Sylvia Plath

          For my second post for this novel I thought I would do a little bit of research on the author of this novel, Sylvia Plath, and see what else I could find out about her. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 27, 1932 during the Great Depression. When she was 8 her father died due to complications of an amputated foot due to mistreated diabetes. This was a hard thing on her; she didn’t follow religion following this tragedy for the rest of her life. Plath attended Smith College in 1950 and excelled academically. Later she received a full scholarship to Newnham College where she continued her writing and publishing her work in the student newspaper.

           Dr. John Horder, a close friend to Plath gave her antidepressants a few days before her death because he knew she would be alone with her two kids he checked in on her everyday. He tried to get her to go to a hospital but that didn’t work, so he tried to get a in house nurse to go live with her. The day that the nurse went to the house she couldn’t get in, once they did get in however they found her dead with carbon monoxide poisoning from the stove; she put her head in the stove and sealed of the doors and windows with wet cloth so that the gas wouldn’t get to her children, she then turned on the gas in the stove and stuck her head in until she died (that’s quite horrible!). Her writing didn’t really get noticed until after she had passed away, that is the saddest part. I just wish that she could have had a little bit more time on the earth to pursue her writing career to its fullest potential.

The Bell Jar

           Out of all the four novels that we have covered throughout this course id have to say that this novel would have to be my favorite! It is a very easy read; even people who have difficulties reading would probably enjoy this. Kerri told us during the lecture classes that many people thought that Sylvia wrote this book about her own life and that Esther is actually her. So me being the nosy one had to do a little bit of research on her. I was amazed at how much the two’s lives were alike, pretty much identical. It made me think about whom might the other characters in the novel be in real life!

          I also found myself think that if she had to actually live through all of this in her real life then no wonder she went crazy; its almost as if she was chosen to live in the wrong century. If she was living now she would probably have been accepted for who she was and she would have been able to pursue her career in writing. It’s almost sad to see amazing talent like her go down the wrong path when they had so much potential! I feel so lucky and glad that I live in the time period I do, imagine being in a time when a lot of things were socially acceptable that we do now! It would not be a fun experience I believe.

          I don’t enjoy reading but I really like it when a book has the power to draw me in and make me not be able to put it down, you know that the book is good when it does that and that is exactly how this book was! Tell me when you guys think did this book do the same to you? Was it your favorite book you read all semester?

Mrs Dalloway

        I know many people have already stated this in their blog entries on this novel but this was one of the most difficult books I’ve had to read, the very specific and descriptive writing that Virginia used to write this novel wasn't of the norm. I'm used to reading easy flowing novels, nothing close to this novel. However once you got used to this novels writing style, I found it easier to follow through. But I must say reading this novel once is enough!

  I also found it hard to grasp the story line. The book is 200+ pages and its all written on one single day, that’s insane! One of the main reasons that I didn't really enjoy this novel is because of what it was about. Not many people would be interested in a middle aged woman's egotistical life whom revolved around throwing parties and making herself look good to the rest of the British upper class. I know that wasn't the point of the novel, but still, I don't enjoy people being rude and slandering someone else because of how they're of a lower class, or how she felt she had to have everything pristine in order to receive approval from her acquaintances. Maybe this is the norm for the upper classes at the time, acting as if they were interested in everyone else’s life and pretending to be happy; but for me living today in Canada I guarantee that I don’t agree I think one should be themselves and not act in false pretenses just to get the approval of someone else… but maybe that’s just me. Leave a comment about what you think below!