9. Power, Glamour, and Language Traps (I)

First things first:

Who could the woman in the restaurant be?

How would you describe her character?

At the time Harry Patterson (as Jack Higgins) wrote the novel, Marilyn's short, intense life "wasn't exactly news any more," or at least this is what the male character says. What do you think about it?

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There's a second conversation the man and the woman had - this time on the phone. We are not told what happened after all, but we do have the privilege of hindsight, albeit because we were born after the events recounted in the novel.

You must have already noticed there's a gapped text for Use of English inserted in between the two conversations in the previous post; here's the full version:

<<'You had better decide quickly whether you want the letters or not,' she said. I took another sip/drink of my champagne, and said nothing.

'$100,000 is nothing to pay for them. They're Marilyn's letters! Marilyn Monroe's letters! I can prove that she wrote them!' Her voice was getting/becoming louder and louder. She seemed to have forgotten her fear/suspicion/anxiety that someone might be listening to us. I thought about what/everything she had said. If the letters really were Monroe's, they could be worth that much money or even more. It all depended on what was in them, of course.

   I told her I would have to see the letters first and that I wanted a handwriting expert to examine them as well.

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  'All right,' she answered. I waited for her to continue. She did. 'But only on one condition.'

'  'What's that?' I asked.

   'I want $10,000 in cash, before anyone sees the letters!'

'I'll have to think about that,' I said.

She got up to go. She had taken only a few bites of the salmon she had ordered.

'All right. I'll get in touch/contact with you tomorrow at your hotel. If you haven't made up your mind by then, the letters go to someone else!'



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After/When she had left, I asked the waiter if he knew her name.

'Didn't she tell you?' he asked.

'I wouldn't be asking if she had,' I answered.

'Really? Then obviously she didn't want you to know, did she?' he said, casually waving/holding/dropping the bill in front of me.>>

Had it not been for the implications the canons of beauty have in our daily lives, this "old" topic would have stopped right here; but it seems that beauty and the desire to be forever young deserve some more attention as topics of the 21st century. At least that's what turns out from Norma Jean's intense existence, and that's why the title of this blog entry tries to suggest more: that the Marilyn myth is still past forgetting.

Looking forward to your comments from the perspective of the generation gap.