Blonde: A Novel

Gladys, Elsie, and Bess are all mother figures in the young Norma Jeane’s life. Gladys is Norma Jeane’s birth mother. The primary influence she has over her daughter’s life is through her abuse of her and her absence as a caretaker after she is placed in a mental-health-care facility. In the novel, Gladys is sent there after she tries to potentially kill Norma Jeane when she tries to bathe her in scalding water. Both Norma Jeane and Gladys identify strongly with each other, and as such, when Gladys tries to scrub Norma Jeane clean, she demonstrates her own level of self-hatred. For most of Norma Jeane’s life, Gladys is a distant figure who withholds affection and also knowledge of who Norma Jeane’s father really is. The first is not necessarily done intentionally, as Gladys is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but the latter is done either because of the hurt Gladys feels or because she tries to instill more hurt in her daughter.

Aunt Elsie is Norma Jeane’s foster mother. She cares about Norma Jeane, and she wants what is best for her. Despite this, Norma Jeane’s sexuality proves to be a barrier that this love cannot overcome. This is because Elsie fears that her husband, Warren, will seduce the girl, and as such, Elsie knows she needs to get rid of her before this could happen. Therefore, she marries her off to Bucky. She tries to convince Norma Jeane that she is doing this out of Norma Jeane’s best interests, but Norma Jeane still sees it as a betrayal. Of these three mother figures, Elsie is the one who contacts Norma Jeane of her own volition the most. Norma Jeane does not respond to Elsie’s letters, as she is angry over what she sees as a betrayal by Aunt Elsie, as the woman married her off as a teenager. 

Bess Glazer is another early mother figure in Norma Jeane’s life, as she is Bucky’s mother. She represents the ways in which Norma Jeane eschews conventions. Bess agrees to the marriage of the two and helps precipitate it. When Bucky leaves for war, she wants Norma Jeane to come live with her because it would be unseemly for her daughter-in-law to live alone while Bucky is at war. Later, the Glazer family is shamed when Norma Jeane leaves Bucky. Finally, Bess is appalled when Norma Jeane appears in photographs. Through the character of Bess, whom Norma Jeane wants to see as a mother, the narrator exhibits the ways in which Norma Jeane seems incapable of fitting into society and the ways in which polite society look down on her. Rather than finding pride in Norma Jeane’s career, Bess just perceives her with distaste.

Bucky Glazer is Norma Jeane’s first husband, whom she marries while she is a teenager. He represents the degree to which even those closest to Norma Jeane use her sexuality against her. She is most likely a virgin when she marries him, and he likes this about her. Eventually, however, he convinces her to pose for nude photos, and he then shares these photos with his buddies from work. She feels ashamed as he takes these photos even though she does not know that he is sharing them. Despite the degree to which he dehumanizes his wife, he believes she brings him disgrace by leaving him, causing a divorce in a family where divorce is unheard of.

Bucky’s relationship with Norma Jeane also demonstrates her neediness and her need to define herself in relation to others. She was a ward of the state for years, and she is forced into a marriage with Bucky so that Elsie can get the girl away from Warren. Norma Jeane calls Bucky, as well as other lovers later on, “Daddy,” and she looks for him to take care of her. When he calls her a cow, he provides her with internal dialogue that she will use against herself for the rest of her life. She is overcome when he goes to war because she does not know who she will be without him. He, however, feels her neediness to be too much of a strain on him, as he believes he is only capable of being a husband, not a father, to his wife. While Bucky’s character is shown to be deficient at best, Norma Jeane’s neediness also serves as a precipitator to their divorce because it becomes too big of an impediment in their marriage.

Isaac Shinn is Norma Jeane’s agent. He represents two key aspects in the way men treat Norma Jeane. The first is lust and desire. From her earliest days, Norma Jeane is objectified and sexualized by men, even back to her childhood when her mother’s lovers would look at her with sexual desire. Shinn himself desires Norma Jeane, but he is willing to offer her money in return. He is willing to make a commitment to her and take away an inheritance from his family to give to her if she will be his wife. The fact that he dies within hours of discovering Norma Jeane’s nude photographs implies that his love for her may have been sincere. After his passing, she realizes the gift she had in him; he truly cared for her.

Despite this affection for Norma Jeane, he commodifies her as much, if not more, than other people. He sees her as his creation, and he is one of two people insistent that she change her name despite her desire to keep at least part of it. When Shinn is angry with her, he is angry because she has tarnished his creation of Marilyn. As such, Shinn represents the degree to which even those who truly care about Norma Jeane also want to commodify her and make money off of her.

Along with Norma Jeane, Cass and Eddy G make up the Gemini. This name comes from the realization Cass and Norma Jeane have that they are both Geminis of the zodiac. Because of this, they feel a kinship with each other; they believe themselves to be nearly twins. When Eddy G comes around, he says that he is a Gemini, wishing to fit in with the two, but it is unclear whether this is true.

The degree to which the men love Norma G is debatable. At times, they express great love for her. They are ecstatic to learn that she is pregnant. They desire to be a family. Norma G knows that her power in the relationship comes from her role as the female, but she also feels like an outsider at times from the men in the triangle. While Cass and Eddy G profess love for Norma Jeane, they also engage in sex that is painful for her and call her the derogatory term “Fish.”

All three of the Gemini have the bond of being fatherless. Cass and Eddy G are not wanted by their fathers, and Norma Jeane does not know if her father knows who she is. Like them, however, she craves a father’s love. This makes Cass’s final betrayal of her all the more poignant when she learns after Cass’s death that he had been writing Norma Jeane letters all along pretending to be her father. He knew the wound of an absent father, and he used this knowledge to hurt her in the greatest way he could, likely out of revenge for her decision to abort the baby the three conceived.