We need to talk about Sylvia Plath

If you know me, you know I love Sylvia Plath. That’s not an unpopular opinion by any means — the world loves Sylvia Plath. We love Sylvia Plath so much that it feels like her name is talked about more than her works.

Is Plath’s legacy one of great literature, or is she destined to be the internet’s favorite historic sad girl?

The life of Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1940, her father abruptly died, and her family moved inland to Wellesley, Massachusetts. Her mom taught advanced secretarial studies at Boston University.

While she was still a teenager, Plath won numerous awards and had her stories and poems published in national magazines. She continued to gain recognition for her writing once she began attending Smith College for her undergraduate degree, but it was also during that time that she began to develop severe depression.

Much of Plath’s writing describes her mental health struggles.

She was 20 years old when she first attempted to take her own life. She survived the attempt and was treated with electroshock therapy. Electroshock therapy is still used today,

but it looks much different — a lot safer — than it did in the 1950s.

After her recovery, Plath continued her education and even studied abroad at Cambridge University, where she met her husband, Ted Hughes. They married in 1956 and had two kids together.

Their marriage has been described as intense, tumultuous, and tragic. Recovered letters by Plath describe Hughes as abusive. At the end of his life, Hughes released a series of poems about Plath, which painted her as a powerful yet troubled woman.

Hughes had an affair in the summer of 1962, which ultimately led to his and Plath’s separation. It was only a few months later that Plath ended her own life in February 1963.

Live footage of me reading The Bell Jar

In her life, Plath published many poems, a book of poems titled “The Colossus,” and a fiction book, which is highly inspired by her own experiences, “The Bell Jar.”

I love the bell jar, by the way.

“The Bell Jar” was published only a few months before her death. A poetry book titled “Ariel” was published just after her passing. Because both works talk a lot about her depression, it was difficult for critics to separate their opinions of the work from the tragic event.

Nowadays, Plath’s death is used as a pop culture reference. Her name is intrinsically linked to that story.

The controversies of Sylvia Plath

Plath is beloved by many literary critics, and also by sad girls on Tumblr who see themselves in her tragic femininity. However, she’s not an innocent figure by any means.

She is most criticized for using racist imagery and comparisons in her work. For example, in The Bell Jar when protagonist Esther Greenwood uses phonetic stereotypes to describe her black nurse's dialogue. Plath also has a poem titled "Daddy" where she refers to her father as a Nazi and herself as a Jewish victim.

Many fans overlook these issues while praising her work for its brave feminist takes. The “picking and choosing” of which problems to support comes across as tone deaf to critics. In a way, she has become the pillar of white feminism.

I think it’s often hard for people to really resonate with one aspect of a person — for Plath, it’s her relationship with her role as a woman and how that affects her mental health — without acknowledging the faults in other aspects of that person. We like to be fans of things as a whole, which can be really difficult in the case of someone as polarizing as Plath.

I love Sylvia Plath. She is one of my favorite authors and is a large influence on my own writing style. I also don’t support the racist things she’s said — like I really, really don’t support it or excuse it in the slightest.

I think both of these things can be simultaneously true, but her most vocal fans don’t share that view. Their constant defense of her worst actions paints her in an even worse light … a femcel light!

Conclusion part

Over the years, Sylvia Plath has become more than a writer. She is a cultural icon. She is a lifestyle. She is crazy, she is sad, she hates men, she thinks deeply — a thought daughter. But is that what Sylvia Plath actually stood for? And does this overshadow the things she actually wrote in her lifetime?

I would love to hear from you guys on this subject! Let me know your thoughts and perception of Sylvia Plath!