Paper Summary:

This paper looks at male depiction in Sylvia Plath's, "The Bell Jar." It argues that Plath's work is a classic instance of an angry and troubled woman using literature as a means of "getting back" at the men in her life - most notably her husband and her father - who have let her down. The paper specifically discusses how Plath portrays men as oppressors.

From the Paper:

"To close, the preceding several pages have captured how Sylvia Plath's novel, The Bell Jar, is an unforgettable look at how the confessional genre of novel-writing can be used both as a form of therapy and as an excuse for depicting other groups in society in a fashion that may not really be consistent with the actual nature of things. But more even than all that, Sylvia Plath's depiction of men in her 1963 book is also a great example of how a writer can reveal a great deal about him or herself even as he or she pretends to write about somebody else."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Azam, Nadeem. "Ted Hughes: A Talented Murderer." Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. 1 May 2007. 1Lit.com, Inc. 22 May 2007 http://1lit.tripod.com/june2001.html
• Baldwin, Kate A. "The Radical Imaginary of the Bell Jar." Novel: A Forum on Fiction, 38.1 (2004): 21-40.
• Karmen, Andrew. "The continuing controversy surrounding the 'Rosenberg' Atom Spy case: Traitorous deviants or frame-up victims?" Perspectives on Deviance: Dominance, Degradation, and Denigration. Eds. Robert J. Kelly and Donal E.J. MacNamara. Cincinnati, Ohio: Anderson Publishing Company, 1991. 105-120.
• The Literary Dictionary Company. "Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)." The Literary Encyclopedia. N.d. Literary Dictionary Company. 22 May 2007 <http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3579>
• Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. London: William Heinemann, 1963.

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