PGS Portsmouth Point Summer Mirror

Page 12

in the MIRROR S Y LV I A P L AT H ' S L I F E A N D W O R K

Tara Bell YE AR 12

Sylvia Plath

M

irrors function as a medium of truth; they reflect appearances as they are, without distortion. This can be useful as, in the absence of deception, our understanding of the world around us is echoed plainly, albeit the reflection can be altered upon interpretation. In other words, the impact of the truth on an individual is very much dependent on their prevailing perspectives: for example, whether they’re cynical or optimistic, what they view their personal identity to be, or what previous knowledge and preconceptions they may hold. As a result, people see the world in many different ways. After reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath during isolation, I have become increasingly aware of the

12

P O RT S M O U T H P O I N T. B LO G S P OT.CO M

different perspectives that people may take upon viewing the world and how that, in turn, affects their experiences of life. More specifically, the narrator of the novel, Esther Greenwood, suffers from a form of depression; as a result, she views the world through a ‘bell jar’, her perspective distorted to the point that she seems to lose touch with reality. The novel follows Esther through what at first seems an amazing New York internship, but is soon seen to be unfulfilling as Esther struggles to uphold personal and societal expectations. Esther soon becomes disassociated from the world around her and begins to contemplate many forms of suicide. As she describes it: “To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is a bad dream”. And so, the amazing life experiences that she has been given don’t make a difference to her, “because wherever I sat - on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok - I would be


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Articles inside

Do We Have the Politicians We Deserve? Christopher Clark

3min
page 73

Photography: Mirror Benedict Blythe and Oliver Stone

2min
pages 74-76

COVID-19’s Economic Impact Mirrors The Great Depression Alex Bradshaw

9min
pages 70-72

Should Companies Mirror Society? Diversity and Quotas Sophie Reeve-Foster

7min
pages 68-69

Mirror, Mirror: Debating Personality Tests Emily Nelson and Lian Kan

10min
pages 64-67

The Distorted Mirror: Recognising Body Dysmorphic Disorder Phoebe Clark

2min
pages 60-61

Seeing Things Differently: Challenging Misconceptions about Mental Illness Flixy Coote

5min
pages 62-63

A Reflection of our Relatives? The Biology Behind DNA Sophie Escott

4min
pages 58-59

Why We Are Not Mirrors of our Genes: What Epigenetics is Teaching Us Isla Sligo-Young

3min
pages 56-57

Reflections on Medical Technology in the Digital Age Anna Danso-Amoako

4min
pages 54-55

The Underfunding of the NHS: Covid-19's Unflattering Mirror Sophie Mitchell

6min
pages 52-53

What Healthcare Can Learn from Aviation Shapol Mohamed

8min
pages 50-51

Speeding Mirrors: The Magic of Classic Motorsport Matt Bryan

17min
pages 44-49

The Agony in Gethsemane Tom McCarthy

10min
pages 36-39

A Mirror to Nature: Gilbert White’s Ecological Revolution James Burkinshaw

10min
pages 32-35

The Golden Ratio and Its Repetition Throughout Nature Max Harvey

6min
pages 40-41

How Architecture Reflects Our Surroundings Habina Seo

8min
pages 42-43

Is There Such a Thing as Human Nature? Taylor Colbeth

4min
pages 30-31

The Girl in the Mirror: Sylvia Plath Tara Bell

5min
pages 12-13

The Mirror Crack’d’: Emily Dickinson and ‘The Lady of Shalott’ Edith Critchley

9min
pages 14-17

The Mirror of Narcissus? AI and Human Identity Lottie Allen

7min
pages 28-29

The Mirrors of Literature: From Epic to Dystopia Louise Shannon

5min
pages 18-19

Utopia or Dystopia? How Literature and Film Predict Our Future Haleigh Smith

10min
pages 24-27

When Reality Mirrors TV Nicholas Lemieux

8min
pages 22-23

Mirror of Modernity: The Unendurability of King Lear Naomi Smith

9min
pages 20-21

Reflections: The Man I Love Mark Richardson

13min
pages 8-11

An Evening with Mr Richardson Matt Bryan

19min
pages 4-7
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