Natasha, Pierre, Being ordinary

joanna bujes joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com
Wed Dec 18 11:01:00 PST 2002


At 08:45 PM 12/17/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Indeed. But isn't it possible to be ordinary and to be human at the same
>time?

Of course.


>That i the problem with Natasha'a later development, no? She totally
>sacrifices herself to maternal instinct.

Well, motherhood doesn't go on for ever; but the reality is that anyone taking care of one/more very young children inhabits a very odd space for a while: no sleep, no clean clothes, no sense of time...beyond the next forty minutes or so.

As for "sacrificing" -- I think it's hard for men to understand that one's boundaries don't end with one's epidermis. In raising my children, I have not conceived of them as "separate" beings for whom I have "sacrificed." Those categories simply don't apply to a situation in which "separateness" isn't even conceivable for a good dozen years.


>Anyway, women's ambitions' haven't been the source of the world's grief,
>mostly.

That's for sure.

Joanna



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