient a coeur" (F.C., p. 288). It can there­ fore be said that to the degree that she maintained her independence and freedom, she was authentic. Jeanson 204

concurs, and in speaking of Tous les hommes sont mortels.

he says,

S'il y est dit qu'il faut renoncer a l'absolu, il y est dit en effet, avec autant de force qu'il faut vouloir absolument ce que 1'on veut et pouvoir compter absolument sur soi-pour pouvoir compter parmi les autres, compter avec eux et pour eux. C'est la qu'est a mes yeux la veritable lutte de Simone de Beauvoir contre Dieu, c'est-a-dire enfin contre sa propre tentation de situer 1'absolu ailleurs qu'en elle-meme. ailleurs qu'en son propre pouvoir d'exister. Mais a cet absolu personnel, intimement lie a sa liberte. jamais on ne la verra renoncer.x

Once again we find the desire for absolutes men­ tioned, and it was this thirst for absolutes that consti­ tuted the chief motivation of her voluntarism. "Je me rends compte aujourd'hui que dans ma future creation, comme dans

ma poupee Blondine, c'est moi que je projetais. Tel etait le sens de ma vocation adulte, je reprendrais en main mon enfance et j1 en ferais un chef-d'oeuvre sans faille. Je me revais l'absolu fondement de moi-meme et ma propre apotheose" (M.J.F., p. 59). This is truly an egotistical mania, but one in which we can see her strong belief in the ability of a person to create her own life through action.

Included in her voluntarism is a desire to communi­ cate, but also a fear of being corrupted by success. She forsaw this danger at an early age, nineteen to be e :act.

"Je voulais dire la vanite de tout; mais l'ecrivain trahit son desepoir des qu'il en fait un livre : ... Je craignais

1. Ibid., p. 131. 205 aussi, si j'ecrivais, d'etre entrainee a souhaiter le succes, la celebrite, ces choses que je meprisais" (M.J.F., p. 249). But forseeing these dangers was her way of avoid­ ing them, and it can be said that she was never spoiled by success.

Her desire to communicate was realized at an early age. "II y avait longtemps que la solitude m'avait precipitee dans l'orgeuil. ... Rien, jamais, en aucun cas, ne m'empecherait d'ecrire mon livre. ... Je me promis aussi de vouloir desormais la joie, et de I'obtenir" (M.J.F., p.

263).

In her desire to make herself loved through her books she was successful, and when she received the "Prix

Goncourt" for Les Mandarins. she said, "Je crois trop radicalement a la mort pour me soucier de ce qui arrivera apres, dans les moments ou s'accomplit le reve de mes vingt ans—me faire aimer a travers des livres—rien ne me gache mon plaisir" (F.C., p. 338).

The true measure of her authenticity lies not only in her search for independence and her force of will, but also in her ability to face reality. Throughout her youth and early adulthood, she moid or less avoided reality, as did Sartre. "Seules les choses qui m'etaient accessibles, et celles surtout que je touchais, pesaient leur poids de realite; je me donnais si entierement a mes desirs, a mes plaisirs, qu'il ne me restait rien de moi a gaspiller en 206 vaines envies" (F.A., p. 21). She explains that they did not have much money, but were content nonetheless.

The desire for absolutes is in direct contradiction with reality and it is her ability to be able to recognize reality, although fairly late in life, that constitutes one form of her authenticity. "On imagine mal, en effet, comment cette unicite de sens, fondee sur une essentielle reference a 1'absolue. a la plenitude de 1'etre. pourrait etre longtemps soutenu par une conscience de plus en plus directement confrontee a la continqence et a la relativite de notre condition. ,,'L She recognizes this contradiction in her interview with Jeanson. "J'ai toujours pense, comme

A Sartre, que l1existence est une vaine recherche de l'Etre, que nous voulons l'absolu et n'accedons jamais qu'a du relatif.

This confrontation with reality is a continuation of her earlier desire to know the truth. "J'allai chez Jacques, je lui exposai mon systeme; il fallait consacrer sa vie a chercher pourquoi on vivait : en attendant, on ne devait rien prendre pour accorde mais fonder ses valeurs par des actes d"amour et de volonte indefiniment renouveles"

(M.J.F., p. 257). However it was not until later that she actually accepted the consequences of facing reality. "II

1. Ibid., p. 50.

2. Ibid., p. 270. 207 est certain que le printemps 1939 marque dans ma vie une coupure. Je renongai a mon individualisme, a mon anti- humanisme. J'appris la solidarite" (F.A., p. 368).

She further explains this conversion by adding that after Sartre's return from prison to Paris, she was at peace.

Ce que Sartre appelait naguere ma "schizophrenie" avait fini par ceder aux dementis que lui avait infliges la realite. J'admettais, enfin, que ma vie n'etait pas une histoire que je me racontais; mais un compromis entre le monde et moi; du meme coup, les contrarietes, les adversites avaient cesse de m'apparaitre comme une injustice; il n'y avait pas lieu de se revolter contre elles, il fallait trouver un moyen de les tourner ou de les subir (F.A., p. 498).

The acceptance of reality leads to some specific consequences. For one a certain idealistic optimism is lost. "Agir en liason avec tous, lutter, consentir a mourir pour que la vie garde un sens : il me semblait qu1 en m'agrippant a ces preceptes, je maxtrisais les tenebres d'ou montait la plainte des hommes. Cependant, non; ...

Impossible de me retablir dans l'ancien optimisme" (F.A., p. 614). This translates the way she felt after the Libera­ tion, and includes a feeling of solidarity with all men which naturally dethrones her from her feeling of unique­ ness, but also makes her more authentic. She continues,

"Je ne devais plus jamais retomber dans le delire schizo- phrenique qui pendant des annees avait fallacieusement asservi l'univers a mes plans. ... je ne feignis plus 208 d'echapper a ma situation : je tentai de l'assumer" (F.A., p. 614).

In her affair with Nelson Algren she exhibited the same acceptance of reality, and when she realized that he could not accept love on her terms, and that he was going to remarry his former wife, she said: "II n'y avait qu'a tirer un trait. Je le tirai" (F.C. , p. 270).

One of the most notable consequences of her acceptance of reality is her increased political involve­ ment. Before going to China, she attended the "Mouvement de la Paix" at Helsinki, explaining as her motive, "mon evolu­ tion politique m'avait amenee a desirer y prendre part"

(F.C., p. 346). This involvement also translates a much earlier desire to make her life useful.

Her desire of absolutes never really dies, and in her emotions she is always extreme. This can be seen when she describes her feelings during the Algerian War following the news of Merleau-Ponty1s death. "Regrets, revoltes, je les avais epuises, j'etais vaincue, je lachai prise.

Hostile a cette societe a laquelle j'appartenais, bannie, par l'age, de l'avenir, depouillee fibre par fibre du passe, je me reduisais a ma presence nue. Quelle glacei"

(F.C., p. 615).

The contradiction inherent in desiring absolutes, and recognizing reality is what Jeanson considers to be her ultimate authenticity. "Ce qui fait a mes yeux 209

1'authenticate de son oeuvre, c'est qu'elle nous raconte

d'un bout a 1'autre 1'histoire d'une contradiction vecue. —

de cette decouverte progressive, toujours recommencee mais

chaque fois approfondie : qu'il faut vouloir 'etre tout' et

savoir qu'on n' est rien.

Inauthenticity

The most difficult part of discussing Beauvoir's

inauthenticity is that she herself talks about it, ulti­

mately becoming authentic in the process by her awareness of

her actual situation. In only one area can she be accused of being inauthentic and that is in her relationship to

Sartre, for she claims the right to not tell everything,

which necessarily falsifies her memoires.

In discussing her inauthenticity we can point to three separate instances: a refusal to recognize reality, her relationship to Sartre, and her relationship to Algren and Lanzmann.

Simone de Beauvoir refused to recognize reality when she exhibited shock at the existence of others. "Au jour le jour, je ne me departais guere de ma prudence; j'evitais d'envisager qu'autrui put etre comme moi un sujet, une conscience; je refusais de me mettre dans sa peau" (F.A., p. 132). It was perhaps her egotism which did not allow her

1. Ibid., p. 235. 210 to recognize the existence of others, a trait which is inauthentic.

Another aspect of this refusal to recognize reality is a failure to question the value of her work. "Somme toute a l'encontre de Sartre, ni dans ma realite sociale, ni en tant qu'ecrivain je ne me mettais en question" (F.C., p. 59).

After Tous les hommes ... was a failure with the public, she still refused to question the value of her work.

We can see that the search for happiness blinded her, and interfered with her desire to be authentic. "Je continuais a refuser de m'interroger, de me tourmenter, et a faire confiance en l'avenir" (F.C., p. 136).

She blamed, in part, her intellectual bourgeois background for her difficulty in recognizing the existence of others. "II est dur de dependre des autres quand on s'etait cru souverain : cette illusion, commune aux intellectuels bourgeois, aucun de nous ne s1 en guerit sans peine" (F.C., p. 122).

A refusal to play a role in politics is another aspect of her refusal of reality. Simone Labourdin and

Colette Audry both went on strike in Rouen, Simone de

Beauvoir did not, however, she did denounce her conduct.

"Je repugnais a toute demarche qui m'eut fait assumer ma condition; je refusais, comme autrefois, de coi'ncider avec le professeur que j'etais. Je ne pouvais plus pretendre que 211

je jouais a faire des cours; j'eprouvais mon metier comme

une contrainte" (F.A., pp. 168-69).

She also denounced her refusal to take part in

meetings and demonstrations against the Algerian War,

although at the time she felt that she would only be

Sartre's shadow. In 1961 she wrote, "Aujourd1hui, si peu

que je pese dans la balance, je ne pourrais plus faire

autrement que de m'y jeter de tout mon poids. Alors, je

voulais encore, avant de le tenter, qu'un effort ne me

parut pas vain" (F.C., p. 92). She also justified her

refusal to take part in clandestin action against the war by saying that it would have been cheating to think herself

capable of complete engagement in the cause, but she admired

those who did participate in such action. She says, "je ne suis pas une femme d1action," which is a startling admission

for an existentialist. She continues, "ma raison de vivre,

c'est d'ecrire; pour la sacrifier, il aurait fallu me

croire ailleurs indispensable" (F.C., p. 484). Once again it is her desire to be unique that constitutes her inauthen- ticity.

At the beginning of La Force de 1'age. she states in reference to her readers: "Je n'entends pas leur dire tout.

... Je laisserai resolument dans I'ombre beaucoup de choses"

(F.A., p. 10). This is her right, certainly, but what she omits, specifically her sexual relationship with Sartre is 212

perhaps the most important part of her life in view of the thesis of Le Deuxieme Sexe.

They lived a life based on liberty, and liked to consider themselves like the Stoics in this regard. They thought of themselves as escaping class distinctions, and were indifferent to many things such as money. "Notre indifference a 1'argent etait un luxe que nous pouvions nous offrir parce que nous en possedions assez pour ne pas souffrir du besoin et pour n'etre pas accules a des travaux penibles. Notre ouverture d'esprit, nous la devions a une culture et a des projets accessibles seulement a notre classe. C1etait notre condition de jeunes intellectuels petits-bourgeois qui nous incitait a nous croire incondi- tionnes" (F.A., p. 25).

Their vow to tell all led to certain abuses which were inaiathentic. "Puisqu'il ne me cachait rien, je me crus dispensee de me poser sur lui la moindre question : je me rendis compte, plus tard, a deux ou trois reprises, que c'etait une solution paresseuse" (F.A., p. 28).

About their general philosophy, she states: "Nous mesurions la valeur d'un homme d1apres ce qu'il accomplis- sait : ses actes et ses oeuvres. Ce realisme avait du bon; mais notre erreur etait de croire que la liberte de choisir et de faire se rencontre chez tout le monde; par la, notre morale demeurait idealiste et bourgeoise" (F.A., p. 48).

It is interesting to note that after meeting Sartre, she 213 uses the first person plural a great deal in her memoires, not only to talk about specific things they did together, but to express her beliefs and feelings, which are no longer hers alone but shared with Sartre.

She realized the danger to her liberty, freedom, and independence, and admitted to feeling, temporarily at least, like a mere reflexion of Sartre. Connected with this danger was her awareness of the demands of her body, which she also felt as a threat to her independence.

J'aurais plus aisement accepte 1 * indiscipline de mon corps si dans 1'ensemble de ma vie j'avais ete content de moi; et mon parasitisme intellectuel m'aurait mo ins inquietee.si je n'avais pas senti ma liberte s'enliser dans ma chair. Mais mes brulantes obsessions, la futilite de mes occupations, ma demission en faveur d'un autre, tout conspirait a m'insuffler un sentiment de decheance et de cul- pabilite (F.A., p. 69).

We can see that not only does she feel threatened by losing her intellectual independence, but also by feeling that her body has become master of her mind. It is in instances like this that we need some clarification of her feelings.

She blames herself for temporarily giving in to the desire to abase herself, and lose her freedom to Sartre.

"Je me reprochais a 11egard de Sartre, comme de Zaza autrefois, de ne pas m'en etre tenue a la verite de nos rapports et d'avoir risque d'y aliener ma liberte" (F.A., p. 106). I

214

However the risk she ran of living a relative life

was never definitely solved, for she continued to feel the

threat of losing her independence, largely because she did

in some instances and thus became inauthentic. She needed

to feel justified by having his approval, which reflects a

continuation of her desire for absolutes. When he refused

to go to the British Museum with her she thought:

Je refusais de penser que dans mes volontes a moi il entrat du caprice : elles se fondaient sur des valeurs, elles refletaient des imperatifs que je tenais pour absolus. Misant moins que Sartre sur la litterature, j1avais davantage besoin d1intro- duire de la necessite dans ma vie; mais alors il fallait qu'il adherat a mes decisions comme a d1aveuglantes evidences; sinon ma curiosite, mon avidite devenaient de simples traits de caractere, peut-etre meme de travers : je n'obeissais plus a un mandat (F.A., p. 150).

She continued to confront this problem throughout

much of her young adulthood, and ignored it on many occa­

sions. Before she published any novels, she reiterated the

same idea, "je n'avais pas definitivement resolu le plus

serieux de mes problemes : concilier le souci que j'avais de mon autonomie avec les sentiments qui me jetaient

impetueusement vers un autre" (F.A., p. 160).

We realize the extent of her dependence on Sartre

when they experiment with the trio. "Par son acharnement a

la conquerir, Sartre dotait Olga d'un prix infini; soudain,

il m'etait defendu de prendre a la legere ses opinions, ses gouts, ses dedains; voila qu'ils definissaient un systeme de

valeurs, et ce systeme contredisait le mien. Je ne 215

m'arrangeai pas volontiers de ce changement" (F.A., p. 248).

The fact that she ultimately accepted Sartre's opinions even

though they contradicted her own is an admission of inauthen-

ticity. She fought against this abdication, but ultimately

gave in. Speaking of 01ga she says: "Je n'allais pas lui

abandonner cette place souveraine que j'-cccupais, moi, au

centre exact de tout. Peu a peu pourtant, je cedai. II

m'etait trop necessaire de m'accorder en tout avec Sartre

pour voir Olga avec d1autres yeux que les siens" (F.A., p. 249).

Ultimately as I have indicated earlier, she admitted all of these failings and in her very admission regained her authenticity.

Depuis que j'avais rencontre Sartre, je me dechargeais sur lui du soin de justifier ma vie; je trouvais cette attitude immorale mais je n'envisageais aucun moyen pratique d'en changer; 1'unique recours, c'eut ete d'accomplir un acte dont personne ne put assumer a ma place les consequences, mais il fallait que la societe s1 en saisit, sinon Sartre les eut partagees avec moi. II n'y avait qu'un crime qualifie qui put me rendre a la solitude (F.A., p. 325).

She commits no actual crime, but symbolically kills Olga, in !•' Invitee. under the guise of Xaviere.

When Sartre went to war, she felt very lonely; when he got sick she once again felt displaced. "Le plus penible pour moi, pendant cette crise, ce fut la solitude a laquelle sa maladie me condamnait : je ne pouvais pas partager avec lui les soucis dont il etait l'objet" (F.C., p. 476). 216

When she had her affair with Lanzmann, she worried

that it might compromise her relationship with Sartre. "Par

la suite je me rassurai. L'equilibre que j'avais realise grace a Lanzmann, a Sartre, et a ma propre vigilance, etait durable et dura" (F.C., pp. 319-20).

Although the totality of the relationship with

Sartre might be judged an authentic experience, there are

indications of serious abdications on the part of Simone de

Beauvoir within the relationship which can properly be labeled inauthentic. The difficulty in evaluating their relationship lies in the amount of material left in silence.

It is just possible that assuming the sexual situation of

womanhood in some way relegates women to a relative posi­ tion. This is not my opinion, but one worth considering, and central to an evaluation of her life compared to the theories presented in Le Deuxieme Sexe.

In each of her affairs the initiative for breaking off came from the men. She felt a need for distance between herself and Algren and Lanzmann to be able to maintain these affairs in a "contingent" state. "Quant a moi, j'avais besoin de distance pour engager mon coeur car il n'etait pas question de doubler mon entente avec Sartre. Algren appartenait a un autre continent. Lanzmann a une autre generation : c1etait un depaysement et qui equilibrait nos rapports" (F.C., p. 306). 217

Her need to feel a distance between herself and the men she loved, except Sartre, falsifies their relationships, and underscores the belief that women are essentially monagamous. But the main question is to determine if this is a cultural trait or a biological one. Beauvoir would say that it is a cultural trait, and we can therefore conclude that she has failed to liberate herself completely, and is in this respect inauthentic.

The ultimate conclusion must be, however, that in her life she achieved her goals, her project being fulfilled even in its contradictions. It is her ability to communi­ cate which remains her most important achievement, for she communicates honestly, but it is also in communicating that she fails, for her choice of leaving certain things in the dark, falsifies that which she has proposed to tell her readers. CHAPTER X

LIBERATION

The last part of Le Deuxieme Sexe is entitled "Vers

La Liberation"; here Simone de Beauvoir views the future of women with optimism. Is her life the model for the liberated woman? Through examining her situation as a woman, and her project as a person, I will attempt to reach an answer to this question.

Liberation in Situation

Chapter VIII describes her situation, Chapter IX discusses her assumption of it. Here I will discuss the degree of liberation inherent in her situation in three areas, in her relationship to Sartre, in her economic situa­ tion, and in her awareness of feminism.

In Le Deuxieme Sexe. she describes the ideal rela­ tionship between a man and a woman as being that of two equals each recognizing the other's liberty, but the problem of attaining this ideal, is that as -now constituted by society, women and men are not equal. Man is favored.

Beauvoir, in her youth accepted the idea of man's superiority without question. In discussing her initial attitude toward

Sartre, and the fact that he valued Art and Beauty, while she valued Life, she reveals this acceptance. "A mes yeux,

218 219

Sartre, par la fermete de son attitude, me surpassait; j'admirais qu'il tint son destin dans ses seules mains; mais loin d'en eprouver de la gene, je trouvais confortable de l'estimer plus que moi-meme" (F.A., p. 30).

As we have seen earlier, she considered Sartre to be her superior. She said when she was young that she would not marry unless she found someone with her desires and ambitions, and who also was more advanced than she. Sartre fulfilled this role that she created out of her cultural idea of man's superiority. They are therefore not entirely equal, and the degree of difference between them cannot be neglected for it showed up many times throughout their lives, as when they were still professors. "II ne me semblait pas subir un destin, mais 1'avoir choisi. La carriere ou Sartre voyait s'enliser sa liberte n'avait pas cesse de representer pour moi une liberation" (F.A., p.

219 ).

She admitted that she sometimes thought of herself as his disciple. "Mais comment se resigne-t-on a etre le disciple de quelqu'un? II m'est arrive plus tard, de consentir par intermittence, a jouer ce role. Mais j'avais au depart trop d1ambition intellectuelle pour m'en con- tenter" (F.A., p. 229). Her works, especially Le Deuxieme

Sexe are a testimonial to her independence.

According to her memoires, her life left little place for chance. She chose her vocation and life style, 220 relying solely on her force of will to do so, but also being privileged from the start. Her relationship with

Sartre was a natter of conscious choice. "Ce n'est pas un hasard si c'est Sartre que j1ai choisi : car enfin je l'ai choisi. Je l'ai suivi avec allegresse parce cru'il m'entrai- nait dans les chemins ou je voulais aller; plus tard, nous avons toujours discute ensemble notre route" (F.C., p. 673).

The latter part of this statement would indicate that she and Sartre did experience to a great degree the life of the ideal existential couple. She admits, however, that he was her superior in at least two areas. "Reste que philosophiquement, politiquement, les initiatives sont venus de lui" (F.C., p. 674).

She discusses her life with Sartre at the end of La force des choses. and replies to certain of her critics.

"Cet accord contredirait, m'a-t-on reproche, la morale du

Deuxieme Sexe : j'exige des femmes 11independance et je n'ai jamais connue la solutide. Les deux mots ne sont pas synonymes" (F.C., pp. 672-73). The main question involved is whether she truly maintained her independence; she is of the opinion that she did. "Mon independance, je l'ai sauvegardee car jamais je ne me suis dechargee sur Sartre de mes responsabilites : je n'ai adhere a aucune idee, aucune resolution sans 1'avoir critiquee et reprise a mon compte. ... II m'a aidee, je l'ai aide aussi. Je n'ai pas vecu a travers lui" (F.C., p. 674). So much for her 221 intellectual independence, but she also placed a great emphasis on economic independence as a condition of libera­ tion for women.

Although her economic situation is not frequently mentioned, she does explain at one point how they managed their monetary situation. "Nous avions toujours mis nos ressources en commun, nous continuames" (F.C., p. 23).

She felt the need to justify this situation, which is understandable, since it is certain that Sartre earned more than she, and that therefore she could be accused of being economically dependent upon him.

Mon autonomie materielle etait sauvegardee puisqu'en cas de besoin je pouvais aussitot reprendre mon poste de professeur; il m'aurait paru stupide et meme coupable de sacrifier des heures precieuses pour me prouver au jour le jour que je la possedais. Je ne me suis jamais dirigee d'apres des principes, mais selon des fins; or j1avais a faire; ecrire etait devenue pour moi un metier exigeant. II me garantissait mon autonomie morale; dans la solitude des risques courus, des decisions a prendre, je realisais ma liberte, bien mieux qu1 en me pliant a des routines lucratives (F.C., pp. 23-24).

At one point later on the idea of contributing some money to their common pot attracted her, and this underlines her awareness of her economic situation and her desire to equalize any existing inequities. She contemplates receiving the "Prix Goncourt." "Si j'avais le prix, je toucherais le grand public. Et je gagnerais de 1'argent. Je n'en avais pas un pressant besoin dans la mesure ou je profitais de celui de Sartre : mais j'aurais aime apporter ma contribution 222 a la caisse commune" (F.C., p. 337). Economically, her situation, although she has justified it, is somewhat ambiguous.

Her life, in its major elements, was on the margin of the normal situation of modern women. She was not a wife, nor was she a mother. She did not experience the frustrations common to most women. She did not conceive of herself as being first and foremost a woman and then a writer, but rather the opposite, but in spite of this she did live woman's situation to a great degree.

During the war, she cooked many times and wrote of this experience. "Je ne partageais pas la condition des femmes d'interieur, mais j'avais un aper

(F.A., p. 517).

It was not until Sartre suggested that she look into the situation of women that she became aware of the amount of discrimination in a man's world. Before this time she was largely unaware of woman's limitations.

Ainsi me convenait-il de vivre aupres d'un homme que j'estimais m'etre superieur; mes ambitions, quoique tetues, restaient timides et le cours du monde, s'il m'interessait, n'etait tout de merrte pas mon affaire. Cependant on a vu que j'attachais peu d1 importance aux conditions reeles de ma vie : rien n'entravait, croyais-je ma volonte, Je ne niais pas ma feminite, je ne l'assumais pas non plus : je n'y pensais pas. J'avais les memes libertes et les memes responsa- bilites que les homines. La malediction qui pese sur la plupart des femmes, la dependance, me fut epargnee (F.A., p. 376). 223

She did experience several aspects of woman's situa­ tion. For one she knew jealousy. She was jealous of M. a friend of Sartre's in New York, and expressed her jealousy in her journal, parts of which are transcribed in La Force des choses. "Dinner aux Catalans avec Sartre et Bost qui parlent insolemment devant moi de New York" (F.C., p. 99).

This remark is unusual, because she is normally silent about her feelings concerning Sartre's affairs. Why she should be jealous in this instance and not in others (for she claims she was not jealous of Sartre's girlfriend in Berlin), is unclear.

Before writing Deuxieme Sexe. it was her opinion that, "ma feminite ne m'avait genee en rien" (F.C., p. 109).

Upon closer consideration, at the insistance of Sartre, she revised this opinion. "Je regardai et j'eu une revelation : ce monde etait un monde masculin, mon enfance avait ete nourrie de mythes forges par les hommes et je n'y avais pas du tout reagi de la meme maniere que si j*avais ete un gar^on" (F.C., p. 109). Partially liberated in her life style, but lacking awareness of her real situation, she was for a long time ignorant of woman's situation.

Certain aspects of her being remained unliberated to a great extent. It was pointed out earlier in a discussion of her denial of the existence of God, that she never com­ pletely assumed the moral implications of this denial, relying instead on a puritan sexual morality. 224

Upon becoming aware of her sexual nature, she was bothered by the demands of her body. "J'avais secoue mon education puritaine juste assez pour pouvoir me rejouir de mon corps sans contrainte, pas assez pour consentir qu'il m'incommodat; affame, mendiant, plaintif, il me repugnait" (F.A;, p. 68).

She further explains her relationship to her body.

"Je n'aurais pas su expliquer pourquoi, mais l'idee d'une distance entre les emotions de mon corps et mes decisions m'effrayait. Et precisement, ce divorce s'accomplit. Mon corps avait ses humeurs et j'etais incapable de les con- tenir; leur violence submergeait toutes mes defenses"

(F.A., pp. 67-68). She resolved this initial fear by being separated from Sartre, while she taught at Marseilles.

"J'avais reconquis la paix du corps : cette franche separa­ tion le soumettait a mo ins dure epreuve qu'un incessant va-et-vient entre la presence et l'absence" (F.A., p. 105).

She does not speak much about her feelings concerning her body after this period, except upon becoming aware of the process of aging.

Her situation as a woman was different from most women's situations, however she also shared a great deal of the situation inherent in woman's condition. She says to her critics about La Force de 1'age. 11 Je sais qu'en lisant cette autobiographie certains critiques vont triompher : ils diront qu'elle dement avec eclat Le Deuxieme Sexe; ils l'ont 225

dit deja a propos de mes Memoires" (F.A. I p. 375). But she

contends that the critics do not understand. "Ai-je jamais

ecrit que les femmes etaient des hommes? Ai-je pretendu que

je n•etais pas une femme? Mon effort a ete au contraire de

definir dans sa particularite la condition feminine qui est

mienne" (F .A., p. 375). This she did well and her personal

project to communicate her particular situation was success-

ful.

Personal Project

Her project was to communicate her life, to make her particular situation known to her readers. This she accomplished to a great degree, omitting only her most personal feelings concerning Sartre and her sexual life.

With the exception of these omissions, the general impres­ sion that rests is a sincere search for the truth and the meaning of her life. "Or il y a en tout cas une chose qu'on ne pourra jamais retirer ~ l'ecrivain qui nous occupe ici, c'est que le plus exigeant souci de la verite fut toujous ~ ses yeux 1' unique cautio:1 de son entreprise. "l

The search for truth sounds like a rather glamorous occupa­ tion, when in reality it consisted of much hard labor and dedication.

One puritan trait of her character is revealed to us in her devotion to work. When she began La Force de l'age,

1. Jeanson, p. 202. 226 it was with relief at being once again occupied. "Oui me voila repartie, je pense, pour au moins deux ans. En un sens, c'est une securite. II y a toujours cette ecoliere sage en moi qui s'inquiete si pendant plus d'une ou deux semaines 'je reste sans rien faire'" (F.C., p. 210).

She hesitated for a long time to be objective about her work, but when she finally did judge what she had done, the one book that gave her the most satisfaction was Le

Deuxieme Sexe. "Tout compte fait c'est peut-etre de tous mes livres celui qui m'a apporte les plus solides satisfac­ tions. Si on me demande comment je le juge oujourd'hui, je n'hesite pas a repondre : je suis pour" (F.C., p. 210).

In view of her satisfaction with Le Deuxieme Sexe, one would assume that the situation of women was extremely important and that this situation would be revealed in her novels. The women in Beauvoir's novels are never completely liberated, rather they exhibit various stages of woman's dependence. "Aucune, d'un point de vue feministe, ne peut etre consideree comme une 'heroine positive.' J'en conviens mais sans m'en repentir" (F.C., p. 286). She chose to show women as they are, not as they should be, and she is the most liberated woman in her own eyes.

Once again, however, certain reservations must be made concerning her liberation. Her failure to explain her sexual situation, when the sexual situation of women plays so large a part in Le Deuxieme Sexe. is perhaps the most 227 damaging evidence against her own liberation, and reveals not only certain puritan inhibitions, but also failure in her project to communicate her life. She is not even sure why she fails to discuss certain things. "Pourquoi y a-t-il des choses que je souhaite dire, d'autres ensevelir? Parce qu'elles sont trop precieuses (sacrees peut-etre), pour la litterature. Comme si la mort seule, seul l'oubli etait a la hauteur de certaines realites" (F.C., p. 453).

Lately, she has faced one reality which for her, held many horrors. "Ce qui m'est arrive de plus important, de plus irreparable depuis 1944, c'est quj comme Zazie—j'ai vieilli" (F.C., p. 681). Getting old is the one phenomenon that cannot readily be assumed, because to freely assume any situation, one must envisage the possibility of passing beyond that situation to some future situation. "La vieillesse ... on ne peut pas l'assumer parce que c'est une situation essentiellement indepassable.

Her fear of aging led her to face and examine the processes of aging in great detail, witness La Vieillesse.

This desire to face the truth, though it be merciless, is a continuation of her project, however, here she succeeds, where in facing her sexual situation she failed. Perhaps the loneliness of never having had children, and therefore

1. Ibid., p. 293. 228 not having any grandchildren accentuates her particular hatred for this natural process.

Aging and death are not new to her, for when she renounced God, she realized with fear that she would have to face death alone. "Notre mort est en nous, non pas comme le noyau dans le fruit, comme le sens de notre vie; en nous, mais etrangere, ennemie, affreuse. Rien d'autre ne compte"

(F.C., p. 474).

Her affair with Lanzmann held the phenomenon of aging at bay for a time. "Quand je l'avais connu, je n'etais pas mure encore pour la vieillesse : il m'en cacha les approches. Maintenant je la trouvai deja installee en moi.

II me restait la force de la detester, mais je n'avais plus celle de m'en desesperer" (F.C., p. 493).

In what may well be one of the more cruel self- portraits in literature, she describes her aging face:

Tant que j'ai pu regarder ma figure sans deplaisir, je l'oubliais, elle allait de soi. Rien ne va plus. Je deteste mon image : au-dessus des yeux, la casquette, les poches en dessous, la face trop pleine, et cet air de tristesse autour de la bouche que donnent les rides. Peut-etre les gens qui me croisent voient-ils simplement une quin- quagenaire qui n'est ni bien, ni mal, elle a 1' acje qu'elle a. Mais moi je vois mon ancienne tete ou une verole s'est mise dont je ne guerirai pas (F.C., p. 685).

Her project to face and examine the truth of her life and its universal implications succeeds in this instance to a much greater degree than when she examined her sexual situation. 229

Liberated Woman?

In considering her life as presented in her memoires, we can see that she is consistent in continuing to judge her own actions and motives. Her opinions concerning the success of her life, as well as those of other critics, and finally my opinions will form the structure of this dis­ cussion.

Several times in her life, Beauvoir evaluated her accomplishments and took her emotional temperature. During the war she reflected: "Je pense a ma vie dont je suis profondement satisfaite. Je pense au bonheur; pour moi c'etait avant tout une maniere privilegiee de saisir le monde; si le monde change au point de ne plus pouvoir etre saisi de cette facjon, le bonheur n'a plus d1 importance"

(F.A., p. 409).

Happy with her life and yet flexible enough to envisage the possibility of renouncing her search for happiness, her opinion of herself and her life in middle age is favorable. When asked later if she is content with her life, if she considers it a success, she replies: "Eh bien, je vous dirai : oui parfaitement s'il s'agit bien de ma vie, puisque j'y ai realise tous les reves que je faisais quand j'etais jeune.She kept her promises to herself, she

1. Ibid., p. 275. 230

wrote and was useful, and is content that she was able to

fulfill her ambitions.

The most successful aspect of her life in her own

eyes was and is her relationship to Sartre. "II y a eu dans

ma vie une reussite certaine : mes rapports avec Sartre. En

plus de trente ans nous ne nous sommes endormis qu'un seul

soir desunis" (F.C., p. 672).

She reiterates in a much discussed passage her

feelings about her life and life in general. "Je revois la

haie de noisetiers que le vent bousculait et les promesses

dont j'affolais mon coeur quand je contemplais cette mine

d'or a mes pieds, tout une vie a vivre. Elles ont ete

tenues. Cependant, tournant un regard incredule vers cette

credule adolescente, je mesure avec stupeur a quel point j1ai

ete flouee" (F.C., p. 686).

She does not envy anyone, feeling that h6r life was

very full and complete. However she does judge certain

aspects of her life more harshly, notably her lack of

political involvement, especially in regard to the Algerian

War. "Je me reproche de n'avoir ete plus active" (F.C.,

p. 429).

She also explains that she was not completely with­ out vanity. "Je n'ai pas evite de me prendre a des mirages,

je n'ai pas ignore la vanite : elle point des qu'on tresaille au bruit de son nom. Du moins n'ai-je jamais donne dans

11 importance" (F.C. , p. 678). 231

She also blames herself for being an exploiter, however her situation in this regard is somewhat ambiguous.

Je sais que je suis une profiteuse, et d'abord par la culture que j'ai regue et les possibilites qu'elle m'a fournies. Je n'exploite directement personne; mais les gens qui achetent mes livres sont tous les beneficiaires d'une economie fondee sur 1'exploitation. Je suis complice des privilegies et compromise par eux : c'est pourquoi j'ai vecu la guerre d'Aigerie comme un drame personnel. ... ma condition objective me coupe du proletariat, et la maniere dont je la vis subjectivement m'oppose a la bourgeoisie (F.C., p. 681).

Political considerations have dominated the latest years of Sartre's life and by extension, they have affected

Beauvoir. An article by Curtis Cate resumes this change.

The real name for the philosophy which Beauvoir and Sartre have been propounding in recent years is no longer "existentialism," with which their names are usually associated. It is in reality "convulsionism," the impatient expec­ tation of a swift, sudden, global upheaval in which everything, from capitalist society to bourgeois family conventions, will somehow be transformed in one apocalyptic flash.1

She judges Le Deuxieme Sexe as her best book, and remains convinced of the correctness of its contents. "Et ce qui a mes yeux l'autorise le plus veritablement a denoncer 1'inhumanite de la condition feminine, c'est que ses arguments intellectuels, si valables soient-ils au plan d'une conception de l'humain qui transcende les sexes,

1. Curtis Cate, "Europe's First Feminist Has Changed The Second Sex," The New York Times Magazine (July 11, 1971), p. 44. 232 demeurent ceux d'une femme qui n'a pas refuse de vivre la feminite.

Her situation is that of a woman who escaped, to a certain degree, the conditions under which most women live.

However the world she lives in is the same one that they live in, and its values are largely male values, so in this respect she not only experienced the oppressed condition of women, but also fought against it. "Simone de Beauvoir a lutte et continue de lutter pour un monde humain non- seqreqatif. ou les femmes puissent enfin devenir des consciences a part entiere, et _il se trouve en meme temps qu' elle a^ vecu et continue de vivre avec succes ce type particulier de rapport entre homme et femme qu'on appelle le 'couple.1" 2

Her effort was directed at pointing out the inequities that exist. She never meant to give solutions to the problems. 11 Je n'ai jamais nourri 1'illusion de transformer la condition feminine; elle depend de l'avenir du travail dans le monde, elle ne changera serieusement qu1au prix d'un bouleversement de la production. C1 est pourquoi j1ai evite de m'enfermer dans ce qu'on appelle 'le feminisme1" (F.C., p. 210).

1. Jeanson, p. 174.

2. Ibid., pp. 215-16. 233

Some critics have judged her harshly, we have seen

that this is the case with Suzanne Lilar, who points out the

many contradictions in Le Deuxieme Sexe. Nelson Algren also

criticized her, but his criticism must be taken with a grain

of salt. "No other modern writer has moved millions of

women, leading submerged lives, toward lives of their own

while leading her own vicariously. No other writer has

exposed the myths of femininity so lucidly while guarding

her own so jealously. Her humanitarianism would be irre­

futable if it weren't for men and women getting in the

way. ".,1

Jeanson praises her and thinks that in the final

analysis her life was very successful. "Etroitement

enserree entre les deux dimensions de son exigence d'etre

(la perpetuation de 11etre qu'elle etait deja et la pro­

jection de celui qu'elle pretendait etre), animee de

surcroit par une assez farouche energie vitale, la forme de

presence au monde dont Simone de Beauvoir nous a livre

11 image reflexive m'apparait finalement comme une tres 2 authentique entreprise de vivre."

Liberated, she was and is according to Genevieve

Gennari, "Simone de Beauvoir est deja la preuve incarnee

1. Nelson Algren, "The Question of Simone de Beauvoir," Harper's Magazine. CCXXX, No. 1380 (May, 1965), 134.

2. Jeanson, p. 236. 234

de sa propre these : une femme peut choisir, accomplir,

reussir tout ce qu'elle veut, mais il faut qu'elle le

veuille.

Is Simone de Beauvoir the model for the liberated

woman? My answer will have to be more ambiguous than that

of the critics.

On the one hand she did choose freely to become a

writer. She did assume the consequences of this choice.

She did choose not to marry, and not to have any children,

and she also assumed the consequences of this choice. She

chose to communicate her life, and to the degree that she

accomplished this goal she assumed the responsibility of her

choice. In all these areas she followed her own values and

not those of society.

Ultimately, however, her life cannot be said to be

the model for the liberated woman. Fundamentally because

her situation from the start was founded in the twentieth

century, and she assumed this situation, and lived it as a

woman. In this respect she is not liberated, nor is any other woman.

Consequently her occasional economic and emotional

dependence on Sartre, her lack of political involvement, her

adherence to puritan sexual mores, and her assumption of her

1. Gennari, p. 121. 235

situation (that of a twentieth century woman), make it

impossible for her to be the totally liberated woman.

It must be said, however, that by consciously

choosing her lifestyle, she succeeded in indicating the path

that all people must follow in order to become liberated. I do not mean that all women should choose not to become

mothers, because that would entail the end of the human race. Women must choose whether they wish to become mothers or not, because they have a possibility of choice in this

area now.

If they do choose motherhood, they also must choose the way in which they will live the situation. There are no fixed laws to indicate what is proper to the state of

motherhood, and to pretend there are is to hide one's liberty from oneself.

By her life, Simone de Beauvoir has shown that

choice is possible. It is this element of choice and responsibility for choice which constitute her liberation.

However, by refusing to continually question her choices, as in her relationship with Sartre, and in her failure to examine the value of her literature, she fails to be liberated. CHAPTER XI

CONCLUSION

In considering the original thesis of Le Deuxieme

Sexe. that one is not born a woman, but becomes one, or as

Beauvoir puts it: "Ce qui distingue ma these de la these

traditionelle c'est que, selon moi, la ^e'-inite n'est pas

une essence ni une nature : c'est une situation creee

par les civilisations a partir de certaines donnees

physiologiques" (F.A., p. 375, note 1), we can see that the

consequences of this idea are many. If what is now con­

sidered to make up feminity is mostly the effect of cul­

tural forces, then it is possible to consider that since

cultures change, so too can femininity change. Indeed, if

we accept that freedom is the ultimate end to be pursued by

the human race, we must also accept that women must change

in order to be able to pursue freedom. For in Le Deuxieme

Sexe, Beauvoir has shown that woman, being defined by man

as the "other," and being oppressed by man, is currently unable to pursue freedom. To be moral, man must henceforth refuse the role of oppressor, and woman must refuse to be an accomplice to this oppression. Then and only then will she

as well as he be able to pursue freedom and liberate liberty.

236 237

The female characters in Beauvoir's fiction are not liberated. They share the second-class status inherent in woman's actual situation. The fact that they center their liveson one man and rely on him for their very identity is the crux of their lack of liberation. They should be complete human beings in themselves in order to love authentically. Fran^oise's continual questioning of her situation with regard to Pierre, her awareness of relying on him to define herself and her anguish at doing so is an example of the inherent conflict in woman's situation. She wants to be free and independent but finds that she is not free. Her murder of Xaviere is an attempt to commit an act whose consequences she will have to assume independently, but her motives are questionable.

Is it merely culture that dictates that a woman will center her life on the love of one man? Beauvoir would say yes, I think, but she would then have to concede that she herself, to the degree she centers her life on Sartre, is succumbing to cultural influences from which she was unable to liberate herself. Why is it that she could liberate herself from certain cultural traditions such as marriage, and motherhood so easily, and yet find it difficult to liberate herself from puritan sexual mores? It is possible that biology is more important in determining a person's life than she is willing to admit. 238

She is, however, more liberated in many instances

than are her female characters. But the fact that she

lived a woman's life and experienced a woman's situation

relegates her to a position of inferiority in comparison to

Sartre for example, through no fault of her own, but merely

because she was born female, and the single most important

fact that supports this conclusion is that, not only do her

female characters center their lives on the love of one man,

but she does so also. Sartre is the center of her world.

Her philosophical ideas are directly derived from his

inspiration, he is accorded a large part in her memoires,

but when one examines a book about Sartre, the main elements

that one finds are ideas, not his personal life.

One central question remains unanswered, she claims

that femininity is not a given essence, but a situation

elaborated by civilization, based on physiological differ­

ences. Ultimately we must ask to what degree these

physiological differences affect the lives of women. I do not feel that this question has been sufficiently answered.

Not until science and psychology can define what differences are inherent in the sexes can we hope to adequately solve the issue of woman's subordination to man.

Le Deuxieme Sexe and her memoires remain the most important parts of her work. Le Deuxieme Sexe for exposing the myths that surround women, and giving a philosophical dimension to the question of woman's situation, and her 239 memoires for communicating, within her set limits, as honestly as possible a large part of the situation she lived.

Janus, looking backward and foreward, represents the past and future situations of woman as indicated in Le

Deuxieme Sexe. In the past woman was defined by man, and relegated to the category of "other." Thus she was oppressed, and unable to transcend her situation, either through ignorance of her true situation, or by being an accomplice to her oppressor. She was and remains to a certain extent unliberated.

The female characters in Beauvoir's fiction repre­ sent a limited group in the present situation of women.

This situation is to seek transcendence in a society which has not changed sufficiently to allow them to become com­ pletely liberated, but which is in the process of change.

Janus looking foreward is the projected situation of woman. It is hoped that by economic, and social changes, woman will be able to freely assume and transcend her situation in view of some future situation. She will then become independent, truly liberated, and more responsible.

She will become a better mother and a better mate.

As Narcissus regards himself as a fixed image, so

Beauvoir, in her memoires regards her fixed past, her "en- soi," her essence. She gives us her own portrait. That of a woman who managed to free herself to a certain extent from 240 the major dictates of her society, but who also expresses the unliberated state of woman. It is from these various viewpoints that we understand woman's situation, as explained and illustrated by Simone de Beauvoir. LIST OF REFERENCES

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