In small doses, most people would probably say that pride isn't a bad thing—it's more like self-respect. But when pride grows in power, it quickly becomes deformed and kind of monstrous. In Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond suffers from this kind of out-sized and aggressive pride. Instead of accepting that she's not famous anymore and moving on with her life, she insists that she's still as big as she ever was and it's the movies themselves that have gotten smaller (to paraphrase). But, to cite the ancient adage, pride goeth before the fall—and Norma finally does fall, taking Joe down with her.
Questions about Pride
- Is pride Norma's only real problem? If she were less proud, would her whole situation become automatically easier? Why or why not?
- Does Joe have any pride? Does he injure his pride by agreeing to become Norma's kept-man, for instance?
- Is there a morally acceptable amount of pride for a person to have? Arguably, Norma wouldn't need to become completely devoid of pride in order to be a better person—could she just decrease her pride to some extent? How can we tell the different between enough and too much?
Chew on This
Joe's problem is that he doesn't have enough pride. If he did, he wouldn't allow himself to become a kept man—let alone one kept by a lunatic.
Maybe Norma started out trying to toe the line—taking pride in her work without actually being prideful as a person—but fell off balance somewhere down the line.