Today in my college writing class we talked about Sylvia Plath, the deceased writer of The Bell Jar who committed suicide a month after the books publishing.  It was a very morbid discussion at times.  There was a very jagged line of what was and what wasn’t okay to say in this discussion because of the nature of Sylvia Plath’s death.  She stuck her head into an oven.  As terrible as that sounds it CAN and IS perceived by some as a rather ridiculous and somewhat comical way to die.  Such a thought may seem to a diehard Sylvia Plath fan as disrespectful and appalling.  We’ve all had someone we know or are familiar with who has committed suicide or attempted it.  It goes to far in my oppinion, but maybe it's a good thing that those diehard Plath fans are knocked to their senses about the difference between what she represents, and what she actually did.

                After grappling with this issue today I have come to this conclusion.  Suicide is no joke. BUT! Sylvia Plath has become to some the “patron saint of suicide,” those who look at Plath’s death as glamorous need to be pulled back to earth.  Things such as reflecting on the ridiculousness of her death are helpful in this sense, and so I shall not mock the person, but caution those who idolize her.

                This is a sensitive issue.  It’s hard to navigate these waters and not hit an iceberg of someone else’s emotions.  It is ridicules for young people to look at this as a good thing.  She was mentally unstable, not a revolutionary in solving problems of young adults.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFo3BH9ZX7U D12 on suicide