Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar Analysis
Sylvia Plath (1932 – 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. She studied at Smith College and Newnham College at the University of Cambridge. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes and had two children with him. Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life and she died after committing suicide in 1963. She used to openly discuss her depression with the poet Robert Lowell and her suicide attempts with Anne Sexton. Both of them led her to write from a more female perspective. Her death still remains a topic of interest as she had taken a very strange route to die-she had turned on the gas and put her head in the oven. Plath was famous for writing in the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her …show more content…
It chronicles the life of Esther Greenwood who wins a chance to be a guest student editor in a fashion magazine in New York but finally finds herself plunged into a nightmare. It reflects Plath’s own descent to a schizophrenic hell. It may be termed as a critique of psychiatry where shock therapies of Dr. Gordon do nothing more than traumatize her. Esther becomes an alienated being and her sense of alienation from the world comes from the social expectations placed on her as a young woman of 1950s America. Esther dangles between her desire to write and the pressure she feels to settle down and start a family. She longs for adventures that the society denies to her. As a result of these constraints that she feels Esther has a mental breakdown and ends up trying to commit suicide not once but several times and in one instance almost succeeding. Later on she recovers through the help, support and medications of the psychiatrist Dr. …show more content…
The Bluest Eye tells the story of an eleven year old black girl, Pecola Breedlove, desires blue eyes because she sees herself as ugly and believes that by having blue eyes she will represent the white standards of beauty and it will also ensure that she receives love, care and support from others. The Bluest Eye is thus a very powerful study of how African-American families and particularly women are affected by racism and consequent sexual and mental abuse and how these women dwindle into madness. Morrison’s work is powerfully engaged with questions of history, memory and
Dorothy Parker's Poem 'Symptom Recital'
700 Words | 3 PagesIn Dorothy Parker’s poem “Symptom Recital” she states, “My soul is crushed, my spirit sore; I do not like me anymore” (15-16). Dorothy Parker, the wittiest woman in America, captures her audiences with poems expressing her opinion about life’s hardships. Throughout Dorothy’s disordered life, she was married three times, attempted suicide, and had an abortion. Her lifestyle was very influential on her writing.
The Gathering Of Old Men Analysis
1343 Words | 6 PagesIn The Gathering of Old Men, by Ernest J. Gaines, and The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, the authors follow the story of different black communities and how they are affected by oppression. In The Gathering of Old Men a white man, Beau, is found dead in a black man’s yard, Mathu. Mathu’s ‘daughter’ brings together all of the black men in the surrounding neighborhoods to say that they were the ones who shot Beau. In The Bluest Eye a black child, Pecola, is oppressed in many ways throughout the story and near the end is raped by her father. The most substantial part of the story however, is afterwards and how she eventually becomes insane from the onslaught of oppression she faced.
The Bell Jar Literary Analysis
2111 Words | 9 PagesBefore one understands how Plath's experiences were influential upon her writing, it is crucial to know about her as an individual. Plath, born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, on October 27th of 1932, was the daughter of Aurelia and Otto Plath (“The Bell”). Given her time period, Plath showed great success in comparison to her peers; for example, she received various scholarships for her writing abilities and “won first prize for fiction from Mademoiselle” (Materer). Growing up, she possessed a strong passion for writing poetry, that love became stronger once diagnosed with depression. In college Plath met a guy by the name of Ted Hughes.
The Yellow Wallpaper Point Of View Analysis
814 Words | 4 PagesHow she describes her surroundings and her interactions with her family evolves as her condition worsens. By the end, the reader can truly see just how far gone the narrator has gone. The narrator’s fixation on the yellow wallpaper had gone from a slight obsession to full mental breakdown. As it is with most good stories, the presence of strong symbolism and detailed settings is a very important aspect of the story that helps to draw the reader into the story.
Depression In The Bell Jar
1345 Words | 6 Pages“The last thing I wanted was infinite security…I wanted change and excitement and to shoot off in all directions myself” (83). Having the great expectation to do what most other women have done was crushing to Esther and played a great part in her struggle with depression. When she meets Dr. Nolan, a woman who’s gone against those expectations, Esther begins to show signs of fighting back against her psyche. The remainder
Rhetorical Devices In The Bluest Eye
1648 Words | 7 PagesRhetorical Analysis Essay The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison takes place in Ohio in the 1940s. The novel is written from the perspective of African Americans and how they view themselves. Focusing on identity, Morrison uses rhetorical devices such as imagery, dictation, and symbolism to help stress her point of view on identity. In the novel the author argues that society influences an individual 's perception on beauty, which she supports through characters like Pecola and Mrs. Breedlove.
Symbolism In The Bluest Eye
1647 Words | 7 PagesIn The Bluest Eye, Morrison offers multiple perspectives to help explain the intensity of racism and what it means to be oppressed and degraded in society. Through the eyes of various characters, readers are taken on a journey during the 1940s to demonstrate how each black character copes with the unfair standards and beliefs that society has. While some of the characters internalize self-hatred and have the desire to be someone else, others do not wish to change themselves to fit into the societal standards. Throughout the novel, there are clear and distinct remarks that are made to help distinguish the difference between white characters and black characters which is quite crucial. Morrison uses dirt and cleanliness to symbolize how society
Goddess Of Athena Research Paper
1030 Words | 5 PagesAfter all, she’s the goddess of wisdom and cleverness, all the things that I value most in my companions and acquaintances. All the things that I have wanted to know. So I asked questions around, to my father and my aunt, to Google and friends. Why are clouds white and cotton-like? What caused Sylvia Plath to commit suicide in such a way?
Analysis Of The Bell Jar
1021 Words | 5 Pages(Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar). She sees death as a beautiful thing therefore, she is blinded by the beauty of death, to see the beauty of life. She had failed in life, because she stopped trying, or she never tried at
Identity In The Bluest Eye
835 Words | 4 PagesMorrison 's first novel, The Bluest Eye, examines the tragic effects of imposing white, middle-class American ideals of beauty on the developing female identity of a young African American girl during the early 1940s. Inspired by a conversation Morrison once had with an elementary school classmate who wished for blue eyes, the novel poignantly shows the psychological devastation of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who searches for love and acceptance in a world that denies and devalues people of her own race. As her mental state slowly unravels, Pecola hopelessly longs to possess the conventional American standards of feminine beauty—namely, white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes—as presented to her by the popular icons and traditions of white culture. Written as a fragmented narrative from multiple perspectives and with significant typographical deviations, The Bluest Eye juxtaposes passages from the Dick-and-Jane grammar school primer with memories and stories of Pecola 's life alternately told in retrospect by one of Pecola 's now-grown childhood friends and by an omniscient narrator. Published in the midst of the Black Arts movement that flourished during the late 1960s and early 1970s, The Bluest Eye has attracted
Critical Analysis Of The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath
1755 Words | 8 PagesThe Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a semi-autobiographical novel in which Plath relays her own experiences through protagonist Esther Greenwood by highlighting the struggles she faced in navigating societal expectations, depression, and her own desires. Having spent time in college and later in multiple mental health institutions, Plath tells her story through Esther in a way that blends fiction and reality. Through Esther, we see Plath’s own interpretations of her triumphs, failures, values, and the slow but seemingly inevitable diminishment of her mental health. The story starts with Esther Greenwood in New York City, where she is spending a month working at a magazine because she won a scholarship to a special summer program for female writers.
Traumatic Events In Sylvia Plath's Life
2095 Words | 9 PagesFrom the age of eight until her death, Sylvia Plath struggled with mental illness. Along with frequent therapy visits, she wrote poetry to reflect the many events in her life. She wrote about everything, from the things that brought her great joy to the things that drove her to attempt suicide. One recurring topic of her poems is her father, Otto Plath, who she adored until he died of undiagnosed diabetes when she was eight. This event sparked a lifetime of depression and anger towards her father.
Theme Of Double Consciousness In The Bluest Eye
1542 Words | 7 PagesToni Morrison, the first black women Nobel Prize winner, in her first novel, The Bluest Eye depicts the tragic condition of the blacks in racist America. It examines how the ideologies perpetuated by the dominant groups and adopted by the marginal groups influence the identity of the black women. Through the depictions of white beauty icons, Morrison’s black characters lose themselves to self-hatred. They try to obliterate their heritage, and eventually like Pecola Breedlove, the child protagonist, who yearns for blue eyes, has no recourse except madness. This assignment focusses on double consciousness and its devastating effects on Pecola.
Adrienne Rich Research Paper
2015 Words | 9 PagesHer death is tragic because she was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, and she changed the way people perceive things as a society. She pulled people closer together and essentially made the world a better place while doing
Feminism In Sylvia Plath's Poetry
922 Words | 4 PagesSylvia Plath is considered to be one of the most significant female poets known not only to Americans but also to the whole world. Her death in 1963, followed by an unfortunate and short life did not end her input and influence inliterature, she became an icon to the female literary society. Sylvia's outstanding style of writing and themes which she portrayed in her works such as death, seeking for an identity or oppression on women in a patriarchal society began the feminist movementin America and changed the role of women. This topic is of a great importance because they way that Sylvia Plath was expressing her feelings and showing her negative view on a patriarchal society and oppression on women was a giant leap in the world of a women's liberation movement.
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