the fog index

recent excerpt- sample writing.

            There were many women before Marilyn Monroe that have shaped our society and surely before 50’s as well. However, Marilyn Monroe stands out the most as a memorable figure in history and in a way, represent the America as a whole even to this day. Marilyn Monroe’s free spirited, blonde curly hair, beautiful face and voluptuous body came to symbolize American prosperity and rebellious success. Hollywood, already known as a place of two faces and endless competition for beauty and fame, Marilyn Monroe’s rags-to-riches tale became ultimate American dream for many girls in the future. Marilyn Monroe’s influence can still be felt throughout the world. She is a legend and a fairytale to many people even to this day. Marilyn Monroe’s popularity was not only based on her beauty or her acting skills. It was the way she was that caused such stir and sensation. She has in a way, revolutionized the way women perceived themselves. Her dichotomy of innocence and sexually outgoing characteristics, her troubled childhood, her rise to fame in Hollywood shaped the image that influences women of the now.  Aside from her public success, her unconventional and impulsive relationships with male partners all resonates the complex image that shaped Marilyn Monroe and the women who follow her footsteps.

The contrary to the ideal model of family during the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe was brought up in an extremely dysfunctional family. Dysfunctional in a sense that, “When Gladys Pearl Monroe was seven, her father died in the California State hospital for the mentally ill. Although it was later revealed that the cause of death was syphilis of the brain, the family believed Otis Monroe, the grandfather of the woman who would become Marilyn Monroe, had died insane, thereby sparking the fear of legacy of madness that would come to haunt the Monroe’s” (Morgan 14).  Her mother was “suffering from a mental illness through her left. With no father on the scene and Baker [her mother] in and out of the asylums, Monroe’s childhood was at best chaotic and at worst abusive and terribly lonely” (Hall 486). Growing up in a dysfunctional family, and a lack of a parental role pushed her to an illusion to be loved and adored by the millions. “Marilyn wanted to be a movie star so very badly because it was the only way she knew to escape a chaotic, nightmarish existence that constantly threatened to draw her back in. from the time she was a little girl, passed from one grim foster home to another, that dream had given her a reason to go on living” (Leaming 11). She felt an escape was needed to help her with her chaotic situation that she was in. She needed a release to somehow to pursue her passion, which was acting. “She had been farmed out to a foster family by a sick mother, who was barely able to make ends meet with various low-end jobs in the film industry” (Leaming 11). She did not let the dysfunctional family stop her. She set the future standards for an independent, strong woman. She became an icon for American dreams for women and young girls. However, her personal life and public life were jeopardized many times due to the conflicting views and clashing of the old and new world at the time.

calculations: average 15. hard word used 10. 15+10=25(0.4)= 10
reflection: Since the result of number of years of schooling a reader needs to understand what I have written, my fog index is 10 which means I either take a long time to explain stuff or have a hard time explaining what needs to be said.