Desmond Made Her Tragedy

Leigh Silverton writes about the “Sunset Boulevard” plot from the color of her agenda, not from the plot (“All Things Are Not Equal in ‘Sunset,’ ” April 11). She calls Norma Desmond a “mature woman” who is struggling with gaining a “modicum of respectability” and isn’t being “taken seriously into midlife.”

Oh, please!

Desmond is not a tragic figure of the prejudice against middle-aged women--she is a tragic figure of herself! She never grew and developed herself to face a rapidly changing industry. She never developed her personal life to include intimates and family. Her myopic narcissism kept her brief experience with success the focal point of her universe.

LAURA C. SCHLESSINGER

KFI-AM Radio 640

Los Angeles