The poem might have to do with plastic surgery. It might depict what women immediately pursue once they’ve reached the old stage in their life. Women tend to seek for youth all the time, because society has made women think that in order to get what they want in life they must look young and radiant. Paraphrase: In your own words, describe what happens in the poem. Plath uses an aging woman who is in fact and without a doubt impetuous. She wants to regain her young body. She then resorts to cosmetic plastic surgery in order to be rejuvenated.
After she has followed through with the process she comes to realize that she was never really satisfied with her old body. We then see this women imagine herself in a new body while under the influence of sedatives. lines 13 and 14, represents the way women expect to be cherished and treated right simply because they’re beautiful and have a new body. we are hinted that something has gone wrong in lines 14-16. “i don’t know a thing” indicates a new start, starting with nothing. The change is so dramatic that she then has to remain in the hospital for 5 days.
This shows how the rejuvenation isn’t smooth as she hides herself. once she see’s her stitches, she undergoes uncomfortable experiences. in the last stanza when she mentions that they have tapped her in a laboratory jar. Here the old sock face, sagged on a darning egg is the previous face of a perfect doll she lets “wither incessantly for the next fifty years. ” The psychic death of the false self culminates with resurrection of a new self “swaddled in gauze, / Pink and smooth as a baby. ” connotation: Swaddled in gauze- wrapped in silk, cotton. epresents how her new life will be, full of pleasure. I don’t know a thing- represents the start of something new. stitches- undergoes uncomfortable situations. Attitude: wistful- the woman is longing for her youth filled with beauty she never had. Desirous -anxious to feel attention, and be beautiful. Biter- she wants to be what society wants her to be. well she wants to be the ideal women. Shift: The shift in tone definitely takes place in stanza two. the women seems anxious in the first stanza while on the rest of the stanzas uneasiness and wishfulness takes place.
Title: after reading the poem again. After re-reading the poem my original ideas where in the poem. It was about a women having a depressing life, she came to the conclusion that if she got plastic surgery she was basically going to have a marvelous life simply because she was beautiful. It didn’t necessarily turn out to be like that, infact she realized that plastic surgery was not the answer. Theme: i think the theme might be something between not letting society run our lives. that one should make the best of how God created us. Every woman is beautiful, whether it’s inside or out.
