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My mother had taught shorthand and typing to support us since my father died, and secretly she hated it and hated him for dying and leaving no money because he didn't trust life insurance salesmen.
Sylvia Plath
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the struggles and sacrifices a mother makes for her family after the loss of her husband.

In this poignant reflection, Sylvia Plath reveals the complexity of grief and obligation through her mother's experience after the father's death. The mother's resentment towards her deceased husband stems from the financial burden left in his absence, highlighting the challenges faced by single parents who must navigate the weight of responsibility while grappling with personal sorrow and vulnerability related to both love and loss.

Themes

MotherGriefSacrificeLossFamilyFinancial Burden

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about perseverance, I might say, 'As Sylvia Plath noted about her mother, sometimes we must face challenges with resilience.'

More from Sylvia Plath

...we shall board our imagined ship and wildly sail among sacred islands of the mad till death shatters the fabulous stars and makes us real.
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The hardest thing, I think, is to live richly in the present, without letting it be tainted & spoiled out of fear for the future or regret for a badly-managed past.
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It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative--which ever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it.
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You walked in, laughing, tears welling confused, mingling in your throat. How can you be so many women to so many people, oh you strange girl?
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I keep wanting to crawl back into the womb.
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It's the living, the eating, the sleeping that everyone needs. Ideas don't matter so much after all. My three best friends are Catholic. I can't see their beliefs, but I can see the things they love to do on earth. When you come right down to it, I do believe in the freedom of the individual.
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