Sylvia Plath

Starting at the age of five, Sylvia Plath utilized the events in her life either positive or negative to inspire her constant writing, which essentially chronicled her life. Much of Sylvia's work is seen as auto biographical pieces, The Bell Jar in particular parallels her life and her many points of view. A perfectionist all throughout life, Sylvia was always geared towards success, but whenever a problem arose, it was difficult for her to handle because she was so used to everything being easy. Sylvia's novel The Bell Jar serves as an effective auto-biographical novel detailing the few high points and delving into the depression and hard-hitting struggles of her life. Plath's life can be clarified and more easily understood by comparing her works to the parallels of her life and by viewing the ideals she presented in her works.

The Plaths lived in Jamaica Plain, on the outskirts of Boston until 1935 when Sylvia's brother Warren was born and the family moved to Winthrop which was more east of Boston than Jamaica Plain. Sylvia's father Otto Plath was a very gifted man who was a professor at the acclaimed Boston University. With Warren's birth came the downfall of Otto Plath's health, being a sharp and intelligent man Otto tried to diagnose himself because he saw a friend with similar symptoms and decided he must have cancer just like him. Otto eventually died on November 5, 1940 essentially because of his own inability to realize that he may have something other than cancer. Unlike cancer, Diabetes Mellitus, Otto's actual ailment is highly treatable and his life may have had been saved if it wasn't for his stubborn ways. The Plath family changed homes once again in 1942 from Winthrop to Wellesley where Sylvia remained until the end of her high school career.

Sylvia