For example, one can use her strict, very serious father or can even use her husband Ted Hughes. In 1962, Hughes left Plath for another woman. She goes by the name Assia Gutmann Wevill. “Sylvia faced the fact of Hughes's infidelity, expressing herself through increasingly angry--and powerful--poems.” (Two Views on Sylvia Plath’s Life and Career). Later on that year, Sylvia then entered another severe depression, which led her to one of her most famous books, Ariel then followed by The Bell Jar (Academy of American Poets). The Bell Jar was influenced by J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye. (Two views on Sylvia Plath’s Life and Career). Many people believe that she wrote it based on her previous experience and what she went through in life. On February 11th, it is said that Plath, wrote a note to her downstairs neighbor informing him to call the doctor. Then she was found dead because she committed suicide with cooking gas from her oven. (Academy of American …show more content…
Although Plath didn’t use her specific name or other people’s names that she was associated with during her lifetime, one can obviously reflect it on her life. Ester Greenwood is the protagonist in this novel. Ester becomes mentally unstable because of the death of her father, who use to torment her as well as not fitting into the category of womanhood. So she attempted to commit suicide as a form of escape from life. The novel clearly displays Plath’s own experience I her life and how she experienced clinical depression, suicide attempts and psychiatric treatment. “As The Bell Jar vividly describes, 1950s America was an unbelievably stultifying and oppressive environment in which to grow up--particularly for women. The limitations imposed by sexism stymied Plath's talent at every turn.” (Trapped in The Bell Jar). Many of her readers happened to be woman. They viewed Plath’s life and death as a symbol. A symbol in which she informed woman that they can stand their own ground. Plath was a very political and social human being. In other words, Plath was a feminist. Her life was often overshadowed by her husband Ted Hughes. Many readers looked to Plath as the woman who gave the feminist movement a whole other meaning. Many people use to ask Plath how she could dare write about the things she did without the fear of criticism and thoughts of others who would read her