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Dolphin’s Relation to the Autobiography of Sylvia Plath

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“A Letter to Sylvia Plath” by Ceridwen Dovey

In A Letter to Sylvia Plath, the Dolphintells her autobiography to Sylvia and establishes a connection between them both. The letter is written ten years after the death of the Dolphin, and she narrates her life story of serving in the Navy. The Dolphin establishes a connection between them, from a woman to a woman living under the shadow of men.

For Sylvia, she was married to Ted Hughes, a seemingly great writer, whom Sylvia loved dearly and was not willing to leave even after knowing his indiscretions. It might be that in the beginning, it was love that made her stay, then it may have been loyalty, but when she did leave him because of his cruelty and affairs, she committed suicide. The Dolphin relates to her in the way that she was under the command of the US Navy, and although her trainer, Officer Bloomington, was a good man, she faced hardships while serving. She said that the people who were supposed to care for her made her kill another man, even though it’s not in a dolphin’s nature to harm a human. The Dolphin says that this was what killed her. She was offered freedom which she rejected but then killed a man. It might be that Sylvia and the Dolphin are connected through the bond of being alone and being mentally tortured for many years. They were supposed to be free but we're bound by the men around them.

Considering the context of the text, A letter to Sylvia Plath, it appears that humans tend to harm all living and non-living things around them. Humans captured the free creatures of the sea, the dolphins, brutally trained them to serve in the Navy, bred them in aquariums, or sold them as if they were their property. They took them away from their natural habitat and made them live in captivity. During wars, they deployed dolphins to eliminate the threats humans faced and did not care if they died in a war that was not the dolphins in the first place.

A letter to Sylvia Plath is an autobiography and a depiction of men in society. It narrates the story of a patriarchal society that always bounds women and does not allow them to live freely. It also shows that humans and people alike are entrapped in the rules and norms of a culture that has made a prisoner of them. They are a part of a society that does not allow them to live a free life and does not care if they live or die as long as they serve their purpose. It is shown through the character of the Dolphin, who was forced to kill a man, something not in their nature. It is shown in Sylvia Plath’s life that she was loving and living with a man who did not love her in return. She did that because she was supposed to do that, and when she did leave her husband, when she did try to get out from the social restraints and tried to be free from the harsh clutches of her slavery to a man, she was left standing alone, just like the Dolphin.

The article is produced by Tayyaba Noor, one of the contributors to the School of LiteratureJoin SOL Team here.

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