My life inspirations.

Hi everyone !

I'm coming back for a new special paper about my life inspirations. Sure, what is special is not the subject but the fact that for the first time, I'm writing in English ! I'm pretty excited about that, but I'm also sorry for all the mistakes I'm going to make. 

Well, I really wanted to write this paper, but I didn't find time during the past months. Thus, I'm going to say who inspires me in my everyday life, and why. My inspirations can be real people, but also fictional characters - yeah, fictional characters have such a great influence on me ! -. 

I'm going to start with my two major inspirations. The first one is a fictional character that you must know : Hermione Granger.

Who is she ? : Hermione is a character from the Harry Potter novels, and she is actually Harry's best friend. Like him, she is part of Gryffindor house. Hermione is a muggle-born witch, but she's also the most brilliant witch of her age. She is characterized by her cleverness, by the fact she is the serious one amid the trio ; shes totally loves reading, and she has a great sense of justice : for example, she's fighting for house-elves' rights in the fifth book of the saga. Furthermore, the actress Emma Watson was the one who performed Hermione's part in the movies.

Why is she that essential to me ? : As a child, I always identified myself to Hermione because she is exactly as I am : I am the serious one, the Mrs-know-it-all you won't bear because always responding to teachers' questions, the one who loves books more than everything ; and, obviously, I'm totally preoccupied by justice questions.

Moreover, Hermione was the proof that being smart does not make you an outsider and that was a huge thing for me as a child : indeed, the clever ones are often seen as the ones who are boring or who are not interesting enough to have a starring role, and Hermione embodies the fact that, yeah, you can be smart and fucking interesting and cool. I think I always liked that, and I will always be thankful towards Mrs Rowling for that character.

About justice, I realized last summer (when I read the books for the second time) how important it made Hermione to me ; she has strong ideas, and she is not giving up on them : she keeps fighting for what she thinks is right, even though no one agrees with her. And I deeply admire her for that, because I am that kind of girl too : a bit of an idealist, but I will keep struggling, talking about my ideas, and doing my uttermost so as to people listen to me and understand what I am saying.

Besides, what I completely like about her is her courage ; this is a quality of paramount importance because girls do not often match with being brave in TV shows, movies or books (okay, it's changing thanks to Katniss and Tris, but so much has to be done!), and here little girls have such a role model to follow ! Hermione is not the beautiful one who only enjoys shopping and boys (and you know all the clichés), she is smart, profoundly in love with books, and brave. And this is so IMPORTANT.

What can I blame her for ? : Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I love her.

Now, I'm going to speak about my second life inspiration, which is not a fictional character but a politician. And this is my dear Winston Churchill.

Who is he ? : As I said before, he is a British politician from the XXth century ; he was also First Lord of the Admiralty during WWI, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and obviously, Prime Minister during WWII and later. He is well-known for his action during WWII, for his memoirs, and for his visionary statements especially about the “iron curtain” in Europe.

Why is he that essential to me ? : In fact, I knew Churchill thanks to my History passion, but last October I saw a documentary about him and I was so touched by his life and by his behaviour during WWII that he became one of my heroes.

What makes him so important to me is how brave he was during WWII, while he was Prime Minister : he had such a big responsibility, because France had signed the armistice on June 1940, and Britain was the last one to keep fighting against the Axis, and Churchill stated that famous sentence you must have heard once in your lifetime “I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering”. This shows how determined he was to save his country from totalitarianism and horror, and that bravery he had is one of the most touching thing I saw in my life. When I was watching the documentary, I was about to cry because of all the force he had. He knew that warfare would be awful and that his people would suffer, but he did it. He did not hesitate or think about another way to struggle. He did it.

Moreover, what is important is that he was about sixty or sixty-five during WWII and he also had a heart-attack. His doctor said he had to stop and to take some rest, that he had to get some sleep – he only slept four or five hours by night – and he only took three or four days so as to rest, and he carried on. He could have died, he could have had another heart-attack but, once again he did it. That kind of bravery is the thing which is the most valuable to me. My admiration for him is so huge.

I also like his visionary aspect and how clear-headed he had always been : “Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonour. They chose dishonour. They will have war” he stated before WWII, and that exactly happened this way. He also claimed in 1946 that there was an “iron curtain” in Europe talking about the fact that Eastern European countries were turning into communist countries and allied to the USSR whereas Western European countries were liberal democracies with a capitalist economy, and allied to the United-States.

Finally, I was also touched by his personal story, especially with his father : his father was a politician, and Winston deeply admired him and wanted the admiration of his father back but what all he found was spite. This kind of destroyed him, and his father died before Winston Churchill became the great man he is.

What can I blame him for ? : The fact that once he decided to make two anarchists burn (I think they have attacked some policemen or something like that) and I am totally against any kind of death penalty. I don't think that death is the solution. NEVER.

I am going to deal with four minor inspirations ; even though I consider them as “minor”, they have a huge place in my heart.

The first one is Mrs de Pompadour.

Who is she ? : If you are not a nerd of History, you probably don't know who she is, and I won't blame you for that. I am totally passionate by History, and especially by the period I use to call the one of the “Louis”, that is to say from Louis XIV to Louis XVI – in French History –. Mrs de Pompadour had been the mistress of Louis XV for twenty years, which is a total record for a mistress ! Nevertheless, she was not an aristocrat, she was only a middle-class person, or a “bourgeoise”, as we say in French. And at that time, you were not welcome in Versailles expect if you were an aristocrat.

Why is she that essential to me ? : I just said that she was a middle-class person and not an aristocrat ; thus, she had to be really clever so as to become the mistress of the King. And she was. That woman was full of resources and plans in order to have what she wanted and to reach her goals. I admire and respect that, especially at a period in which women had no rights, she was clever enough to become the mistress of the King, and to stay with him twenty years!

Furthermore, she dared defending some Enlightenment’s artists or books such as Diderot and his Encyclopedia whereas there were the worst enemies of the King at that time, and I love that cheeky aspect, her insolence.

I can also add an anecdote about her : her favourite colour was pink, and this is because of her that pink is the colour of girls in gender stereotypes.

What can I blame her for ? : Prostitution. In fact, she was not able to satisfy the King sexually, thus she used prostitutes and virgin women to satisfy him. I hate that, because as a feminist I do not think that women are objects, or that women are made to satisfy men whereas there are only virgin. I think this is horrible that women have to waste their first time with a man in order to be his "objects of pleasure".

Then, we are going to speak about someone else, and this is Noam Chomsky.

Who is he ? : Okay, you must not know him too. He is an American linguist and philosopher, but he is also known for his political ideas : he is actually in favour of anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism.

Why is he that essential to me ? : I discovered him thanks to his book Understanding power, which is actually a virulent critic of American power, mainstream media and capitalism. And I thank him so much for that book, because it completely enlightened me : I learned many things about how works power and mainstream media, and I think this helped to have a more critic view on the world we are living in. Thanks to that book, I put capitalism into question, and I think this is really important to wonder if capitalism is the right solution for us.

Furthermore, the book learned me that I had to think by myself : in fact, Chomsky did not want to convince me that American power or mainstream media were the Axis of Evil, he just wanted me to put all that in question, and this is essential. Because nowadays we are opinionated instead of informated, and that we tend to have opinions instead of deep reflexions. Thus, that book made me realize that I had to think by myself no matter if my closer ones did not agree with me. Because my choices are MY choices, and that the major thing is to agree with myself, not to think as the others would like. So, Chomsky did not convert me to anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism but now I'm profoundly convinced that I have my word to say and that I must think by myself. 

What can I blame him for ? : Hmm, I see nothing.

Well, you may know my two last inspirations, which are actually fictional characters from TV shows. First, you have the queen .. Blair Waldorf!

Who is she ? : Blair is one of the heroine from the TV show Gossip Girl. She is an upper-east side girl, a super rich teenage girl going to a school for rich girls ; she is called Queen B because she decides how goes the things in her high school. She manipulates people, and can be the biggest bitch ever because of her plans. However, she is also super clever and her dream is to go to Yale. She is also known for her love story with Chuck Bass. 
 

Why is she that essential to me ? : When I first watched Gossip Girl, I have to confess that I hated Blair and that I rather liked Serena than her. I thought that Blair was considering himself as a little queen/princess and that she was too much mean and haughty. And she was. However, through the seasons, we discovered another Blair : a woman deeply loving her relatives, a woman who had a big heart and who was ready to do anything so as to save her loved ones or to get what she wants. I realized that I was actually preferring Blair than Serena : okay, Blair could be mean and haughty, but she had a fucking personality and she was letting no one destroying her ! I loved that. She was strong, and that strength was beautiful ; furthermore, I started liking her sarcasm and her mean sentences. I think that identification had a lot to do with that : Blair was like me, the girl with a heart but who didn't want to let anyone break it. Moreover, I always thought that she had a great sense of style, and as a fashion-lover, this made me love her more and more.

What can I blame her for ? : Hmm. I don't really know. I have nothing in my mind.

And my last life inspiration (yeah, it's almost the end dear reader!) is Malia Tate from the TV show Teen Wolf.

Who is she ? : Malia is a character who only appears from the third season of Teen Wolf, and she is actually a werecoyote. Her father is Peter Hale, and she becomes part of Scott's group in the fourth season. She has some problems with human and social relations, and the person she appreciates the most is Stiles.

Why is she that essential to me ? : Because Malia is brave, she fears nothing and she doesn't need help from anyone. Even though she loves Stiles, she is totally not the kind of girl who deeply believes in the charming prince coming to save her, and she exactly knows how to manage dangerous situations. I love how strong she is, and I also like the fact that in her relationship with Stiles, she is the one who wears the trousers : in most heterosexual relationships in movies/TV shows, women tend to be the fragile and sensible ones and I have nothing against that because everyone is fragile and sensible but I'm upset with the fact that only men are seen as strong ! And here, Malia appears stronger than Stiles. I like that. Because yes, as women, we are as strong as men. Also, I totally love her sarcasm and her funny aspect.

What can I blame her for ? : Nothing. I totally love her.

Sylphide.