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Josie Hopper

ENG 101-004T

Paula Boyd

8 May 2019

Making a Silk Purse from a Sow’s Ear

A sow’s ear is not a bad thing if you happen to be a sow, but it is not a good starting

point from which to make a silk purse. Being sixteen and pregnant is not a good situation to be

in but in the movie Juno, the main character finds the light in a gloomy situation. As Jeremy

Clyman Psy.D stats “Most stories of teen pregnancy are dysfunctional tales of impulsivity,

avoidance and interpersonal conflict” The fact that Juno is still in high school and trying to make

the best out of being pregnant without being hardly dysfunctional shows how hard she tried to

make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Having a sow’s ear as a purse may not be the most

pleasant situation to have but, Juno made the best out of the situation by how hard she worked

to make the best out of her situation.

The character Juno a sixteen-year-old girl finds herself in such a predicament after she

had sex with her friend Paulie Bleeker. At first, she tried to deny the pregnancy by hoping the

next pregnancy test would show a blue negative sign, but after already having the first two

tests turning positive it was looking slim, unfortunately, reality does not grant wishes. Once she

accepts the fact that she is pregnant, she is faced with the decision of what to do about her

unborn child. Even at the age of sixteen Juno is mature enough to realize and accept that she is
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not ready to be a mother. She makes the decision to end her pregnancy because she is

overwhelmed, and she views her pregnancy as a problem in her life.

Upon arriving at the abortion clinic, she runs into an acquaintance she knows from

school that is protesting abortions. The protester says to her “Your baby has fingernails” which

causes Juno to realize there is a life growing inside of her, “She assesses her problem, and

weighs her response to it, with disconcerting sang-froid.” (Scott) she stops viewing the

pregnancy from her point of view and starts seeing her pregnancy as her child. She decides she

wants to keep her child but is unsure of the situation leading up to the delivery.

Deciding to keep the child shows a lot of maturity with the responsibility of how she will

take care of her child. Juno tries to control her situation as she “orchestrates her emotions with

such coordination that she accomplishes the tasks of perspective-taking, sound analytical

thinking and witty peanut gallery commentary simultaneously” (Clyman). Throughout her

pregnancy Juno makes jokes to try and brighten up her predicament. She acts somewhat

mature for her age but making fun of her situation I feel is a state of denial because she is so

young to be pregnant. At this stage in the pregnancy with the baby daddy in astonishment over

the news and not being there with Juno as she contemplates what to do with their child. She

tries to make others laugh at her situation, to hide her sorrow about her friend Bleeker and she

does not know how he would take the news of her keeping the child.

As Juno decides to go through with the pregnancy Juno does what any high school girl

would do and discusses her situation with her best friend. Together they have the solution to

finding an adoptive family for the child, and Juno finds what she thinks is the perfect couple,

Mark and Vanessa. After finding the couple Juno decides it is time to tell her parents what is
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going on. Her parents are understanding of this tough situation and they help Juno as much as

possible.

Her parents take the pregnancy as bad news, but they do not dwell on her mistake and

they try their best to guild and support Juno through her pregnancy. As Roger Ebert mentioned

how well her parents supported her by saying “They're older and wiser than most teen parents

are ever allowed to be, and warmer and with better instincts and quicker senses of humor.” Her

parents also making light of the pregnancy can give some clues as to why Juno also makes jokes

about hard situations.

When meeting with the soon to be adoptive parents her father went along to support

and protect Juno. Upon talking about the adoption Juno feels like she truly likes this couple and

feels they will be the best people to give her child a good life; a mother and father, a beautiful

home, and most importantly love. Finally, Juno finds her silk purse, but as the film continues the

silk purse begins to unravel revealing a flaw in the design.

She finds herself getting involved in the adoptive family’s life and finds acceptance for

who she is. In a sense, Juno tries to find acceptance in Mark because she pushed Bleeker out of

the picture to not trouble him with the pregnancy saying that “It was not his idea”. We learn

that in the beginning of her life she felt abandoned by her mother, and even though her dad

and step-mother support her she feels replaced. She does not want her child to feel abandoned

as she felt. She wants her baby to have a loving home but also wants to feel accepted herself.

As Juno starts to hang out more and more with Mark and she viewed it as having a

friend, I feel that she wanted acceptance from a guy since Bleeker was not around for support.

As Juno starts calling him at school and hanging out, Mark starts to get feelings for her. In one
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scene Juno and Mark are dancing to music Juno brought over, I found something I missed after

watching the movie many times. Mark mutters under his breath “Does it feel like there’s

something between us?” as both chuckle, he then utters the fatal words “I’m leaving Vanessa”.

Mark is shocked that she does not agree with his choice. Juno wanted her child to live perfectly

with loving parents, she did not want her child’s parents to be divorced like in her childhood.

Juno cannot believe that the man she thought would be a perfect father for her child

decides that he is not ready to be a father or even a husband. Juno is now in a quandary and

feels that she has also been betrayed by Mark. Mark tells Juno that he will be leaving his wife to

pursue his “Rockstar dreams” his wife accuses him of. Vanessa fears she has lost not only her

husband, but her chance to be a mother.

Once again, Juno is faced with a difficult decision to make. She makes her decision and

sends Vanessa a note saying, “If you’re still in I’m still in”. Vanessa also needed to choose if she

still wanted to raise this baby alone or wait to raise another child with a new husband. Losing

her husband and soon after gaining a newborn child comes with many struggles. Not only did

she have a divorce to go through with her husband, but then balancing time between her job

and raising her adoptive newborn child. That night after she drops off the note Juno goes into

labor and delivers Vanessa’s baby. Vanessa finally can hold her child and becomes a single

mother, full of love and devotion to her new child. Juno and the child’s biological father Paulie

start dating again but choose to take their relationship slowly this time.

By making many difficult decisions with a maturity far beyond her years Juno

successfully turned her personal sow’s ear into a silk purse for her child, Vanessa and herself.

Juno can now spend her summer becoming closer with Paulie Bleeker and Vanessa finally has a
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child that she can call her own. In the end, they all got what they wanted. It may have started as

a gloomy situation, but it turned into so much more.

“I honor Parkland’s core values by affirming that I have followed all academic integrity

guidelines for this work.”

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Works Cited

Clyman, Jeremy, Psy. D. "Why We Love Juno." Psychology Today. Suu] ssex Publishers LLC,

04 Feb. 2010. Web. 06 Oct. 2017.

Scott, A. O. "Seeking Mr. and Mrs. Right for a Baby on the Way." The New York Times. The

New York Times, 04 Dec. 2007. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.

Ebert, Roger. "Juno Movie Review & Film Summary (2007) | Roger Ebert." RogerEbert.com.

Ebert Digital LLC, 13 Dec. 2007. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.

Juno. Dir. Jason Reitman. By Diablo Cody. Perf. Ellen Page and Michael Cera. Fox Searchlight

Pictures, 2007. DVD.