And so, each night Marilyn Monroe was left alone in her bedroom, the tone of a dead line resounding in her ears. Falling into a slouch, she’d glance down at the phone cradled in her porcelain fingers, then let out a soft sigh of disappointment, tenderly placing it onto the receiver. Maybe she’d try again tomorrow, but deep down she knew her attempts were hopelessly futile. Just as futile as trying to get up out of bed and face a new day. She didn’t want a new day. She wanted a new life.
Towards the last few years of her seemingly short-lived life, Marilyn Monroe was struggling with a variety of mental health issues. She suffered from anxiety, low self esteem, and chronic insomnia. But, the biggest struggle she fought was with her depression. …show more content…
After WWII, there was the rise of what Americans now call the “nuclear family” with the husband who goes off to work to make the money and the wife who stays at home to maintain the upkeep of the household. Women were especially oppressed with these ideals through various outlets. However, popular culture and the media were predominantly the sources in which heavily reinforced them: “Popular culture and media outlets of the 1950s and early 1960s raised young women to be sexually charged and hyper aware of their public appearances, but ultimately women were told to channel their sexuality into marriage and procreation” (O’Keefe). For a Hollywood star like Marilyn Monroe, this emphasis on oversexualization and pressure to uphold society's expectations of perfection as well as all things feminine was especially all too real: “Hollywood gained its notoriety as a fantastical entity by the 1950s and Monroe represents the ultimate celebrity... Female celebrities were designed to be objects of desire; men want to be with them and women want to be like them” (O’Keefe). Many looked up to Marilyn Monroe as their idol and their image of desire. To always be in the public eye and maintain this otherworldly self portrait would certainly create a great sense of anxiety as well as a plethora of issues concerning self esteem, contributing to her already severe depression: “Men expect so much, and I can’t live up to it. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman’s. I can’t live up to that,” (Summers
Towards the last few years of her seemingly short-lived life, Marilyn Monroe was struggling with a variety of mental health issues. She suffered from anxiety, low self esteem, and chronic insomnia. But, the biggest struggle she fought was with her depression. …show more content…
After WWII, there was the rise of what Americans now call the “nuclear family” with the husband who goes off to work to make the money and the wife who stays at home to maintain the upkeep of the household. Women were especially oppressed with these ideals through various outlets. However, popular culture and the media were predominantly the sources in which heavily reinforced them: “Popular culture and media outlets of the 1950s and early 1960s raised young women to be sexually charged and hyper aware of their public appearances, but ultimately women were told to channel their sexuality into marriage and procreation” (O’Keefe). For a Hollywood star like Marilyn Monroe, this emphasis on oversexualization and pressure to uphold society's expectations of perfection as well as all things feminine was especially all too real: “Hollywood gained its notoriety as a fantastical entity by the 1950s and Monroe represents the ultimate celebrity... Female celebrities were designed to be objects of desire; men want to be with them and women want to be like them” (O’Keefe). Many looked up to Marilyn Monroe as their idol and their image of desire. To always be in the public eye and maintain this otherworldly self portrait would certainly create a great sense of anxiety as well as a plethora of issues concerning self esteem, contributing to her already severe depression: “Men expect so much, and I can’t live up to it. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman’s. I can’t live up to that,” (Summers