Once More About the Thin People by Sylvia Plath Essay Example

being starvation.

The thin people in this poetry means denotatively, they are people who have thin body, “they famished and grew so lean”. There is no one country in this world which without poor people, they are everywhere, “They are always with us”. What they want the most is food, “they are famished, and grew so lean and would not round out their stalky limbs again though peace plumped the bellies of the mice under the meanest table”. They did not care whether their country is in a war or in a peace situation.

They just thought that they can survive and get away from their long hunger battle, “it was during the long hunger-battle, they found their talent to persevere in thinness“. But, to get away from their “war”, they just could do nothing, they could not take a move, just wait for the faith that will change them, “their menace not guns, not abuses, but a thin silence”. Destitution is a serious problem, we could not judge that it is not an important problem. Every country has promised to solve the destitution problem, but they could not help more.

The thin people just like “ wrapped in flea ridden donkey skins, empty of complain”. They need our help to throw away their “flea”, their problem. From this poetry, Sylvia Plath wanted to show us what the thin people wanted. Some have helped the thin people to solve their problem, but nothing changed. “forever drinking vinegar from tin cup”, in this stanza mean that they drink what they should not drink. In the late 1950’s, vinegar have become a popular dietary supplement, (Folk Medicine: A Vermont Doctor's

Guide to Good Health by D. C. Jarvis).

Although some of the thin people have got helped, it was failed and the thin people always being the person who was blamed for that failure program, “they wore the insufferable nimbus of the lot drawn scapegoat”. Sylvia Plath dislike that, she did not want to see it and she told herself that, “they are unreal, we say : it was only in a movie, it was only in a war”. Sylvia Plath wanted to help them, “so weedy a race could not remain in dreams, could not remain outlandish victims”. In 1950’s, world war II effects still could be seen, especially in economic effect, i. . There was a huge emphasis on food production, The Government had to take control of the economy, e. g. who worked where, trade, railways, shipping, banking etc. , and recruitment and training of workers was disrupted. The Writer told us about how the thin people live in that generation, although they were in a rich country, they could not fell the benefit of it, “could not remain outlandish victims in the contracted country of the head anymore than the old woman in her mud hut could keep from cutting fat meat out of the side of the generous moon”.

But, the thin people could survive, “the thin people do not obliterate themselves as the dawn, grayness blues, reddens”. Moreover, they could survive in all of the situations, “ they persist in the sunlit room : the wall paper frieze of cabbage roses and cornflowers”. Cornflowers are hardy annuals that are easy to start from seed. Sylvia Plath thought that destitution problem would

harm us if we could not solve it. Destitution was not only the thin people’s problem, but that was also our problem.

The thin people would harm us although they are dead, “ we own no wildernesses rich and deep enough for stronghold against their stiff battalions. See, how the tree boles flatten and lose their good browns if the thin people simply stand in the forest, making the world go thin as a wasp’s nest and grayer; not even moving their bones. In my point of view toward this poem, Sylvia Plath told us about the destitution which happened in everywhere, they are always with us. She tried to tell herself that they are unreal and it was only in a movie.

She also considered that the leader of the country just disparaged this problem. Actually, this is an urgent situation. But the government did not help them more. The thin people also always being blamed and they could do nothing, they were powerless. But their silence was the most dangerous thing. This is an amazing poem. Sylvia Plath used a deep intuition and knowledge of the world in his potry. Although there is a lot of differenciation interpretation about this poetry, those thing would not change the beauty of this poem.