A married woman without transcendent work loses the capacity to aspire at all.
Evidence
April 1: I have a very great misfortune: I have no inner resources to draw on … Lyova has his work and the estate to think about while I have nothing … What am I good for? I would like to do more, something real. At this wonderful time of year, I always used to long for things, aspire to things, dream about God knows what. But I no longer need anything, no longer have those foolish aspirations, for I know instinctively that I have all I need now and there is nothing left to strive for … Everything seems stupid now and I get irritable. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1268
Categorization
- XREF: Directly illustrates the immanence-transcendence dichotomy that is the book’s core analytic apparatus. — connects to: Traditional marriage confines woman to immanence and denies her transcendence — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1196; A woman who exists only through love becomes nothing when love’s object departs. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1880; Boredom in marriage reduces a brilliant woman to a life of small things — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1356 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Traditional marriage confines woman to immanence and denies her transcendence
#expands(0.92) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1196 - A woman who exists only through love becomes nothing when love’s object departs.
#expands(0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1880 - Granting woman freedom while denying her transcendence yields only negative freedom
#expands(0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 406 - Boredom in marriage reduces a brilliant woman to a life of small things
#corroborates(0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1356 - Total dependence reduces a wife’s freedom to abstract interiority that cannot save her
#expands(0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1355 - Petty household tasks cannot absorb a woman’s energies once her aspirations are gone.
#corroborates(0.75)