A Psychoanalysis

There are striking similarities between Edith "Piaf" Gassion and Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, the most interesting being their affinity for stretching the truth. Margaret Crosland, author of the biography Piaf, chalks it up to Edith's enjoyment of "drama" and her delight to "keep up the fiction" (18). This statement is unfair to a woman who survived abandonment, homelessness, the death of a daughter and a lover, addiction, and the list goes on. Crosland says that Piaf was "a true child of Sagittarius, spending her life in moving from one crisis to another" (18). While tragedy and adversity was their muse, it is doubtful that either Chanel or Piaf sought it out for the "drama" of it all. Undoubtably, the two fabricated much of their humble beginnings. Chanel covered her abandonment with stories of an imaginarily sweet father; Piaf acted similarly in the face of tragedy. Rather than considering these stories a dramatic flare, consider them a testament to two women self-medicating by lying to themselves and others. As hopeful doctor and current intro to psychology student, it is interesting to analyze why Piaf felt the need to misrepresent those formative years of her life. Piaf was abandoned by a mother who valued personal adventure over the life of her daughter. In Tempo de Java we see that the apple did not fall too far from the tree as Piaf abandoned her own daughter--albeit for a much shorter time and she left the daughter with a friend for care. Piaf once fabricated a story that she had run away from Louis Dupont with the Legionnaire Albert and her baby girl Marcelle. She included that the only reason she return to Louis was because he stole Marcelle one evening and left a message that she must return if she wanted to see her daughter again. Her fictitious self gave up the lover for her daughter. This story, though false, speaks volumes. Essentially Piaf is using this fabrication therapeutically to come to terms with her own abandonment; Piaf is saying that she would give up anything for her daughter, even love, something that her own mother would not do. After her daughter's death, Piaf claimed that she prostituted herself for some quick cash to pay for the funeral. While this too may have been made up, she is willing to tarnish her reputation to prove that she was a good mother.