Plath Updike Comparison Draft 3 By denying change, one lives only in the past. Comparing Plath's “Sylvia Plath at Seventeen” and Updike's, “Ex-Basketball Player” reveals both authors create speakers who live in their past out of fear for their future. For this, the authors use similar thematic and stylistic elements, which both Plath and Updike employ to display humanity's resistance towards change and moving on. The thematic ideas in Plath and Updike's work, while slightly different, revolve around the idea of arrogance and avoiding reality. From paragraph five and paragraph six, Plath's perspective shifts from fearfulness to narcissism as she hides behind “an image of [her]self – idealistic and beautiful” as a way of justifying her refusal
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Updike's tone shift from stanza three, exhibits Flick's past glory, to stanza four, describing Flick “never learn[ing] a trade...but most of us remember anyway,” reveals Flick resides in his heyday instead of moving on (Updike). The memory of the past Flick remains in his community, but simultaneously keeps Flick from moving on past his basketball glory as nothing else defines him. Similarly, Plath's tone shift from paragraph four, where “at the present moment [she] is happy,” to paragraph five, where “[she is] afraid of getting older...of getting married,” displays Plath's fear of growing up with new responsibilities and the inevitable unknown of the future (Plath). As Plath maintains little control over the future, she resides in fear of changing to adapt. Lingering on as her current self allows her to remain content with life, but her aspirations will fly just out of reach, unreachable without the assistance of change. This evidence portrays the similarities between Plath and Flick as they both hide from the future by residing in either their present or past selves and avoiding change. To them, the future precipitates change, so their rejection of the future instigates their avoidance towards …show more content…
Plath, only talking about herself, knows “[she has] a terrible egotism,” which highlights her self-awareness of her own egotistical or rather egoistical nature. She realizes “how foolish [this] sounds,” showing she compares herself to a fool as she convinces herself of her ego's superiority rather than attempting to change (Plath). Even though she acknowledges such, her “vanity desires luxuries [she] can never have,” meaning she and her egoism strive for the perfection she sees in herself, despite knowing the impossibility of such a feat (Plath). On the same note, “[Flick] dribbl[ing] an inner tube,” shows he still holds on to the past and fails to move on from his past glory because he holds onto his childhood identity as a basketball player (Updike). Flick holds the reins on his past identity because he fears people will forget about him once he moves on as his only merit lays in his past basketball skills. Because of Plath's and Flick's egotism, neither maintains the motivation for change as they believe themselves as above change. Furthermore, Plath saying “I am I” reinforces the fact her writing remains only about herself, giving her an outlet to express her innermost thoughts without fear of judgment (Plath). Also, Updike's description of the “old bubble-head” gas pumps as aging, “falling loose and low,” reveals a parallel between the gas station fixtures and
Updike's tone shift from stanza three, exhibits Flick's past glory, to stanza four, describing Flick “never learn[ing] a trade...but most of us remember anyway,” reveals Flick resides in his heyday instead of moving on (Updike). The memory of the past Flick remains in his community, but simultaneously keeps Flick from moving on past his basketball glory as nothing else defines him. Similarly, Plath's tone shift from paragraph four, where “at the present moment [she] is happy,” to paragraph five, where “[she is] afraid of getting older...of getting married,” displays Plath's fear of growing up with new responsibilities and the inevitable unknown of the future (Plath). As Plath maintains little control over the future, she resides in fear of changing to adapt. Lingering on as her current self allows her to remain content with life, but her aspirations will fly just out of reach, unreachable without the assistance of change. This evidence portrays the similarities between Plath and Flick as they both hide from the future by residing in either their present or past selves and avoiding change. To them, the future precipitates change, so their rejection of the future instigates their avoidance towards …show more content…
Plath, only talking about herself, knows “[she has] a terrible egotism,” which highlights her self-awareness of her own egotistical or rather egoistical nature. She realizes “how foolish [this] sounds,” showing she compares herself to a fool as she convinces herself of her ego's superiority rather than attempting to change (Plath). Even though she acknowledges such, her “vanity desires luxuries [she] can never have,” meaning she and her egoism strive for the perfection she sees in herself, despite knowing the impossibility of such a feat (Plath). On the same note, “[Flick] dribbl[ing] an inner tube,” shows he still holds on to the past and fails to move on from his past glory because he holds onto his childhood identity as a basketball player (Updike). Flick holds the reins on his past identity because he fears people will forget about him once he moves on as his only merit lays in his past basketball skills. Because of Plath's and Flick's egotism, neither maintains the motivation for change as they believe themselves as above change. Furthermore, Plath saying “I am I” reinforces the fact her writing remains only about herself, giving her an outlet to express her innermost thoughts without fear of judgment (Plath). Also, Updike's description of the “old bubble-head” gas pumps as aging, “falling loose and low,” reveals a parallel between the gas station fixtures and