Andrea Hewes
ENG 102
Essay #2
14 September 2011
Redefining History
In the bible one of Jesus Christ’s miracles that he performs is raising Lazarus from the dead. In Sylvia Plath’s poem” Lady Lazarus” she takes the circumstances of the day and what she sees and compares it to this same miracle. With all those Jewish people being gathered day after day to be sent to concentration camps, it is like a reoccurring death and resurrection. Except there is no miracle of the day, the faces are all different only the circumstances and process remain the same. Plath, because she is female, relates the most to the women and girls of various ages being gathered up as if like cattle. From the beginning to the end she describes the merciless gathering and deaths of millions of people and ironically describes the experience in her poem “Lady Lazarus.”
In the beginning Plath starts her poem as though she is Jewish and being gathered by her enemies, it was usually done in groups even entire families. “I have done it again, One year in every ten” (Plath Lines 1-2). No matter where they hid it seemed as though they knew just where to find them, no hiding place was safe. There were certain physical characteristics that could give away where they belonged. This was evident in a few lines of her poem, “my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade” (Plath lines 4-5). Their olive skin and distinguished facial features were easily spotted letting the Nazi’s know that you were a Jew. “My right foot A paperweight,” (Plath lines 6-7) signifying that they were resistant, they didn’t want to go. They fought because they didn’t want to leave behind what they had, for the unknown. However, realizing that there was no use in fighting they showed no emotion to present themselves strong in the sight of their enemies; “My face a featureless, fine Jew linen. Peel off the napkin O my enemy, Do I terrify” (Plath lines 8-12)? With these few lines Sylvia Plath no doubt makes a comparison of weakness and strength. A dominant people overpowering what they saw as a weaker people.
With the next few stanzas Plath describes what it was like to be a woman at that time, ripped from family whether that was parents and siblings, or a husband and children. Caged in a concentration camp to be raped, beaten, and humiliated by their captors hoping that it will somehow end. “The sour breath Will vanish in a day. Soon, soon the flesh The grave cave will be At home on me” (Plath lines 14--18). She then describes the same type of person in a different part of the experience, being brought to the concentration camps. All earthly possessions taken ripped away from their loved ones to be beaten and broken in front of anyone that wanted to see, as if they were animals at a circus for entertainment. “This is Number Three. What a trash…The peanut –crunching crowd Shoves in to see” (Plath lines 22-23, 25-27). Did those that watched as the events unfolded know what was taking place inside those gates? Never will there be any evident as such, they could have known and just looked the other way. Maybe all those in the audience really were ignorant of what was happening to other human beings close by.
Sylvia Plath uses the following lines to describe what happens when the body is worked and malnourished. Talking of those in those camps forced to work from day to night, “These are my hands My knees I may be skin and bone” (Plath lines 31-33). It is no wonder that the following stanzas are describing death, wanting to die, dreaming of it every night; “Dying Is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well” (Plath lines 43-45). When morning comes for some they are disappointed knowing what is ahead for them that day, “Comeback in broad day To the same place, the same face, the same brute” (Plath lines 52-53). And the days that will follow when either they are freed through the front gate or, the more likely, death.
Now for this stronger people they took pride in the dominance of these imprisoned people as if they were not a part of the same human race. Sylvia Plath writes in her poem the humanizing of these dying people, “For the eying of my scars, there is a charge For the hearing of my heart – It really goes” (Plath lines 58-60). Their enemies did not care that they had a heart, or feelings, or anything else for that matter. They enjoyed watching them suffer and did everything possible to make sure that they did suffer. However, everyone has their braking point the point where they can no longer take any more physically. There spirit and their souls can no longer survive the humiliation, and the pain. So what happens when the toys are broken? Plath writes about it in the last stanzas of her poem; “Ash, ash- You poke and stir. Flesh, bone, there is nothing there- A cake of soap, A wedding ring, A gold filling” (Plath lines 73-78). It is very sad and full of heartache and despair, but it is almost as if Sylvia Plath in her poem allows those that were tortured to death have the last laugh. She starts first by addressing those who believe they have had the right to destroy these people, but then calls them what they really are; “Herr God, Herr Lucifer Beware Beware. Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air” (Plath lines 79-84). She warns them that in the end they will get their revenge.
There was so much heartache and pain that the Holocaust brought about, history has marked the event in hopes that it will never come to pass again. Millions of people were slaughtered as if they were nothing more than animals. I do not understand how such a so called civilized species could do these horrific things to their own, while others sat idly by and did nothing. Sylvia Plath does a beautiful job in allowing revenge for a people that will never have one, in her written words. However, will that bring back any of those that lost their lives during that time? It happened and we all know that it happened; Sylvia Plath has not been the only one that has written about those horrific events. The written word, the photographs, and even some survivors testify to us all everyday how cruel we can be to one another. So all we can do at this point is continue to read and remember. All we can do is never allow this type of suffering and carnage to ever happen again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust
Work Cited
Plath, Sylvia. “Lady Lazarus.” Collected Poems. Ted Hughes. HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. 198
When I begin a paper usually with a pen and piece of paper I write down different points that I want to portray in my paper. I then go through the different information, whether it is in a book or different types of literature, and make little notes. Meaning I do research and collect whatever information I can on the different points I am going to make. Then I arrange the information on paper creating a topic for each of my paragraphs. Once I have decided what I want each paragraph to say, then I start at the beginning trying to tie my paragraph topics together. My thesis statement and my ending paragraph are usually the hardest things for me to write, so it takes me a little longer to write those as it does the body of the paper. When I am finished I always read my paper out loud. Then I read it out loud to my husband, by doing this I always find things in my paper that need to be fixed or re-worded. My husband will then read it so he can help me fix grammar and punctuation errors. If I have time I will email it to my brother-in-law, who is an English professor at Yavapai, and he will read it for me and suggest any changes that he thinks should be made. I always revise, because let’s face it I am not a professional writer and there is always room for improvement.
