Love Or Liberation

Chapter 13

The next day, Sunday, Elaine and Donna went to the Guild Theater on West 50th Street to see Dr. Zhivago. They went to a diner near Rockefeller Center afterward for a late afternoon meal.

After they ordered, Donna said, "That was so romantic. I don't usually cry at movies, but the tears came for that one."

"Yes, me too. That was a great movie, but so sad. I'm surprised Jack was so set against it."

"He doesn't sound like he's good for you, from what you say."

Elaine started fiddling with the napkin in front of her before she spread it over her lap.

"It just feels so right. I've never had a split between my feelings and my thoughts before. I've also never felt so strongly about a guy before, but he doesn't support SDS at all. He thinks only of making money for himself and achieving status. He doesn't care about the war." Elaine started chewing on a fingernail.

"You shouldn't think you only have a choice between SDS and Jack. Neither is a good option for you. SDS isn't about women's issues, as I've brought up to you before. And women are allowed to take part, but they aren't in any leadership roles."

The waitress brought them their sodas.

"But what SDS is doing is important. I don't know how else I can do something for the good of society. I'm not ready to take on a leadership role myself, anyway. I'm only a freshman."

Donna clasped her hands in front of her on the table. "I know their issues are important to you, but they don't have your interests in mind. Don't think SDS is your only choice of action."

"If it wasn't for what I learned from the SDS meeting, I wouldn't have so much conflict with Jack."

Elaine was almost crying.

"The relationship with Jack is either going to leave you heart broken or in a traditional marriage with children. I don't think you'd be happy with that either. Your intellect would be suppressed. Don't you want to have a career?"

"Yes, I guess so. I want to do something with my translating skills."

"It's not going to happen if you marry Jack."

"We're not engaged."

"That's a best case scenario with Jack. You've said yourself you feel really strongly about him with no good reason. He hasn't seduced you, has he?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. He says that Napoleon Hill, in Think And Grow Rich, writes that people will have more success if they sublimate their sexuality. Jack does kiss me passionately at the end of each date. I've never been kissed like that before. Also, Jack has a presence, maybe even charisma, and he keeps his arm around me. Having his arm around me feels special. It feels most intimate when we don't even talk."

"I can see why. He sounds like a jerk whenever he says anything."

They both laughed at that.

The waitress brought them their food. They had both ordered salad platters.

When the waitress left, Donna said, "You talk a lot about existentialism and Jean Paul Sartre, but have you read Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex?"

"No. I've heard of it, but it sounded shocking to me. I'm pretty conservative in my ideas about sex."

"She and Sartre were partners. The Second Sex is a book on feminist existentialism. It gives a history of how women have been treated and understood, or I should say misunderstood. I read the translation, which changes parts of it and leaves a lot out, but you could probably read the original French. I've heard that the original French is much better."

"Why should I read it?"

"Because you are not fully realizing that as a female, you are treated as a second class citizen. I think it would be eye-opening for you. It was for me, and I got the watered down version of it in English."

"There's a French language bookstore here in Rockefeller Center. Maybe they have it. Could we stop there before we go back to the campus? I like to have books in French to read, anyway."

"Of course."

After their lunch, Elaine found a copy of The Second Sex at the bookstore. It was a hefty book, and it looked like the language would be difficult to follow. Elaine bought it anyway. She liked a good challenge.