American Author Blog

WA #8 Thesis Proposal

2008-04-18T14:38:00.001-07:00

I am honestly really lost on this thesis. I’ve read the books; I loved the books, yet I am drawing a very solid and unmovable blank. What I come up with seems far-fetched; the obvious is just that, the obvious so I find myself fishing. I would love to give this more thought and then revise my thesis. But as it is I purpose to explore the connections between raw human emotion and thought in relation to our world. In the roughest sense, unfiltered, “crazy” thoughts are very much like one of the four basic elements, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. In Sylvia Plath’s classic novel, The Bell Jar the main character, in a long remember quote, compares herself to a fig tree. She talks of how her different paths are branches and how her fruit withers. She identifies with the earth, and through out the book seeks solace in water and finds comfort, or tragedy from it. She “I remember[s] the ceiling over every bathtub [she’s] stretched out in. [She] remember[s]s the texture of the ceilings and the cracks and the colors…[she] never feel[s] so much [herself] as when [she’s] in a hot bath…[she] lay[s] in that tub….and [feels herself] growing pure again.”

Joanna Greene on the other hand identifies with fire. “[She is] a volcano” and her burning “release[s] the heat.” I think it would be interesting to compare The Bell Jar, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, focusing on how raw human thoughts and feelings are like the very basic elements of the earth. Or, how when they can not control their own mind it is, in a sense controlled by another element whether it be earth, fire, wind or water.

Thesis #7

2008-04-18T10:07:00.001-07:00

Thesis 1:

The raw human condition is like raw elements. When our mind doesn’t identify with other people, or with the “normalcy” in society we identify with the basic elements of our world, fire, water, earth and wind.

“I remember the ceiling over every bathtub I’ve stretched out in. I remember the texture of the ceilings and the cracks and the colors…I never feel so much myself as when I’m in a hot bath…I lay in that tub….and felt myself growing pure again.” (Chapter 2) Here she identifies with water.

I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet. (Chapter 7) Here she identifies with the earth.

“I’m a Volcano, I had to release the fire or I would explode.” (Chapter 10) And here Greene identifies with fire.

Thesis 2:

A persons mental state can be identified with their control. When they are “normal” they feel in greater control, it’s when their mind feels contained.

“I remember the ceiling over every bathtub I’ve stretched out in. I remember the texture of the ceilings and the cracks and the colors…I never feel so much myself as when I’m in a hot bath…I lay in that tub….and felt myself growing pure again.” (chapter 2)

“I could feel the tears brimming and sloshing in me like water in a glass that is unsteady and too full.” (page 101)

“Girls like that make me sick. I’m so jealous I can’t speak….It was my first big chance, but here I was, sitting back and letting it run through my fingers like so much water.”

When she is in the bathtub she is contained and in control, when she’s loosing control she feels like water is sloshing over the sides, and when she is breaking down she feels like water running through her fingers.

Thesis #6

2008-04-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

I’m through the bulk of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and I’m beginning to wonder how it’s going to possibly end well. I have yet to surrender to the idea that it might not. One to many fairytales I’m afraid. So far she has moved from B ward, to D ward back to B ward, the back to D ward and finally back to B ward. Now she is facing the problem that she never finished high school and therefore can’t go to college and doesn’t know what she’s going to do with the rest of her life even if she does get out. This realization caused her to have another breakdown, not so much from the stress but from the planning. It made life seem more real then she could handle at the moment.

Throughout the later chapters she kept saying “I’m a volcano” (pg 129) and she kept burning herself to “release the heat” it’s very interesting that she takes such a keen interest in fire just as Plath hooked onto water. She burned herself while Plath tried to drown herself. Plath is depressed while Greene is siktsophrenic. Maybe it has something to do with raw human emotion and how it relates back to raw elements, like earth, wind, fire and water? I dunno. Something to think about.

Thesis #5

2008-04-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

Both The Bell Jar and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden are autobiographical, or have autobiographical elements. When I was reading I noticed both these stories are very raw, it seems less like a book then a journal, it seemed like the blip in a story instead of a plot. Both plots are quiet, it almost seems like nothing happens because it isn't a made up adventure, or a hero's journey it's a fictional take on real life. So obviously it's going to be more real. If I was researching mental illness both these books would be useful, however as far as english papers go I'm a little lost. However, I did notice both characters in both books often compared themselves to elements, Sylvia Plath to water and Greene to fire.

I finished The Bell Jar, and began reading I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. I was planning on reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest but decided to read Rose Garden instead. I’m not really sure why, it just seemed to be crying out on my self. I got started into it. Hannah Greene was taken by her parents to the mental hospital and Furie (her name from her doctor) is working with her to find the root of Er, and why her alternate world exists. It’s quite good and I’m really enjoying it.

Thesis #4

2008-04-13T23:39:00.001-07:00

Sylvia Plath employs an odd combination of autobiographical writing and symbolism. Since The Bell Bar is considered partly autobiographical I’m finding it hard to determine what is symbolism and what is simply her way of explaining what happened. I’m wondering if she may simple have an symbolic mind, and it naturally creates metaphors and such.

On page 101 the theme of water appears again and since I have been following it throughout the book I figure it is a good idea to continue. I have already found quotes demonstating how she feels with captured water, flowing water and the following demonstrates somewhere in between. “I could feel the tears brimming and sloshing in me like water in a glass that is unsteady and too full.” (Pg. 101) Here she is on the verge of tears, but not yet breaking down. In a bathtub (captured water) she feels pure, when the tears run through her fingers she feels torn and disjointed, here she hovers somewhere in the middle, just has the “water” does. I think it would be interesting to be some connection to water and Sylvia Plath’s emotions. Perhaps how she uses the symbol of water to echo her feelings?

Thesis #3

2008-04-13T23:22:00.001-07:00

I read the bulk of The Bell Jar over winter break. I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m up to chapter 17 and I’m finding it interesting how the patients in the hospitals are able to have a sort of network to communicate. I tried to do some research, to perhaps find a little more about the hospitals she named. However, the names were fabricated and I couldn’t find much on what the actual hospitals (if they exisited) would have been like.

One quote I found particularly interesting was: “Girls like that make me sick. I’m so jealous I can’t speak….It was my first big chance, but here I was, sitting back and letting it run through my fingers like so much water.” (chapter three) My last entry focused on how Esther only felt like herself, and felt pure, in a bathtub. There she felt good, and now, in a moment when she is despairing she compares the feeling to water running through her fingers. Perhaps there is a connection, when the water is trapped she feels pure, but when it’s running she feels hopeless.

Thesis #2

2008-04-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

Sylvia Plath’s writing is wonderful, very complex, but in a subtle way. I recently learned that her novel is partly autobiographical, meaning she followed her own story to some degree but changed the characters names and the places. I thought this would prove slightly difficult as the writing would be more autobiographical then metaphorical. However, I’m finding Plath’s writing to be more then simply reflective. One passage was particularly catching on page 20 she says “I remember the ceiling over every bathtub I’ve stretched out in. I remember the texture of the ceilings and the cracks and the colors…I never feel so much myself as when I’m in a hot bath…I lay in that tub….and felt myself growing pure again.” I think it’s interesting how she described that. I wonder if water, and bathtubs will play a part later on. Or perhaps how heat can cleanse away pain? Something like that.

Author

2008-02-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

For my author repost I'm reading, The Bell Jar, One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest, and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. They are all by different authors, but all are American and all focus around a common theme.