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60 pages 2 hours read

Joyce Carol Oates

Blonde: A Novel

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

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Part 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 5: “The Afterlife: 1959-1962”

Part 5, Chapter 58 Summary: “In Sympathy”

Norma Jeane receives a letter from her father offering his condolences about her miscarriage, and he also tells her that he hopes she will decide to come live with him in his mansion. He tells her that he hopes he can contact her again soon.

Part 5, Chapter 59 Summary: “Sugar Cane 1959”

Despite some people thinking Some Like It Hot is the actress’s masterpiece, she realizes that her life is in ruins while she makes it. On set, she insists on doing many takes of her scenes to make them better. At one point, Norma Jeane becomes hysterical, and Doc Fell comes to her with medication. Norma Jeane does not believe she is Marilyn Monroe, but she still wants people to love Marilyn Monroe so that they will love Norma Jeane. She imagines her supporting herself and her father and him attending events with her. She wonders if he is ashamed to claim Marilyn Monroe as his daughter. 

Her leading man, C, despises her. Meanwhile, the Playwright continues to try to help her. He is worried that she is trying to destroy herself with drugs. She has difficulty expressing anger onstage, and she is told that this is because she wants people to love her rather than destroy her.

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