Just an Ordinary "Goddess"
             Hollywood created the image of Marilyn Monroe as a stereotypical sex bomb and dumb blonde, which captivated the eyes and hearts of many men. Sharon Olds breaks down Monroe's "goddess" label and identifies Marilyn Monroe with qualities that everyday people actually have.
             These qualities are shown through Olds's use of certain words throughout the poem, which are trying to identify Marilyn Monroe as a normal person. This description of Monroe is in a way that no one could ever imagine. It goes against the Hollywood glamour stereotype with the way Olds describes the situation, "The ambulance men touched her cold body, lifted it, heavy as iron, onto the stretcher and carried her, as if it were she, down the steps" (Olds 418).
             The choice of words is very significant to the rest of the poem because it penetrates past the stereotype of beauty and charm normally associated with Marilyn Monroe, which leaves you vulnerable to a new look Sharon Olds wants to introduce. The description of Monroe's body being cold is very different to what a beautiful poster girl should be. Moreover, Olds's second description of Monroe's body being as heavy as iron continues the author's approach of trying to connect Monroe as being "human" not just the Hollywood robot of beauty that has no feeling or emotion. The idea of Marilyn Monroe dead in a body bag, arms tied to her sides and mouth and eyes forced shut does not seem real because that sounds ugly and horrible, which cannot occur, because Monroe is a symbol of beauty. However Olds makes this point of Marilyn's death sound like an everyday death, through the description of the ambulance men use of the body bag. At
             this point Olds connects the first part of her poem with the second part, by making her strongest point. The author does this by relating with the men who could not believe Monroe w
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