Sylvia Plath's 'The Applicant'

From the 1960s to the 1980s the poetry of the Women’s Movement was something that defied the traditional conceptions of form and content. While there is no defining moment when feminist poetry began, the poets of the Women’s Movement were torn between the submissive pasts of their mothers and the hopefully liberated futures of their female offspring. Writers such as Sylvia Plath, Audre Lord and Sharon Olds broke the traditional norms in poetry with their intensely personal poetry. Their anger and frustration with female subjugation, as well as their distressing personal struggles and victories appear unconcealed in their works, highlighting universal themes and issues shared with all women across society. The traditional gender roles of …show more content…
Her poem “The Applicant” is a scathing critique of the emptiness of the stereotypical roles of both males and females at the time. While some critics see the poem as a “blistering attack on modern advertising techniques,”… it is also seen as an indictment of the attitude that women serve one purpose: to serve the needs of men” (Freeman 30). From the opening line of the poem “First are you our sort of person” (Plath 1), Plath indicates that the speaker is not one individual, and the ensuing lines suggest that the speaker is, in fact, society in general. As the poem progresses, wedding imagery is prevalent. In the second stanza, the speaker offers the audience a “hand” to fill his (10). The other hand, “will do whatever you tell it” (13), with no argument. Presumably, Plath is referring to a bride and a groom joining hands at the altar, and once the wedding is finished, the female then belongs to the man. Unquestionably, Plath is mocking the institution of marriage, and the expectations of women when it comes to becoming a wife. In the following stanza, the speaker states that the hand “is guaranteed/to thumb shut your eyes at the end/and dissolve of sorrow” (15-17). …show more content…
Her poem itself is a metaphor. The box is perhaps Olds’ childhood experiences, which have previously trapped her in a particular mode of thought and behavior. Because she dares to name the evil, which was childhood abuse and trauma, Olds begins to feel a sense of release. According to Elizabeth M. Johnson, “Speaking out will have consequences, and she is frightened even as the poem insists on the need to speak of "the pain of the lost past" and to break the oppression of silence” (158). However, in the final line of the poem, Olds states “the fire- the suddenly discovered knowledge of love” (68). It is a catharsis for Olds of sorts; one she was able to have because she wrote the poem. The recognition of the concept of love and its ability to coexist with feelings of betrayal and hatred is what Olds was trying to convey to her readers. While the poem itself does paint an ugly portrait of both physical and emotional abuse, Olds does an excellent job of making the reader understand the ramifications of remaining quiet or speaking