Sophie et Apolline is an anamoly amongst the other pieces in "I Am An Emotional Creature." While Ensler's tone throughout most of the works in Emotional Creature is generally dire or grave, with occasional burts of tongue-in-cheek humor, "Why French Girls Smoke" is none of these. Absolutely none. It's frank, unadorned, minimal, and - despite being written to appear like a poem - reads much like prose would. Although Sophie started smoking at a party due to peer pressure and "at the beginning (Sophie) didn't want to smoke all the time," like she does, and Apolline "smokes to avoid the future," both Sophie and Apolline treat the topics at hand - their smoking addictions, family problems, social issues - with such an earnest, matter-of-fact tone of voice that it's difficult to see the monologue in a negative light. It's a 'pure' piece. Neither narrator speaks about their problems in a way which makes us cringe or want to immediately close the book, even when Apolline discusses her unfortunate first sexual experience. "I didn't want to have sex, I was a little drunk," says Sophie, but she immediately follows this up with "I am with my boyfriend now, he is gentle," which lightens the mood almost immediately. Sophie doesn't allow herself to dwell too much on the negative, outside of her addiction to smoking. Likewise, neither woman uses anything that could be considered 'highbrow' language or overly poetic terms to describe their situations. It's a straightforward work, and Sophie et Apolline is totally devoid of exaggeration and sensationalism, the latter of which is a criticism frequently levied at Ensler's writing, whether true or not. In these respects Sophie et Apolline is the most 'real' piece in the entire collection: because it seems so believable, unlike the piece about the basketball player thinking about her ancestors in the middle of a game, nor does it feel like an exaggerated anectote or a product of Ensler's potentially overgeneralizing, overassuming, painting-with-broad-brush-strokes mind as is the case with "What Do You Like About Being A Girl." Unlike "The Vagina Monologues," where all monologues have some basis in the experiences of another person, "I Am An Emotional Creature" is predominantly written in the experiences and perspective of only herself. (Not that I personally feel like she overgeneralizes girls or women or boys or men too much, as she doesn't claim to be writing from a factual perspective, but it's a valid criticism of her writing which can sometimes present a narrow, rather than balanced, view.)
However, despite it's relative breeziness, "Why French Girls Smoke" isn't without depth. In fact, for such a straightforward piece, Ensler throws in some pretty subtle hooks. For one, Ensler never makes it clear what the girls smoke. Is it cigarettes, cigars, marijuana, or something else? This ambiguity is typical of Ensler, but at the same time lends a darker veneer to Why French Girls Smoke. I'm not saying that smoking object A is 'worse' than smoking object B, but in terms of legality, as well as one being more taboo than the other, certain substances can be seen as objectively worse. I feel like Ensler is even challenging us to question what it is that the girls smoke, using what isn't there to have the reader take notice of what is there, and vice versa. The piece screams deconstructionist theory. What isn't said is just as important, if not more important, than what is said by Apolline and Sophie. The girls give us only a narrow snapshot of what their lives are like without delving too deeply into anything beyond their smoking habits. It's an interesting tactic and one that is certainly characteristic of Ensler's deliberately written style.
On another, I also took particular notice of the "Popular girls smoke for style, unpopular girls smoke for stress" line. Lines like these are why I read poetry so much. The meaning doesn't bang you over the head, especially because in this case the two lines are broken up structurally as the first is said by Sophie and the second is said by Apolline, but Ensler speaks insightfully. Since popularity or the lack thereof exerts an enormous amount of pressure on young women, popular girls theoretically have less stress in their life (although to play devil's advocate popularity can be an enormous burden in and of itself), while the girls who are constantly vying for a venerated status amongst their peers have more stresses in their lives. On another note, the fact that Sophie says the first line and Apolline says the other can be a subtle comment on female friendship or closeness. Would two male characters behave in a similar fashion, at least in Ensler's perspective? As the two girls are said to be best friends, the fact that they are able to complement or finish each other's thoughts so perfectly indicates depth beyond what a typical friendship for either sex might be. The readers, however, are not totally let into the worlds of Apolline and Sophie. The poem is just a snapshot. We know precious little about their relationship with each other beyond being best friends, or any of the situations they may have experienced together. I see it as an extension of Francis Bacon's famed "Of Friendship" essay, but without the homoerotic subtext. There is no question in my mind that Apolline and Sophie are heterosexual. Call it a feeling even though Ensler is intentionally vague here. Likewise, another such instance of Ensler being intentionally vague occurs when Apolline describes her boyfriend.
"He is gentle. He pays attention to me. We have sex one or two times a week." I took note of how these lines are the only places in the entire poem where periods are used, and in such close quarters. Periods are usually used for emphasis, and doubly so when coupled with these short sentences, as well as the fact that the rest of the poem is not structured this way, draws It seems like Ensler wants us to pay special attention to Apolline's idyllic love life here. With that said, while Apolline says a lot about her relationship with her boyfriend in just three lines, she also says very little. The audience knows what their sex life is like now, but what about everything else? Do they go on dates or just have sex? What are the other aspects of their relationship like? I don't want to read too much into the piece, but it's even possible that Apolline is confusing love for sex here, which is a pretty common theme in Ensler's writing. I find myself incredibly curious to know more about Apolline and Sophie but Ensler gives just us enough to peek into their lives without saying nearly enough to get a feel for what they are like.
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