The Applicant Analysis

First, are you our sort of a person?
Do you wear
A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch,
A brace or a hook,
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, it's a poultice.
You have an eye, it's an image.
My boy, it's your last resort.
Will you marry it, marry it, marry it.

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This poem is a very humorous verse that shows the author’s sarcastic comments about marriage. Plath makes a declaration against stereotypical ideals that are imposed by society about the true meanings of what a marriage relationship is. In other words the author is criticizing society’s typical ideas about what a wife and a husband should be.

| Posted on 2009-08-11 | by a guest

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This poem is written by one of the most psychotic, depressive maniacal feminists (male haters) ever to exist. The poem itself highlights her saddistic lifestyle and views on life. Whilst marriage itself is too often stereotyped and well misjudged, Plath makes it seem as though marriage is an inescapable nightmare. Society may only hope that mentally unstable and harmful individuals such as her cannot do not rummage through the streets.

| Posted on 2009-03-01 | by a guest

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Sylvia Plath’s “The Applicant”
Gladys Malibiran, Junior
The well-renowned poet Sylvia Plath had gained a high level of recognition not only through her potent verses but even more so through her tumultuous life, plagued by agonizing circumstances. However, the poem “The Applicant “ is a reflection of another depth of emotion, seemingly incongruous to torment, called humor. More precisely, her particular style is intermingled with sarcasm and acerbic commentaries on the state of marriage. By exemplifying stereotypical roles, Plath’s words embody a caustic irony. This, in turn, reflects the decade in which the poem was written, a momentous era of awakening of repressed feminism in the 1960s. Marriage, therefore, is portrayed as an absurdly narrow existence perpetrated by weak men and obliviously tolerant women within cultural paradigms.
With this poem, Plath makes a statement against the ideals society imposes on what true functions a wife and husband serve. Women are generally characterized as docile, fragile creatures who should serve as unwavering epitomes of loyalty. Mockingly, the poet suggests that such women eventually become automated, mechanical versions of a person. Men, similarly, are then portrayed to desire and accept these qualities as inherent or necessary to being good women. Plath also calls marriage the man’s “last resort,” implying the impotence or incompleteness for which the woman would be able to compensate.
There is a contestable argument to what the author implies to be more at fault. Her judgments are tainted with a note of contempt for both viewpoints. Not intentionally vivid in imagery, the poem does invoke stark emotions with words like “thumb shut,” “dissolve,” “naked,” and “black and stiff.” The opening lines alone form ridiculous mental pictures that are effective for shock value. Collectively, there results a humorous “sales pitch” atmosphere created by diction such as “guarantee,” “waterproof, shatterproof, proof against fire and bombs” and “I can sew, cook, talk, talk, talk... .”
Utilizing humor as her vehicle, Sylvia Plath encapsulates the faulty rationale of the established institution and its consequent corruption of love. To her it has become a practical rather than emotional bond; it has entered the realm of an “applicant” rather than a partner or spouse. Through the dialog format of the poem and the questioning tone, Plath points accusingly at apathy and conformity as the culprits. The presentation may be facetious, but the reader comes away with the disturbing realization that this situation is not so laughably uncommon. With bittersweet words and ironic humor, Plath reminds us of the dangers of living for someone instead of with someone.

| Posted on 2009-02-02 | by a guest

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Women’s traditional nurturing role has limited and oppressed women’s identities and opportunities for centuries, as shown in “The Applicant”. Sylvia Plath’s own context and perception is conveyed through the bitter and sarcastic tone and the subject matter of the poem. By showing women as merely objects, not capable of autonomous decision, they are established as victims of men, disposable and of only material value: “But in twenty-five years she’ll be silver/In fifty, gold.” Although shown as a precious entity, this objectification of women underpins the entire poem, aiming to show how women are viewed by society. The title “The Applicant” reflects how the sanctity of marriage and love is tarnished by this victimisation of women. Women’s restricted roles are also described: “It can sew, it can cook, /It can talk, talk, talk.” The adverse circumstances under which women must live renders them victims, and they must submit to men and fulfil these roles in order to appeal to men and redeem their worth. Not only does this show men as the dominant social group but reinforces how women are required to earn their value over time: “To bring teacups and roll away headaches/And do whatever you tell it.” Their value is defined as a sense of security and stability in life: “It is waterproof, shatterproof, proof/Against fire and bombs through the roof.” Humour is used throughout in its caustic criticism of the institution of marriage and male-female relationships. The constant repetition of the pronoun ‘it’ reduces the sense of the woman’s identity, establishing her anonymity and silencing her perspective. The woman who fulfils these domestic roles is seen to be adequate: “It works, there is nothing wrong with it.” The feminist movement in the nineteen sixties inspired much of Sylvia Plath’s disgust at women’s oppression and how they are victims in a male-dominant society.

| Posted on 2008-06-24 | by a guest