The main genre of her writings was confession based. One of her most famous books of hers is “The Bell Jar.” It is a semi autobiography.
Sylvia Plath is an American author and Poet. She has served among one of the best authors of the 20th Century in literature. She has written many confession poetries. The main genre of her writings was confession based. One of her most famous books of hers is “The Bell Jar.” It is a semi autobiography.
Key Highlights of Book “The Bell Jar”
“There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room. It’s like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction-every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it’s really you getting smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier, rushing away from all those lights and excitement at about a million miles an hour.”
Explanation: Sylvia Plath in this statement narrates the pain of being alone. She states that it feels demoralizing to see two people caring and loving each other this, feeling pain in her era where she is alone.
“Look what can happen in this country, they’d say. A girl lives in some out-of-the-way town for nineteen years, so poor she can’t afford a magazine, and then she gets a scholarship to college and wins a prize here and a prize there and ends up steering New York like her own private car.”
Explanation: In this quote, Sylvia is a person who is numb, has no self control. She express that she is just moving and moving with no aim like a bus without a driver.
“That’s one of the reasons I never wanted to get married. The last thing I wanted was infinite security and to be the place an arrow shoots off from. I wanted change and excitement and to shoot off in all directions myself, like the colored arrows from a Fourth of July rocket.”
Explanation: This quotation states that the author doesn’t want to get married and the reason behind that is freedom at an individual level, self exploration and being with one’s own identity.
“I wondered why I couldn’t go the whole way doing what I should any more. This made me sad and tired. Then I wondered why I couldn’t go the whole way doing what I shouldn’t, the way Doreen did, and this made me even sadder and more tired.”
Explanation: The character Esther spoke these words. It states the social expectations on women and emotional instability caused by it.
