How Did Sylvia Plath Great Depression

The Greatest Depression of Plath

The end of World War One transitioning into the great depression would make for an unlikely time for two European descendants to birth one of the most highly influential poets of their time. October 27, 1932 would mark the day that Otto Plath and Aurelia Plath had become the parents of this astounding poet Sylvia Plath. The relationships that she would begin to form with her parents from such a young age would be a unique and complicated tale. Reflections of Sylvia’s upbringing in these unique times would be shown throughout many outlets of hers including her personal life and demeanor as well as her relationships and most of all her poetry. The works of Sylvia Plath have often been described as confessional
This close relationship would be rooted early in Sylvia’s childhood; Aurelia had begun to act as a buffer for both her children while Otto’s condition began to worsen. It had been documented that Otto had not taken the most active role in his children’s upbringing, he had old-fashioned qualities instilled that had to be the head of the home and breadwinner, leaving the housekeeping and child raising to Aurelia. Sylvia possibly felt that her mother was trying to get in-between her and really connecting with her father as Aurelia had to keep her children happy and somewhat oblivious while making sure that Otto was as well rested and relaxed as possible. In The Bell Jar I believe Sylvia captured it best her self by saying, “I may hate her, but that’s not all. I … love her too. ‘After all, as the story goes, she’s my mother” (Plath, pg 82). Through studying and learning more about Sylvia’s childhood and adolescence I personally feel that she was all to hard on her mother portraying her as a sickly person that purposely cut between her and what she believed was true happiness in her father. Within the poem “Medusa” although Medusa is a woman that with looking into her eyes turn the voyeur to stone with snakes for hair. This Amplifies that even the title is an over exaggeration of an image of Aurelia. Sylvia uses metaphors all threw this poem portraying her father as a jellyfish and quite possibly a cobra, both with similar defenses of paralyzing their enemies. Within the sixth stanza “Overexposed, like an X-ray” (31), Sylvia would hint towards her mother being transparent and that she could see right threw her and the intentions she held. Letters from home would contradict any assumptions one could make about poems seemingly tailored towards her mother. Sylvia had written roughly six hundred