On the Screen
While the reviews were a bit mixed and the Chief Penguin was reluctant, I did get us to see Suffragette. He found the beginning a bit slow while I liked and appreciated the way it set up the harsh and hostile working conditions Maud (Carey Mulligan) experienced in the laundry. It stretches credulity some that Maud would so easily be drawn into the movement after one encounter with women throwing rocks at store windows, but her difficult work situation combined with a husband who, typical of the time and his class, doesn’t understand that his wife might want more for herself, provide context for the battles to come. Although she doesn’t early on identify herself as a suffragette, Maud is bold and daring, and she too is arrested and imprisoned.
Meryl Streep appears in a brief scene as the determined, upper class, movement leader, Emmeline Pankhurst. Based on real events, this film drives home the violence, perseverance and sacrifice British women endured to win the vote after decades of cajoling and reasoning failed. Overall I thought it was a good movie. Before the credits, there is a list of countries and the years the women received the vote with a few surprises: Italy 1945, Switzerland 1971.
On the Page
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story by Barbara Leaming.
There have been many other books about Jackie Kennedy, but this one focuses on her response to her husband’s assassination in Dallas and how that impacted her behavior and her choices in the years to come including her later marriage to Aristotle Onassis. Leaming posits that Jackie suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) long before it was officially identified as an aftereffect of war or of experiencing other horrific events. For many years after, Mrs. Kennedy tried to find a place where she felt safe.
This book is an interesting approach to a life that seems to me not to have been that happy, and the reader may feel, like I did, that the details of that tragic ride are recounted too many times. As a wealthy young woman, Jacqueline Bouvier was a product of her time who wanted marriage and children, but didn’t want to be ordinary. In the end, enigmatic and elusive, she was anything but ordinary.
Being Thankful
Thanksgiving prompted some reflection on life’s blessings. My list is short, but packed with substance.
- Good health. Without it, everything else pales.
- Happy marriage. We just celebrated our 45th anniversary! Onward to 50. Shall I say I was a child bride of 16? Not.
- Family. We don’t live close to anyone, but I cherish the visits and phone calls with our son and family and with my siblings and their offspring.
- Friends. I have dear friends here and others scattered from North Carolina to Maine and across the country in San Francisco. You all provide rich context to this stage of life for which I’m most grateful.
Header image: Emmeline Pankhurst (www.theguardian.com)
I agree with the things you are thankful for! Family was one of M’s favorites too as you know?.