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The effects of body image on social media
Social effects on body image
Themes of mirror by sylvia plath
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Society has always judged its inhabitants for its outwards appearance; not taking in to consideration how a person has a deeper part to them. When just taking the superficial into consideration, we find ourselves looking at the blemishes and not the beauty. Judgment is thrown on those whom get old, although they cannot halt times effects. Judging those that were born with defects mental or physical that are portrayed in their visible areas. All these individualities are read into more than they should be. A mirror, on the other hand, shows what is standing in front of it and nothing else. Sylvia Plath’s poem Mirror does expresses the defects within society that judges those for their presence, it will lie to make a person’s thoughts of their appearance get altered, and that a mirror is clear looking at one with what can be compared with a gods eye; perfect, but even though the mirror sees one as unadulterated time still passes.
It is an acquired mannerism to judge. One is not born knowing to critic a person for how they look. With time as a person grows they pick up on judging on a...
In the short story “Initiation” author Sylvia Plath suggests that conformity, although the societal norm, is not always as grand as it is made out to be, while also suggesting that even though conformity typically hinders one’s self growth, there are times when the fear of conforming can make one’s sense of self stronger. These two ideas together show that Plath uses this short story to convey the message that even though conformity is not inherently a positive thing, it can drive a person to look in on themselves and develop a unique identity. Plath uses symbolism, and character introspection to assert this idea.
In the 13th century, knights were held to a high standard in society; not only because of their military skills and fighting abilities, but because of their gentlemanly behavior and activities in the community. The church created a code of manners (according to Barbara W. Tuchman) that helped put the knights in favor in the church as well as put the knight's prowess with a blade to use. In the excerpt of Barbara W. Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror", she goes in depth about the code of manners and behaviors that the knights of the 13th century had to follow to be held honorable at that time. Knights in the 1300's were given a code of manners that they went by to be the best of a Gentleman, Lovers, Fighters, and to be a great man in total.
Everyone is guilty of it. even those who claim they're not. think about it! EVERYONE cares about appearances. I care about appearance. I care about how I look, and though I try not to, sometimes I judge others on how they look.
McClatchy, J.D. "Short Circuits and Folding Mirrors." Sylvia Plath: New Views on the Poetry. Ed. Gary Lane. John Hopkins Univ. Press, 1979. Rpt. in Modern Critical Views: Sylvia Plath. New York: Chelsea House, 1989.
First, the poem’s interfering similes and metaphors undermine its formal coherence and consistency. Whereas the foregoing paragraph explains the uniformity of tone, syntax, diction, and purpose that emanates from the poem’s form, its conflicting comparisons make the poem’s subject protean at best and amorphous at worst. I will argue that Lady Lazarus is the latter.
The author applies sight and personification to accentuate the mirror’s roles. The declaimer of the poem says “I am silver and exact [and] whatever I see I swallow” (1, 20). The purpose of these devices is to convey the position of the mirror in the poem. As an inanimate object, the mirror is incapable of consuming anything but the appearances of entities. Furthermore, the glass’ role accentuates an inner mirror, the human mirror which does not forget instances of misery and contentment. According to Freedman, the mimicking image emulated by the mirror elicits “… a look for oneself inside” as observed from the life of the elderly woman in the sonnet (153). Moreover, as the woman looks into the lake, she commemorates her appealing and attractive and pleasant figure as a young girl. As time passes, the inevitability of old age knocks on the door of the woman, readily waiting to change the sterling rapturous lady perceived by many. One’s appearance can change; it is up to an individual to embrace it or reject it.
Sylvia Plath wants to travel back in time and walk through a journey of what life was like before today’s generation by describing how men and women lived and how each of them were treated. Plath is extremely descriptive with the specific words she picks and her descriptive appearances. Women were looked at as people who offered “red silk flares of pedaled blood”, and men offered “sun’s blade”. When you look at what is thought to be two different women, but in a different universe, can most likely be just one person who suffers from some kind of disease. Duality describes this ability. Given how it is never proven to be two different women, it could very easily be the same character, except with two different personalities. Whether an
Makayla Williams Mrs. Mandy Feasel AP English III 11 May 2015 “Lady Lazarus:” Free to Die “Lady Lazarus,” a poem widely known for its dark images and symbolism, captures the reader’s attention and entices him or her with a sense of familiarity with Lazarus. However, the comfortable feeling shatters as the reader takes a frightening journey through the life and death of Lady Lazarus. Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” is semi-autobiographical in that through the pseudonym of Lady Lazarus, Plath uses her own personal issues and growing frustration with her oppressing father as the starting point to express her ideas on bigger issues such as the Holocaust, universal oppression, and the inhumanity of modern war. Lady Lazarus, the narrator, dies “one year in every ten,” (Plath 2) and Herr Doktor brings her back, however unwilling she may be, to an amused crowd; but this third time, she comes back and promises revenge on Herr Doktor, vowing to “eat men like air”
“Mirror” is a disturbing poem that exemplifies the tension of inner and outer beauty, as well as the feminine problem of aging and losing one’s glamour. In the poem, Plath is a mirror that is personified. The first stanza starts by describing the mirror as “silver and exact.” The poem goes on saying, “I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.” This means that the mirror forms no judgments, but instead swallows what it sees reflecting that image back without any alterations. Plath describes the mirror as not being cruel, only truthful because it always shows exactly the image it is shown. The first stanza finishes by saying, “Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers. Faces and darkness separate us over time.” Here she is first describing how most of the time she is just looking across the empty room meditating on the pink speckled wall of a little girl. She has seen the wall for so lo...
Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” is about a women maturing with time and her mirror is witness to her aging and her journey to finding herself. The mirror serves as a vivid portrayal of women’s life and stride through a very reliable persona, the mirror. Along her required journey she is faced with obstacles, such as herself and time ticking. All through life’s inconsistencies the mirror is the only one that does not hide her truth but reveals it to her even though she may not want to face reality. This poem is a representation of the idea that beauty lies in the hands of the beholder. The mirror only reflects the image to the woman, but it is the woman herself who is judging.
Plath’s poems have often expressed the unfair standard of perfection put on women by the media. For example, in Plath’s poem ‘The Applicant ‘ one line says “First, are you our sort of person? Do you wear a glass eye, false teeth or a crutch, a brace or a hook” (Poetry Foundation). This states if you have nothing fake, then you do not fit in society. Another poem called ‘Face Lift’ expresses the pressure put on women by society to look ageless even from a young age.
Carolyn Kizer mentions at the end that his friends are “well-groomed pets” unlike the speaker. Plath dehumanizes the speaker by comparing herself to a cat that had nine lives. The poem also contains internal monologue between the speaker and her inner bitch while there is external dialogue from her and her ex-lover. These components are major when discussing the meanings of each poem.
In the poem, the lines “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. / Whatever I see I swallow immediately”(1-2). This is the mirror speaking in the poem, and it seems like it is very honest and shows exactly what is presented in front of it. The mirror is constantly mentioned throughout the poem because it is the only one that shows the woman for who she really is, she shows her true reflection and shows her imperfections. Although the woman does not like that, she constantly goes and looks at herself because she is aging and is feeling insecure. While in the song, Lovato says “The mirror can lie/ doesn’t show you what’s inside/ and it, can tell you you’re full of life/ it’s amazing what you can hide/ just by putting on a smile” (15-19). In the song Lovato is saying that the mirror can lie to you, and only shows you what’s on the outside. You can hide anything from the mirror, because all it does is show your appearance and nothing else. Plath and Lovato are both feeling insecure, and use the mirror as a symbol on how it affects them. One believes that the mirror can hide everything, and only show you the outside, While the other thinks that it’s very truthful, and shows everything your flaws and all. This is another example of how the poem “Mirrors” can be just as traditional and have similar qualities to the song “Believe in
It is said that when we look in the mirror, we see our reflection; but what is it that we really see? Some people look through the glass and see a totally different person. All across the world identity is an issue that many women have. Woman today must be skinny, tall, thick, fair skinned and have long hair in order to be considered beautiful. Maya Angelou feels otherwise, as she gives women another way to look at themselves through her poem "Phenomenal Woman".
Sylvia Plath has become a highly acclaimed poet. Many consider her as a feminist, to have a husband-wife relationship with her father. Sylvia Plath was a depressed and troubled being throughout her lifetime and wrote many poems. Her poems consist of a variety of topics that reflect her depression, bees, her father, and different events in her life. Most of these poems contain a wide range of imagery that is necessary to help portray her message. Throughout most of her poems Sylvia Plath gives someone or something a sense of power or powerlessness. Plath gives insects a sense of powerlessness in the poems titled The Swarm, Stings, and The Colossus because of the types of comparisons that are made and the feelings toward the speaker of the poems.