ORR #1: Simone de Beauvoir

Title: Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
Author: Simone de Beauvoir
Genre: Autobiography

Pages: 384

For this living history project I have decided to do Simone de Beauvoir. She was a french writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. I chose to do her, because she is a person many people don't know, myself included, and I thought that she was an interesting person that did many important things with fighting for women and their rights compared to men. A quote of hers states "Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female - whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male". This is just for you to get a sense of what kind of person she was (here are some more of her quotes if you wish to read them http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/simone_de_beauvoir.html). So her autobiography talks about an intimate picture of growing up in a bourgeois French family, rebelling as an adolescent against the conventional expectations of her class, and striking out on her own with an intellectual and existential ambition exceedingly rare in a young woman in the 1920s. She vividly evokes her friendships, love interests, mentors, and the early days of the most important relationship of her life, with fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre, against the backdrop of a turbulent political time. I think that it is an interesting book, again I am a hundred percent in love with France and now it is in one of my favorite times, the 1920, which makes it that much better.

1. Whom are three people I would consider to be a great human being? Why?

Women that I would consider to be a great human beings, would be people that have been through a hard time, then came out the other end, stronger wiser, better people. Important people are people with integrity and people who have truly changed the world for the better, and people that have continued their legacy throughout history. So one person that would be very important would be Cleopatra because she was a very strong and influential leader, especially considering what time she was in, when women weren't considered to be superior, as they truly are, and for me Cleopatra sort of represents that. Another person that I find really interesting and a great human being would be Frida Kahlo. She was born soon before the Mexican evolution had started, and she had to adapt herself to the life that was lived there. Once she was older she had taken out her anger and passions out on paintings, and therefore she created amazing art that represented her pain, and her lifelong health problems that she fought through. Lastly, who I consider being a great human being would be Marie Curie because she was a very important scientist in France, and she was the first woman to ever do some things and win awards. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. So I also consider her being a great human being. 

2. Are there commonalities in the ways in which great human beings have lived and the choices they have made?
The commonalities between all these great people would probably be that they were people who were far ahead of their time, and people who have changed the earth as we know it today. Also some commonalities are that some of these people had rough childhoods, and came out the other end stronger and wiser people that had something important to say, and with that they established a legacy and they have taught and shown people that nothing is really impossible. And as Audrey Hepburn said the word "impossible" itself states "I'm possible".
3.What are three things that would make my top Living History pick a strong entry into the museum?

Well I was basing my pick on a person that many people don't really know, and someone that I would be very passionate about, and I would be very glad to be oh the Living History day, and so that's why I really had a lot of troubles finding the right person that was important enough to be in the museum. Some of my three top choices were Marie Curie, Nadezda Petrovic, and Sandra Day O'Connor, but why I didn't choose any of these people is that many people know them already, and I wouldn't really have a passion towards doing any of them, and that's why I chose Simone de Beauvoir, as my person that I would like to portray in the Living History museum.