Sylvia Plath: Slanting the Scale of Misery
It is often the dismal and gloomy poems that compel us as readers to wonder what
was occurring in the poet’s mind, rather than the rhymes of flowers and sunshine. Poems
about despair and sadness induce our own emotions and generate speculation as to how
such negative thoughts transfer from one’s own mind to the paper, maintaining their
sense of torment. Sylvia Plath’s inner suffering is effectively conveyed by way of her
disturbing images and noticeable language. To communicate her private pain, she uses a
mass event, the Holocaust, as her own expression and by doing so she is robbing the true
victims of this historically tragic event for her personal representation.
Plath is a Massachusetts native who sustained an exterior perfection throughout
her childhood and into her early years at Smith College. However, the death of her father
years before seemed to hold lasting distress upon her and a few years into her college
career she attempted to commit suicide, which proved to be only the start of her
emotional trepidations. After college, she married the English poet, Ted Hughes, with
whom she moved back and forth from London to Massachusetts and eventually had two
children. After suspicions of infidelity their unstable marriage came to an end. Plath
remained in London with her children where she continued writing. Ultimately, during
one of the coldest winters on record, her loneliness overcame her ambition and Sylvia
Plath killed herself. It was a tragic end to an even more tragically forlorn life, but she left
the world with admirable literary works to remember her by. (www.sylviaplath.info)
Plath’s poems are recognized for their personally honest annotations of he...
... middle of paper ...
...lved in the Holocaust. To say that Sylvia Plath is a
Holocaust writer is incorrect. To say that she attempted to compare her sorrows to that of
years of severe suffering by millions accurate. To say that Sylvia Plath’s comparison is
shocking and offensive is correct.
Works Cited
Kutner, Bob. "Bob Kutner: Lamp Shade Made Out of Skin." Holocaust Memorial Day.
26 Nov. 2007
_kutner/lamp_shade_made_out_of_skin.htm>.
Olidort, Shoshana. "Sylvia Plath and the Holocaust." The Commentator. 22 Nov. 2005.
26 Nov. 2007
Culture/Sylvia.Plath.And.The.Holocaust-1058400-page2.shtml>.
Steinberg, Peter K. "A Celebration, This Is." Biography. 5 Nov. 2002. 26 Nov. 2007
.
In the short story “Initiation” author Sylvia Plath suggests that conformity, although the societal norm, is not always as grand as it is made out to be, while also suggesting that even though conformity typically hinders one’s self growth, there are times when the fear of conforming can make one’s sense of self stronger. These two ideas together show that Plath uses this short story to convey the message that even though conformity is not inherently a positive thing, it can drive a person to look in on themselves and develop a unique identity. Plath uses symbolism, and character introspection to assert this idea.
she’d never actually attempted suicide. While she was using antidepressants, however, she attempted suicide twice and her habit of self-harm increased.
The novel ends very abruptly. That is why it is difficult to say whether the suicide is an act of desperation or to show the society that she is ready to die for her beliefs.
when she went to a Catholic convent school but then left at the age of
Many authors fraudulently claim a piece of history as their own stories in order gain popularity. This is the case with many Holocaust memoirs. Authors turn history and facts into a fictional playing field, which they believe they can use to tell their “stories.” Although the Holocaust was a very serious, dramatic, and depressing time in history, certain authors see it as a way to grasp an audience’s attention. The authors tell a story of their lives transforming from despair to happiness; however, in order to keep this type of work from being seen as a cliché, in which everything turns out perfectly in the end, they attach dates, places, and facts. Misha Defonseca took advantage of the Holocaust’s shocking tales by creating her own fake memoir called Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years. The factual truth of these events does matter because the truth aspect of the memoir is what gives it its extra meaning and importance, so without the truth, such a story loses some value.
• This experience made her very secluded and reserved. She thought a lot about suicide but found comfort in writing. She became an observer rather than a participator in everyday life.
... to the role of being a wife and mother to a family, who did not ever cause any pain or trouble? Sadly, the woman felt her marriage was weighing pressure on her, and her only resolution was to take her own life; abandoning her husband and son.
I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.
Anne Frank was a young girl who suffered and just had a hard life. She was 13 years old girl who had to go into hiding. Some Jews had to go into hiding or they had to go to a concentration camp. Jews were treated badly back in time. If you were a jew and you were seen the Nazis’ would take you away to a concentration camp to work. But sometimes you could be killed in a gas chamber, or killed from a disease or die from starvation. Anne for her birthday got a journal from her father Otto Frank. And she wrote in it every day. A few months after she started writing in the journal someone had called the Nazis’ the Anne was in hiding. The Nazis’ come and took the Franks’, Van Daans’, and Mr. Dussel. When she was leaving for the concentration camp her dropped her journal. Miep found it and kept it until Anne came back. Miep wanted to keep until Anne came back but in the end Anne dies and Miep gives the journal to Anne’s father Otto Frank. A quote from Anne’s journal was “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart”, I agree with her statement.
Through college she dated many boys and had a serious relationship with Dick Norton. However she developed depression and often thought about suicide.
In American culture, suicide and depression is considered to be one of the darkest taboos. It has the particular quality of being both enticing yet foul. Although suicide and depression are seen as dark, and disturbing, both have made many people famous. Sylvia Plath, on of the most renowned 20th century poetess, is one of them. Plath used many of her poems as ways to cope with her depression and suicide based on certain life events. Plath’s poems such as, “Daddy”, “Tulips”, and “Lady Lazarus” were influenced by life events which later gave people insight to Plath’s suicide at the age of 30. Plath’s difficult life events also caused her to write her most successful poems.
... in the beginning was brutally ended by what she thought was her only option- suicide.
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It [penis envy] is to be interpreted as a defensive protecting the woman from the political, economic, social, and cultural condition that is hers at the same time that it prevents from contributing effectively to the transformation of allotted fate. “Penis envy” translates woman’s resentment and jealousy at being deprived the advantages …“autonomy”, “freedom”, “power”, and so on; … it also expresses her resentment at having been largely excluded, as she has been for centuries, from political, social, and cultural responsibilities. (51)
She grew up alone, as her brothers ran away, living each day tormented by her thoughts and her family’s past. Her family’s past haunted her