tammy writes:

Subject: "Mirrors" - Plath

As for the interpretation of Mirrors...I think if you read page 449 of Sylvia's Journals you can see she is the victim of an overbearing mother. Sylvia was quite ambivalent about her mother who was unable to help her find her own identity. This is apparent throughout much of her work. I'm no psychiatrist but I have one of these mothers who simply cannot give what she doesn't have. Although I accept this about my mother, it doesn't fill the void of the missing reassurance. Chronic feelings of invalidation and questioning my judgment will always be there because I have surpassed my mother in many ways. So, there is a resentment there for her weakness and inability to relate. I get Sylvia completely but I wonder why so many people don't. Perhaps it is our shared birthday. The issues with her father in "Daddy" were not issues with him at all, she barely remembered him as you can see in "Electra on Azalea Path". I mean, who would remember an aloof and distant person from back when they were 9 years old? Sylvia makes no secret about her opinions of her mother's thoughts on her father. Yet another reason to resent her mother. "Daddy" was a poem written by Sylvia and her mother vicariously through Sylvia (Letters 3).