In English 61, a group of students decided to re-open the case of Marilyn Monroe’s tragic death.  In 1962, the famous Hollywood movie star was found dead and alone in her Brentwood home. The autopsy suggests suicide.   In her sixties research paper, Melissa says otherwise.  There are too many inconsistencies.  The toxicology report reveals a lethal dose of acute barbiturate poison in Marilyn’s bloodstream at the time of death, but it doesn’t mention anything about her affairs with President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, or the Mafia.  Here, Melissa takes on the roles of writer, historian, and investigator; and just like the rest of us, she is a big fan.  I mean, we want to know the truth.

 

Melissa Arguello

Professor Lewenstein

Eng- 061

November 9, 2017

Tragic Marilyn: The Life and Death of a Hollywood Star

An autopsy is a postmortem, a necropsy, and an examination of death. It's not about one’s health; it's ones death. How did her drug use lead to Marilyn’s death? Actually on the day of her death, empty bottles of medicine were found beside her bed. It was said that she was consuming a great deal of sleeping pills, and other dissimilar pills. Anyone would think different of her death, because of her affair with John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Although Marilyn Monroe lived a glamour’s life, she died sad and alone. 

Marilyn Monroe had a difficult childhood growing up. At age four, Marilyn was taken away from her mother. She spent most of her time in foster care and in an orphanage. She was sexually assaulted when she was eleven years old. "I was never used to being happy, so that wasn't something I ever took for granted,” she once said. “You see, I was brought up differently from the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy." She states how she was brought up differently because she was never a happy child. It was something she never took for granted because she never appreciated having a childhood like this. She never knew who her father was and her mother left her at such a young age, she had no choice but to have such a sad childhood.

Peggy Truong's writes about Marilyn Monroe’s death and how people made a lot of assumptions about it. Marilyn was found dead on August 5, 1962 in her bedroom. Following the Los Angeles County, an investigation said her death was a suicide. One theory stated that Monroe's death was ordered by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The reason for that was to get revenge on the John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. One of the first theories was that John F. Kennedy killed her in fear that she would say something about their affair and ruin his political career. Another theory was that her doctors killed her in an incidental manner. Marilyn lied to her doctors about her medication and because of that she had an accidental overdose. So they say that with the help of a housekeeper, the doctors staged her death. According to Anthony Summers, Robert F. Kennedy and his brother in law Peter encouraged her drug and alcohol use after she threatened to make her affair with him public. A conspiracy theory about her death was because she knew too much! The fact that she was having an affair with the President John F. made her life more dangerous. Last theory but as crazy, it is speculated the mafia did it. Supposedly Monroe had been murdered by Jimmy Hoffa and Sam Giancana, so the Kennedys would leave the mafia alone. Also, that that mob boss Sam received orders from one of the Kennedy brothers, so she would not say anything about the affair. For example, Mafia hitmen entered her home and injected her with barbiturates, and moved her to her bedroom to make it seem as a suicide. The writer talks about the different theories, and gives examples of who said it and when. 

The article "Marilyn Monroe's Biography" describes her life growing up and her career. She overcame a difficult childhood to become a sex symbol. She was in a few foster homes and an orphanage. The only way of getting out of all of this was to get married at such a young age. Her mom had a mental illness and her grandmother killed herself. It seemed her destiny was plotted out for her. It’s true, because I have seen it in real life. Where children are left by their mothers or family and then they get sent to a foster care. "Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered." This quote explains it all. It was hard a lot of work for her and she says especially when one is tired. She also describes the word “hurt”, and I believe she uses this word because of everything she went through. For example, her being sexually abused. Of course she would be confused, at all of this.

Although Amy Winehouse and Marilyn Monroe are two completely different people, they have a lot of similarities. Amy Winehouse was from London, England and at the age of sixteen she broke into the music industry. Marilyn Monroe was from Los Angeles, California. She overcame a difficult childhood, to become one of the world's biggest sex symbol. Unlike Amy, Marilyn at the age of sixteen was getting married. Amy Winehouse said she did not know what depression was. She stated that she felt funny sometimes and she was different. She linked her drinking into depression. Marilyn Monroe fought her depression following her divorce with Arthur and Gabe's death. They both had failed relationships that just did not work for them. Amy Winehouse had a relationship with Blake, but that did not end well either. She said she felt bad about the way they treated each other and they later divorced on August 28, 2009. He was someone who introduced Amy to hard drugs. Marilyn Monroe also got married at the age of sixteen with James Dougherty. Although it was to get her out of the orphanage home, he says he was madly in love with her. He was a marine and she had started her career. When he was overseas, he received the divorce papers and tried to get her to forget about the divorce but that did not happen. They ended up getting divorced on September 13, 1946. Amy's death was due to Alcohol Intoxication, and Marilyn's death was due to Barbiturate overdose. Two completely different people, yet a lot of similar things happen to them in life. They both went through depression, failed at relationships, and their death. 

Marilyn Monroe went through a lot in my eyes. She had such a very depressing childhood while growing up and even her death. I picked this topic not knowing a lot about Marilyn Monroe. After doing this research paper I feel like I know who she was from beginning to end. Although she had many obstacles in her life, she overcame them no matter what. She had such a terrible childhood and as an outcome she got married at the age of sixteen. She got a divorce just four years later and continued her career. She was one of the world’s biggest sex symbol and because of that she was very inspirational to many women. There is this quote which she says, “Just because you fail once, doesn’t mean you’ll fail at everything. Keep trying hold on and always trust yourself because if you don’t then who will?” It has stuck with me because they are such inspirational words and it is something that motivates me every day. Ever since I began my Marilyn Monroe research paper, I have learned by reading articles and watching videos. Many articles have different information, and because of that I went into this topic thoroughly. As I stated above, I never really knew anything about Marilyn other than her being a sex symbol and also the different conspiracies about her death. As soon as I knew she had an unhappy childhood, I went more in depth and learned about her being in foster cares, orphanage, and even being raped. Also, the loss of her mother by going into a mental hospital and her grandmother’s death. Even though she was from the 60s many people still talk about her today, have posters, collections, even tattoos in honor of Marilyn Monroe. She is still very inspirational until this day.           

Works Cited

“Marilyn Monroe.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017, Web. 9 Oct. 2017 <www.biography.com/people/marilyn-monroe-9412123?_escaped_fragment_=>.

Romero, Dennis. “Marilyn Monroe's Childhood Sexual Abuse, Secret Life Revealed in New Biography.” L.A. Weekly, 24 May 2016, Web. 12 Oct. 2017 <www.laweekly.com/news/marilyn-monroes-childhood-sexual-abuse-secret-life-revealed-in-new-biography-2393256>. 

Wild, Chris. “A Young Marilyn Monroe with Her Mother at the Beach.” Mashable, Mashable, 1 Mar. 2015, 12 Oct. 0217 <mashable.com/2015/03/01/marilyn-monroe-child/.>

Maslin, Janet, et al. “Marilyn Monroe.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Mar. 2017, 15 Oct. 2017 < http://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/marilyn-monroe.&gt;