The story starts off with Maria as the most popular girl in school, dating the most popular guy in school. Maria has a couple issues. She’s pregnant and expelled from high school; however these are issues that could have been, yet were not, resolved immediately. In the end of the film, maria finally resolves these issues and gets an abortion and goes back to highschool, but in the meanwhile she goes through a life-changing experience that causes her to truly question her identity.
Was this life changing experience worth it? Is she happier now? I’d like to argue that she is less happy than she would have been had she had the abortion, gotten back in school, resumed her place as the most popular girl in school, and gotten back together with her smart, athletic boyfriend. Instead, Maria gets in a much less-appropriate relationship with a man who is certifiably insane, suicidal, and who may spend the rest of his life in jail. Therefore, I believe she would have been happier had she not questioned her identity.
I do believe she is better off, though.
Had she had the abortion and gotten back in school, she probably would have followed the path of her sister and mother and gotten married early, had children, and lived a monotonous, domestic, life.
Yay for Maria, instead, she gets a life of childless isolation, as her husband spends the rest of his life in jail and she is veritably shunned from the community for being the wife of the failed suicide-bomber.
Good thing she has her thesaurus.
So is she happier? I’d say not. Better off? Maybe.
What do you think?
I do agree with you that she may have been happier if she had just gone back and continued the life that she had before she got pregnant, but not for the reasons that you stated. I think that Maria taking charge of her life is what is going to make her less happy. I believe that a person should be in charge of his or her own life, but taking charge and making your own decisions is much more difficult than allowing other people to take care of you for the rest of your life. I think that Maria will have a more fulfilling life now that she knows that she wants to be a competent person, but it will be a lot harder day to day when she has to take care of herself and her family. Also, Maria and Matthew didn't get married. Part of Maria taking charge of her life was her telling Matthew that she did not want to marry him.
ReplyDeleteSo... no conclusion? Ignorance is bliss to a point but happiness isn't the only thing that humans live for.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Maria was really happy with her life before. She had a boyfriend who obviously didn't care about her and her parents didn't respect her. Although she had to make some tough choices, it seems like she is both happier and better off at the end of the movie because she has picked which relationships are good for her and gotten rid of those that are bad for her. Whether or not her relationship with Matthew continued, she had a life plan at the end of the movie and something to work for.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not she was happy before her existential crisis, she was able to let go of a life that was not really hers. In the end, she is on a path that holds the potential for a more genuine happiness than she may or may not have had before.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that Maria is much better off and happy at the end of the film. Like you said, her problems could be fixed, but I think she was unhappy in her old life, she just did not know it. She now wants to learn and has become more independent, so I think her existential crisis was necessary.
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