Woman Between Islam and Western Society
3. Western Woman
~ 162 ~
The last film she made was called
The Misfits
-— a
title which, in a sense, applied to her own life,
because she frequently had a feeling of being out of
place. In the midst of even the largest crowds,
psychologically, she was alone. Photographs
showing her smiling and laughing were regularly
published in the newspapers, but, in reality, she was
often sunk in depression. Finally, her mental and
emotional state became unbearable and, on August
5, 1962, she committed suicide by taking an overdose
of sleeping pills. She was just 36 years of age.
Such women appear to be happy on the stage and
screen, but in their heart of hearts, they live with a
sense of persecution, for they belong to everybody,
but nobody belongs to them. They make others
happy, but they have always to contend with the
feeling deep down inside them that there is really
no one with whom they can share their innermost
thoughts, no one to whom they can pour out their
hearts. At social gatherings they appear to be
fulfilled as individuals, but in reality, their lives are
empty. The initial spectacular quality of their lives
is dimmed, bit-by-bit, until at the end, life seems
little more than a dreary vacuum.
