Write up of Sylvia Plath- The Applicant

Sylvia Plath- The Applicant

First, are you our sort of person

Do you wear
A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch

A brace or hood,

Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch, 

Stitches to show something's missing? No, no? Then

How can we give you a thing?

Stop crying.

Open your hand.

Empty? Empty. Here is a hand

To fill it and willing

to bring teacups and roll away headaches

And do whatever you tell it. 

Will you marry it? 

It is guaranteed

To thumb shut your eyes at the end
And dissolve of sorrow.

We make new stock from the salt.

I notice you are stark naked.
How about this suit

Black and stiff, but not a bad fit.

Will you marry it?

It is waterproof, shatterproof, proof

Against fire and bombs through the roof.

Believe me, they'll bury you in it. 

Now your head, excuse me, is empty.

I have the ticket for that.

Come here, sweetie, out of the closet.

Well, what do you think of that?

Naked as paper to start.

But in twenty-five years she'll be silver,

In fifty, gold.

A living doll, everywhere you look.

It can sew, it can cook,

It can talk, talk, talk.

It works, there is nothing wrong with it.

You have a hole, its a poultice.

You have an eye, its and image.

My boy, its your last resort.

Will you marry it, marry it, marry it.

Stanza one  As the poem opens, Plath uses a clear discourse marker of which stands out from other poems.

''First, are you our sort of person?''

The use of this discourse marker at the start of the poem expressed the dominant speaker, as well as setting the agenda for the poem. Of which, from this first line and the title we can see that the situation is in fact someone applying for something. The dominant speaker here, asks a direct question which is in the form of a interrogative sentence which uses direct address in order to make the question direct to the person being asked. With this direct question being so straight forward, it comes across slightly insulting in order for the applicant to be 'our sort of person' to get what they are applying for etc.

  Furthermore, more personal pronouns are used within listing also being used, in order for the dominant speaker to get the point across directly.

''Do you wear

A glass eye, false teeth, or a crutch...''

As the voice of interviewer, being the persona, directly asks the person at hand by using a personal pronoun of which one does her wear, if any. The use of listing of pragmatics, uses lots of stereotypes of imagery of old and fake of which are obviously not aloud if to accepted for such an application.

Stanza two  Plath uses a range of repetition in this particular stanza, in order to express different things.

''No, no?''
and

''Empty? Empty.''

This repetition of such short words, could be expressing how in fact the person is thinking to themselves while at the same time they are also answering themselves. The way in which the short sentences are set out tell the audience this, as well as the question marks being within the sentence as if the person asking these questions is also answering them. 

  Plath uses interesting choices of lexis when putting together her stanza's, as expressing what could be seen as marriage is described very blunty. 

''Here is a hand''

Here, it is as if Plath is giving away the fact that the hand is in use to be married and infact someone will put a ring on it at some point. With this technique added with the last one, it is almost as if the persona is running through an interview in their head which is in order to find such a person someone to marry. 

Stanza three

  As like in Plath's morning song, the use of enjambment is also very symbolic within the applicant. 

''Here is a hand

To fill it and willing''

This quotation shows the two lines of which shows the enjambment between the two lines, this enjambment is important the poem and the themes inside the poem as it could be symbolic of the 'application'. As expressing how it so hard to find the right person for such a situation, as if the persona is finding a man or women to marry, yet can not do so because of the faults one person could hold in order to make them 'not our sort of a person'.

  Also, in the stanza Plath uses a rhetorical question in order to get the audience thinking about the poem, as like the persona they are thinking things order in their head about this situation.

''Will you marry it?''

Here, Plath's uses of a rhetorical question is very significant as it tells the audience that the persona is thinking about their situation, which links the previous stanza of where the person asks themselves questions in their head in order to over come this situation. It is also interesting, that the subject being applied for is describes as 'it', as if the person being spoke about is an object and not a human being. 

  Furthmore, this idea of people being objects carries on to the final line on the stanza, as the marriage between two is described.

''It is guaranteed''

Here, it is as if the speaker is taking a salesman view on marriage to express how it is 'guaranteed' to last. Again, it is very much like the objectifing of the people in the above line because of the manufacturized image is bring across to the reader.

Stanza four

  As this stanza is in enjambent with the previous, the guarantee which is spoken of in the previous stanza is then explained more in this stanza as the persona expresses what is guaranteed.

''To thumb shut your eyes at the end'' 

This quotation is to express how when people die their eyes are shut, therefore the speaker has come on to the subject of death. By doing so, the speaker expresses how marriage is 'guaranteed' til' death and is for life, however the choice of lexis choosen would express that this isn't such a good thing. The use of the word 'thumb', seems a rather heavy word to use as if this married life is a heavy burden. 

Stanza five

  Again, as Plath uses enjambent the two lines in this quotation come from both stanza four and five to express the feelings about marriage through a metaphor.

''How about this suit

Black and stiff, but not a bad fit'' 

The metaphor of the suit used by Plath, expresses how not all people want to get married but in the period of which the poem was written people did not really have any other choice. In the late 1950's, if you were not married you were classed as 'socially unacceptable'. Plath expresses this through her poem, as she explains how people would pick a wife or husband if they were 'not a bad fit'. This way of loving and getting married is very different to the words given at an actual wedding ceremony, and after comparing the two the differents are obvious. As Plath lacks love and romance of a wedding ceremony in her poem, as well as lacking emotion and feeling with the refering to the man and wife as 'it'. It is almost as if Plath is trying to get her audience think about such things, and thing if marriage is really worth all the fuss, as she has obviously already made up her mind. 

  Furthermore, Plath's use of listing is a way of expressing how marriage is for life and that it is on going. 

''It is waterproof, shatterproof, proof

Against fire and bombs through the roof.''

This use of such a rhetorical device, as listing, is part of the speaker thinking to themselves, thinking about love and what they are putting themselves in to and whether if in fact it is worth it. Plath cleverly places this thinking into a sense of listing, of which expresses to the audience the non-ending of marriage because it is for life.

  This sense of never ending is carried on, as Plath choice of lexis is criticial once the meaning is realised.

''they'll bury you in it.''

Again, Plath express how this type of love and romance, marriage, is never ending. However, the lexis choosen by Plath expresses how this is not such a good thing, or she does not think so. The imagery of death and being buried is not all what is imagined when thinking of 'on-going love', and so we can tell from her that Plath does not believe in, or does not like the idea of such a thing. 

Stanza six
  Again, the view of a salesman comes into the poem again as Plath explores the wants of marriage, yet they might not all be what is it expected of such 'essentials'.

''I have the ticket for that''

Plath explores these 'wants' what are believed to the speaker as an essential in marriage, as if they are being sold to one of the partners. This salesmanship attitude is again, de-humanising towards the marriage and the people, as it lacks emotions and feeling just like the way in which the poem is written althought describing a wedding ceremony. Yet, is the poem by Plath a good way of people seeing what marriage can 'actually be like'. 

  As in previous stanzas, there is obvious strong attitude by the speaker because of the period which Plath wrote the poem. This comes across strongly when the mother is spoke of in more detail, about her being 'idealised' for a man. 

''Naked as paper to start''

Here, Plath is exploring sexual reference as the speaker refers to wanting a women to be a virgin before he marries her. This is an obvious example of historical context, because it was the 'norm' in the 1950's, and still some what is, to be a virgin when you are married and to loose that title on your wedding night. Plath's reference to sex shows how this is a modern type of poem, because of her explotations to such matters, as sex would never of been spoken about in older poems. 

Stanza seven 

  Here, Plath refers back to the idea of the women in marriage being a 'living doll', again another historical context as it refers to how women should and would act in the 1950's. 

''A living doll, everywhere you look.''

This way in which the women is described, as a living doll, refers to how married women would act in the 50s. Due to them being the housewife, which involved taking care of the house and children but yet they also had to look pretty for the mans arm, all for the wants of the man in such a period. By refering to the housewife as a living doll, it is almost as if once a women is married she becomes this robotic doll in order to please her husband, which is what was expected in the 50s. 

  Furthermore, as the women is never formally adressed we can see the period difference as to rights for women etc. As the women is secondly adressed as a pronoun, it is as if she is has no importance. 

''It can talk, talk, talk.''

The way in which the speaker refers to 'the lady' as 'it', a pronoun, is again de-humanising and makes it seem to the audience as if the women really does not have any importance. This attitude is repeated in this particular quotation as a tricolon is used to express how men typically feel about women. The tricolon of 'talk, talk, talk' expresses how men feel that women nag men, which the repetition of words it is as if this 'naggin' is on going and never ending. 

Stanza eight 

  In this final stanza, enjambent is used to furthermore express the 'living doll' and what it is 'suitable' for, again refering to the women an manufactured object not just by the adressing but also by the 'features' it contains. 

''It works, there is nothing wrong with it.''

Again, refering to the woman as an 'it' the speaker expresses how the women does what she is supposed to, 'work', although it might not be perfect 'there is nothing wrong with it'. While, again refering back to how people of time didnt really have a choice as marriage was the norm, it is like they are getting married just for the sake of it. 

  As the poem comes to an end, it is explored to the extent that the marriage is just for the sake of not being socially unacceptable.

''My boy, its your last resort.''

This quotation is like the whole story to the poem, as it is now very understandable that the two are getting married to follow the norm and avoid being socially unacceptable. The way in which Plath chooses her lexis in the line, it almost feels as if it is infact all they can do and that they are being forced into such a thing. Obviously, being the reason why the person does not matter all that much because the don't really want to marriage them anyway, or that is the attitude in which Plath brings to the poem.

  On the closing line, the tricolon used is extremeley effective in such a way to get people thinking more deeply. 

''Will you marry it, marry it, marry it.''

Although, not being a rhetorical question it almost feels as if Plath has placed in it such a way to not force the audience to think about it, yet the audience do anyway. The tricolon in itself is extremeley effective, as being repeated all the way threw the poem by finishing with this repetition is gives a sense of not knowing to the audience. Plath has almost left the audience on a cliffhanger about the marriage, and wether it happened or not in order to get them deeply thinking about marriage as a subject, which is the whole idea of poetry, thinking.