She never had a child of her own. But when she embodied herself in Anne, Anne had a girl.
Simone de Beauvoir was the life-long partner of Jean Paul Sartre, but not the only woman in his life. She broke the traditions of her times and defined her life with her own hands, they never got married.
She wrote 'The Mandarins' which critics say represents their post-war situation and life. It puts you in the dilemma of paris and its intellects post-war.
Back to Anne Dubreuilh, said to be Simone herself, in 'The Mandarins', had a daughter. In the mother-daughter relationship, she poured all her fears and nightmares. I think she created this tense relationship where a mother never knew how to love her daughter, how to show genuine maternal care and love, how to break the walls instead of always digging a deeper abyss between them. The daughter always rebelling against any form of love because of an inherent feeling of not-deserving.
I felt that Beauvoir mirrored my fears, or it can be a self-projection of the novel. I, too, am scared to be a reason for ruining the life of another, especially if in good will. So I took the safer of the 2 options.
Maybe it's selfishness, but sometimes selfishness is a virtue, is altruism in disguise as Ayn Rand puts it in the title of her book 'The virtue of selfishness'.
This is what jwoman has to say for today.
