Analysis Of Plath's Poem 'The Applicant'

Great Essays
The period after the Second World War witnessed a struggle of women’s rights. Although women were very appreciated during the war, the return of the patriarchal society rejected the idea of women working. Such contempt for women is expressed in Plath’s poem, ‘The Applicant’. The poem may first appear humorous but its underlining context of the objectification of women turns it bitter. This is evident in the title. The word “Applicant”, itself is dehumanising, is associated with jobs, employers and employees, connotations that are not, in the patriarchal society of post WW2, associated with women. Plath creates a double meaning of the word to illustrate the treatment of women: that they must fulfil certain criteria to be an ‘approved’ woman. …show more content…
In ‘Enduring Love’ there are only three active female characters, Clarissa, Jean and Bonnie who each face challenges in a male dominated narrative. Clarissa struggles with Joe’s pursuit of scientific knowledge and control of his “relationship” with Jed. Jean adopts the housewife role, who immediately suspects that her husband is having an affair when finding a “small silk scarf” in his car: the scarf that belongs to Bonnie who ultimately represents female sexuality- “the incarnation of [any housewife’s] worst fears” . In similar vain to Candy and Sandy in ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’, Bonnie has a small active role and even in her quick appearance at the end of the novel she does not “speak, nor dare to look up” . Plath’s female characters, nevertheless, are manifestations of her personal investigation and portrayal of her reality: for example, the character in ‘Medusa’ illustrates motherhood and the “doll” in ‘The Applicant’ represents housewives. This opens up a dichotomy between the attitudes of gender stereotypes, which in ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’, Caroline Leach argues, “ultimately reinforces gender stereotypes” . This argument is encouraged by the lack of a varied categorisation of male character which should subvert the status quo as the female characters do. The male characters in the novels are either “big” and “wol[ves]” or “bony” and “rabbits” , a simple sharp and clear juxtaposition in …show more content…
For Plath, the malevolent force of society is portrayed through the emotional suffering she endured. Fog is used by both the narrators of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘Sheep in Fog’ to symbolise loneliness and lack of clarity. The poem, ‘Sheep in a Fog’, was written in 1962 but later revised in 1963 just a month before her suicide. The more ominous revised version reflects Plath’s mood before she died. The fog machine in ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ appears when Chief is at the height of his disillusioned state and way method to defend himself in fearful moments. “A bluetick hound bays out there in the fog, running scared and lost because he can’t see”. In the poem, the “slow” “horse” symbolises the speaker who is out of “breath”. Both narrators morph into animals that are weak and can easily be lost in fog, symbolising the easiness to succumb into the malevolent pressures of society and conformity. In her poem, Plath conveys the speaker’s loneliness both through the structure of five, short, three-line stanzas and the subject matter of the poem. Plath’s poem is set in a similar landscape to McEwan’s balloon accident. The “hills” compels an image of a remote area like the Chilterns setting in ‘Enduring Love’, highlighting the eerie and chaotic atmosphere of both the poem and the accident.

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