Here are a couple other reasons to consider. The content of many of Plath's poems plays on rich and specific raw emotions. She did this through crafting specific images and symbols with carefully chosen words and figures of speech. Generally choosing everyday experiences and items to write about, she did indeed write about some of the pain in her life including the "The Jailer" about her husband Ted Hughes who had cheated on her, and "Daddy" about her father who abused her. These topic choices come from truthful circumstances, but readers generally really sympathize with Plath because of her suicide and what led her to it.
I have chosen to research Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keefe because they are very inspiring women artists. Frida Kahlo pushed the boundaries of what was expected from a traditional Latin American female artist. She led a life full of emotional and physical pain. From an early diagnosis of polio, to a life altering bus accident, to a marriage riddled with infidelities, Frida's often-difficult life was the inspiration for her art. Her exploration of herself and the world she lived in broke social norms, artistically, and politically, causing both outrage and awe from those who viewed her paintings.
From studying the unique poetry of Plath, I found it intense, deeply personal and somewhat disturbing as she wrote about the horrors of depression with ruthless honesty. Her poetry is personal in that she talks about a taboo subject that wasn't acknowledged during her lifetime and in a way it made her poems brilliantly intense.This can be seen most clearly in ‘Child’, ‘Elm’, ‘Poppies in July’ and also ‘Mirror’. ‘Elm’s’ tone is insanely intense, dark and plain miserable and this makes the reader feel immensely disturbed. It is clear from reading Plath’s work that she was in a dark hole, willing to escape. ‘Elm’ finished with the disturbing line “That kill, that kill, that kill”We can see through her callous honesty and the unsettling atmosphere that she is tormented when she says “Till your head is a stone, your pillow a little turf”.
In addition, she portrays similar tones such as desperation and mournfulness. In fact, in lines 30 to 24 her tone is at it’s most somber state as she expresses her guilt for being a bad mother to her “child” and believes she has not sent this child away prepared for the world’s cruel criticism. Furthermore, the diction is a device that coincides with the tone of the poem. Her choice of words all share a very strong connotation. As previously mentioned she uses the words ill formed and feeble to describe her unfinished writing’s fragility.
Melinda Sordino was greatly affected by this incident. It disturbed her emotionally, physically and mentally. In just several months she transformed from a brilliant, lively girl, to a depressed and dismal being. Melinda seemed distressed of the fact that she no longer had friends. She would become desperate making friends with people completely different from herself.
“Could death and decay be growing where the child had grew so soon after?” Throughout Beverley Farmer’s “ Collected stories” readers are presented with raw emotions and the depths of human thought. Farmer simplistically contrasts both the radiating goodness and unbearable brutality of life in her stories “Inheritance”, “A Woman in a Mirror” and “A Woman with Black Hair”. Her female protagonists are confronted with death, illness and rape but deny their feelings of isolation and emotional displacement and instead are prompted to delve into the depths of their inner self. As the characters question their identity amid crisis and embittered memories, the stories progress to a climax in which a decision is made about the future. Farmer highlights the inner resilience of her characters as they come to realise their place in the world.
Women tend to stay to themselves and handle the situation privately. Some may even not know that they are experiencing symptoms of postpartum depression. I know that for a while it took a long time, like other women, to notice that there was something wrong with the way that I was treating my spouse, friends, and strangers. Many women as myself wonder what are the symptoms that women feel when they are in depression. Studies show that women feel very sad, hopeless, and empty.
Frida Kahlo and Jean-Michel Basquiat were raised in a similar society with alcohol and tragedy influencing their actions and artworks. They both interpret their emotions and experiences into their pieces. Both artists reflected in themselves into their artwork. Frida interpreted her struggle through life such as her physical pain from an accident during her teenaged youth which resulted in a fractured spine in three places, fractured pelvis, a dislocated shoulder, two broken ribs and broken bones in her right leg and foot, and Basquiat displayed his struggle of being poor. One of Kahlo’s famous paintings, ‘The Two Fridas’, was created in 1939.
Brooks shows us that the plague causes many to suffer not only physically however mentally and emotionally as well. Before Anna could “mourn the (people) that (she) loved, another (person) was ill in her arms”. This caused Anna to come to a point in her life where she could either sink or swim and Anna decided to sink. Anna decided to be cruel to herself and turned to poppies, even though it did relieve her pain then, she suffered much more later. Not only did people suffer from the plague and what it brings, however people suffered from their own personal upbringing.
She highlights through imagery the lack of willingness and understanding people show and their ignorance when it comes to mental health issues. Instead of understanding her, they view her as a ‘freak show’. Plath uses vivid and disturbing images and metaphors in order to attempt to communicate what if feels like to be revived after an attempted suicide. “it is typical that metaphors use concrete images to convey something abstract, helping to communicate what is hard to explain.” The desire for death, suicide and re-birth are abstract concepts that many people can not understand. Therefore Plath uses images of violence, persecution and physical pain in order to help the reader begin to imagine the therefore understand the physical and psychological pain that people who attempt suicide are suffering from.