"Victim: The Secret Tapes of Marilyn Monroe" by Matthew Smith is my first biography of the famous classic Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe who is perceived to be a historical icon and sex symbol in Hollywood history. As I read the story of Marilyn Monroe, my thoughts about her & my ideas of this famous woman had changed to a great extent.
One, I had always thought that Marilyn Monroe is a "dumb blonde”, one who wins her way simply because of her so-called beauty. I also had thoughts about her bitchiness & her unfairness in marrying men who divorced their wives & left their children for her such is in the case of Arthur Miller.
Second, I didn't have much high regard of Marilyn as I thought of her ungodliness due to the fact that I am a Christian & I had grown to many beliefs of the Christian faith. Obviously, my faith had caused me to label Marilyn in a wrong way & in a sense, that makes me stand against my faith since it is taught that one should not judge a person by a mere glimpse or touch of words.
This is a compassionate novel by Matthew Smith who had investigated into the death of Marilyn Monroe. One thing that prevailed this biography is that it is written with great sympathy & care in regards of Marilyn Monroe.
The novel caught my attention as I was always interested in Marilyn. The idea that her death had lead to numerous conspiracies gave me a yearning to know more about her. This biography gave me a glimpse of her life & the sad, lonely truth behind the glitters of Hollywood fame.
Suicide? Or murder? That is the question. What really happened on the night of August 4,1962? Was the famous starlet murdered or did she take her life by her own hands?
Certain evidences & mysterious events had led the reader to come to the idea that Marilyn was indeed, murdered. Given the circumstances, one may wonder, while reading the biography, why Marilyn was able to suicide of she had no water to gulp down all the alleged drugs she took that took her life? It had also been revealed in this book that there had been many cover-ups done by several people on her death that made the truth seem more vague than before. Peter Lawford had a big part in the cover-up to protect his brother-in-law, John Kennedy & probably even Robert Kennedy as well. This cover-up is a big mess that made the whole crime unclear. The people involved in the cover-up did the move to protect the Kennedys. Weren't they aware that this would raise more suspicion of the Kennedys? At first I believed that the Kennedys had a part in Marilyn's death because of the "cover-ups" that gave the people after Marilyn's death an idea that they were indeed the murderers. The cover-up gave us an unintended message: that the whole cover-up was to erase the clues into the Kennedys' murdering of Monroe rather than the motive of those people: to protect the Kennedys from wrong speculation. It added a more baffling testimony to the whole story.
It was inferred that the people that had engendered hate toward the Kennedys caused upon Marilyn’s death. They were the people who did not want any Kennedy in office at all due to an incident concerning Kennedy's administration that caused several deaths in Cuba.
In the end, many stories were shared & much confidential information was revealed. Reading this book is like reading confidential files of the FBI & getting to reveal secrets that baffled many for more than 2 decades ago.
In the end, what made this book stand out is not because of its honest and forward approach to Marilyn’s murder but because it gave light to Marilyn's personhood. In the end, I grew sympathy for her. I can't help but relate to Marilyn's life story & how power had prevailed over her desires in life.
Marilyn always wished to become a Shakespearean actress, one who can be taken seriously. She always appear on comedy films or films that what we consider to be all-skin & no act. Marilyn had many dreams for her life: to showcase her talent, to have a father & a family, to finally be happy.
We can't blame Marilyn for her tendency to marry many men. This was her desire to find a "father" that will hold her & care for her.
We cannot also blame her illiteracy because people around her made her dependent to them such as in the case of Dr. Ralph Greenson. Instead of giving Marilyn wings & feet that will allow her to stand for herself, Dr. Greenson made Marilyn more dependent to him.
Marilyn had so much on her mind that she wants to fulfill. She wanted a family, a movie to show her talent. She want to prove the people who criticize her wrong. She had this all in min but it seems that destiny wanted her miserable all her life because despite the changes she want to make the following week, she was murdered instead. Yes, life was so unfair to Marilyn & I accept that life looked down upon her.
I can't help but wished that Marilyn had known God & His wonderful plan for her. She had interests in Catholicism once but her husband then suppressed this idea. She was controlled & tied with puppet strings that are not visible yet tangible altogether.
If only she discovered God, she would have prevailed of her downfall. This statement may raise the eyebrows of many but I stand firm to this belief, that God could have made a change in her life if only she accepted it.
I had a lot of pity for Marilyn. I realized that I do have similar tendencies. I mean, my problems can never compare to hers. She has bigger, larger & more frightening problems but I had my own share of what we call bad day. I always wanted to prove myself to other people, which I can do whatever I wish to do, that I can stand up on my own & that I have what it takes to make a difference but as I entered high school, it became more difficult to look for an avenue to somehow prove this. As much as Marilyn wanted to show her talent, so do I, yearning to tell the world of my ability to change others & myself.
It is also true that like Marilyn, can seldom find a friend that I consider to be true. There are many friends I have out there but they don't seem to be sincere or genuine. Sometimes I feel like they're just there.
Having been suppressed for your chance to break free is indeed disheartening. It’s like destroying the pupa of a caterpillar that would be a butterfly in the near future. It’s like discouraging a newly born chick to fly.
Each people had individual strengths and uniqueness that is genuine & precious but society had compelled such skill to be hidden & left in a dark area where no one can see them.
Like many other people, Marilyn is just another victim of society's foolish requirements that don't exist physically but something that I can feel in the streets of the city to my desk in the classroom.
I pity the world for its superficiality & the same thing goes to the governing stupidity that stood victorious against faith & love towards one's self. ( )