Plath

’s The Bell Jar And Daddy In Relation To Her Life Essay, Research Paper

Sylvia Plath+s complex relationship with her father is revealed through imagery used in her writings including the poem and book “Daddy” and The Bell Jar. Plath developed as a writer with an individual style. She used diction, in her writings, which give the reader a very distinct understanding of what she is trying to imply. Plath, also, sets a tone in her writing that is very distinct amongst other writings. Her style, diction, and tone are seen clearly in “Daddy” and The Bell Jar. The imagery used within “Daddy” and The Bell Jar help the reading to understand and envision what Plath is attempting to express. This imagery expresses Plath+s complex relationship with her father and his influence on her writing. Although Plath does not name herself as the character portrayed in “Daddy” and The Bell Jar, she reveals her thoughts on subjects that relate to her life. Within the two texts, Plath reveals much about her most inner feelings about life, death, and her father. Plath seems to reveal her true psychological state and all of her personal suffering through her imagery in “Daddy” and The Bell Jar. Plath stands apart from other writers because she addresses the issues facing her own personal life. She seems to give the reader insight to her own feelings of confusion, frustration, paranoid and fear. This amongst other elements helps the reader to see Plath as a person and a poet/ author.

Along with Sylvia Plath+s complex relationship with her father she must also deal with the issues of being a women in her time period. Sylvia Plath is a writer that expresses her feelings of being a woman and a daughter through her use of imagery and supported by her style, diction and tone. Plath shows herself as a woman by writing about the dilemma in choosing between a career and family. She shows herself as a daughter by writing about the death of her father. These two central themes are the basis for “Daddy” and The Bell Jar, and are seen as Plath+s weakness. John Malcolm Brinnin states that “Plath+s strength is her weakness; impulses that individuate her thrilling talent are the same impulses that shirk the limits of a commanding achievement. “(Brinnin pg.269). This quote shows the reader that Plath expresses through her true feelings and weaknesses, which in turn made her a strong writer. Plath used an informal style in her writing that helps reader to see her characters as individuals, and express to the reader her true feelings. The diction Plath used helps the reader to sense and imagine just what she is trying to imply. Her word choice serves as an important element for emphasizes on certain aspects of her writing. Plath+s tone seems to be generally cynical, angry and abandoned. Her imagery, style, diction, and tone distinguish Plath amongst other writers.

” For reasons good and bad, the spokesmen for the sensibility of extreme gestures- all the blackness, confusion, denial, and laceration that are warranted by both modern experience and the moral bromides of this moment see in Sylvia Plath an authentic priestess. Because she is authentic ” (Howe, pg.271).

Irving Howe is supporting, in this quote, that Plath is genuine in her manner of writing.

Sylvia Plath+s use of style, diction, and tone in “Daddy” does not go astray from her recurrent usage of each, while she shows the reader the complex relationship with herself and her father. In “Daddy”, Plath has an informal style that helps the reader relate to her character on a personal level. Despite the fact that the reader may not have had such feelings toward their father, as Plath does, one can still relate with the universal feeling of confusion and despair that she invokes. Plath writes, in “Daddy”, “Daddy, I have had to kill you ” (6), this quote shows Plath+s use of informal language to get the reader to feel intimate with her and her thoughts. This I all done by simply using the name “daddy” as opposed to father. Irving Howe supports the idea of Plath+s use of informality when he tells readers:

“Sylvia Plath herself, has abandoned the sense of an audience and cares nothing about indeed, is hardly aware of- the presence of anyone but herself.” (Howe pg. 270)

The diction used in “Daddy” helps the reader to understand what Plath is trying to imply. In the quote “And your Aryan eye, bright blue, Panzer-man, Panzer-man, O You” the repetition of words give the reader an understanding of how Plath thinks about her father, because of emphasize on the word Panzer-man. Her choice of words helps the reader to see what she is feeling. Plath+s distinguishing tone is seen in the quote “There+s a stake in your fat black heart”. The tone of this quote is very cynical, angry and abandoned, in that it shows the division between Plath and her father. Richard Howard supports this in his description of Plath+s writing.

“She prefers, though, to make you hear what she sees, the texture of language affording a kind of analogue for the experience she presents we grasp what it is she wishes us to know because of the way we hear it.” (Howard, pg.349)

In The Bell Jar, Plath uses her common style, diction and tone to tell a story that is very similar to her own home life. The informal style used in The Bell Jar is shown through Plath writing in the first person. Plath offers her readers genuine insight into Ester+s (