Status Updates From The Cambridge Introduction ...

the point in reminiscent of the metaphor of the fig tree in The Bell Jar wherein Esther is unable to choose between any of the symbolic fics dancing in front of her eyes. Betty Frieda was to recognize a similar moment of crisis in The Feminine Mystique (1963): 'what if the terror a girl faces at twenty-one is the terror of freedom to decide her own life, with no one to order which path she will take?' "

"success in one field was not enough - and mere adequacy in a number of areas was no substitute. this places plath in an impossible and deeply frustating situation: 'i am torn in different directions, pulled thin', she explains during her first term in Smith 'i can never be all the people i want and live all the lives i want'

"she [plath] writes of her hope that one day she will be able to repay her mother back (...) this rendering of monies owed takes on uncomfortable tones in an unsent letter dated 28 february 1953 in which Plath looks back on her suicide attempt earlier that year, rationalizing it as 'more merciful and inexpensive than the alternative - a lifetime of mental illness and costly long-term treatment' "

"from being treated as a victim, it is a small step to identifying herself as one"