Anne Sexton Her Kind Analysis

The poetic artwork, “Her Kind,” of Anne Sexton is the author’s confessional, with a purpose of allowing female readers an awareness to the knowledge that they are not alone in a male dominated society. A birth of an artist, a premonition of sorts, Sexton’s psychiatrist, Orne, tells her that her poetry allows people to feel that “there’s somebody else like [her and] they wouldn’t feel alone” (Perez 25). Sexton is a woman who wears many masks in her personal life and this mimics the masks of the women within “Her Kind”. It is not a great wonder, taking Sexton’s personal life into account, how she is capable of relating to a witch, a housewife, and a martyr.

Anne Sexton’s personal life is a mirror image of the narrator in “Her Kind,” as the author

Sexton, herself an alcoholic, comes from an “unhappy childhood with an alcoholic father who perhaps sexually abused her” (Smelstor 1). Additionally, Sexton’s mother is also known to be abusive to the author as a youth. To add insult to injury, Sexton’s husband, Alfred, “physically attacks her on numerous occasions” (Smelstor 1). Soon after a dear friend to Sexton passes away, “she becomes involved in an affair with her new therapist,” Ollie Zweitung, which is yet another deceit from someone who is supposed to look out for her best interests (Johnson, “Biography”). These discoveries on the author’s life leave no room for one to wonder why Sexton struggles with a desire to abandon her role as a housewife and live for herself. Perhaps Sexton’s obvious bias towards women who grant themselves independence from the expectations of society, comes from the “only person who provides unconditional love” to her, Anna Dingley, Sexton’s great-aunt. Anna is well-traveled and a professional writer whom “despite her full life, plays the family spinster” (Johnson, “Biography”). Dingley “provides Sexton’s greatest family affection,” so it is no wonder that Sexton looks up to her and is infuriated with the label society places upon her, as a readers of “Her Kind” are capable of interpreting (Johnson, “Biography”). Dingley is the epitome of the martyr in

Even with an extremely successful career, Sexton finds herself “isolated and afraid” as she abandons each member of her family and friends, leaving her to face the judgmental world all alone (Smelstor 3). Oftentimes, Sexton escapes the “pain of her life” with “frequent love affairs” in her “search of closeness and security” but fails at her attempt (Perez 29). As Sexton refuses the demands of society, much like the martyr, she faces her death “with dignity and deliberation” as she grabs a glass of vodka, “steps into her car, turns on the ignition… and awaits the end of her life” (Smelstor 3) Her death will not be in vain, as many women can benefit from Sexton’s artistic work, which gives “women the courage to think about their own lives honestly and courageously, much like the martyr in the final stanza (Johnson, “Works”