Sylvia Plath's search for an identity.

• Main Author: Ng, Gina Hsaw Teng.
• Other Authors: Angela Anne Frattarola
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/36241
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This essay examines Sylvia Plath’s search for an identity with the aid of Existentialism. The works discussed in this essay includes her novel The Bell Jar, the poems “I am Vertical” and “Lady Lazarus”, her children stories “The Bed Book” and “The It-Doesn’t-Matter Suit” as well as selected entries from her journal and extracts of her letters written to her mother. Plath shows an emphasis on the importance of individuality. Her radical behaviour and thoughts contribute to her being someone who is different from what society deems as normal. Therefore, as her version of individuality does not subscribe to societal's norm, she attempts to show the reader how her version of normal is not as astounding and bizzare as what people think. An example of her radical thinking is how she sees death as something grand and peaceful, as shown in the poem “I am Vertical”. She uses the tranquil image of nature to symbolize her thoughts towards death. The essay is concluded with the idea that despite Plath’s attempts to create her own version of normalcy, she is unsuccessful. She does not show that she is happy in her journal entries. She is filled with misery. Her lack of passion towards life is shown in her entries, where her writings reveal her disinterest in life. Also, the repeated image of a rebirth in all of her works shows her great desire to be reborn as someone else, indicating her dissatisfaction with her present life.