Marilyn: Norma Jeane (19 page)

A student, lawyer, teacher, artist, mother, grandmother, defender of animals, rancher, home-maker, sportswoman, rescuer of children—all these are futures we can imagine for Norma Jeane. If acting had become an expression of that real self, not an escape from it, one also can imagine the whole woman who was both Norma Jeane and Marilyn becoming a serious actress and wise comedienne who would still be working in her sixties, with more productive years to come.

But Norma Jeane remained the frightened child of the past. And Marilyn remained the unthreatening half-person that sex goddesses are supposed to be.

It is the lost possibilities of Marilyn Monroe that capture our imaginations. It was the lost Norma Jeane, looking out of Marilyn’s eyes, who captured our hearts.

Now that more women are declaring our full humanity—now that we are more likely to be valued for our heads and hearts, not just the bodies that house them—we also wonder: Could we have helped Marilyn survive?

There can be no answer.

But most of us, men as well as women, are trying to bridge some distance between our uniqueness and what the world rewards. If we learn from the life of Marilyn Monroe, she will live on in us.