Freedom and Autonomy

The author traces Lee Miller’s life from childhood through old age in order to capture her lifelong search for freedom and autonomy. In each chapter of the biography, Penrose focuses on a distinct era of Lee’s life. While each era was defined by different places, relationships, and preoccupations, each era had one commonality: Lee was always attempting to liberate herself. At the start of the biography, Penrose identifies the source of Lee’s desire for freedom as her innately boisterous, curious, and rebellious spirit. Her nature, he goes on to argue, granted her freedoms that her contemporaries were not often familiar with. For example, in Chapter 2, Penrose asserts that “Lee was more successful than most in upholding” the principle “of free love” (22). She did not allow loyalty “to a current lover to conflict with her sexual desires” (22). This sense of freedom also extended to...