In my sophomore year of high school, I found myself in my French teacher's classroom one morning, in the middle of homeroom. I asked her if I could borrow her copy of "The Bell Jar," the one she had taught from when she was an English teacher. It was still speckled throughout the pages with her notes, her black scrawl decorating the margins. I took it back home with me and finished it within a week.
To say that Plath's writings have taken on a life of their own is an understatement. After her 1963 suicide, Plath's works were rediscovered by the women's liberation movement and by an entire new generation of readers. After I finished "The Bell Jar," I found myself fostering an overwhelming fascination with Plath as many other teenage girls have experienced. I dug up every bit of information on her I could and consumed it all in one fell swoop. My room at home is filled with biographies on Plath and her life and I bought all her works I had purchased with me to college.
I first discovered Smith College through my reading of "The Bell Jar." In my research frenzy, I discovered that Plath attended there and excelled academically. The character of Esther Greenwood, the protagonist, was a reflection of Plath herself and the depression she spiraled into in the summer of 1953. The school Esther attends is heavily based off of Smith. Knowing this, I put the school in the back of my mind, saying I would go back to it when time came to apply for colleges my senior year.
Senior year eventually came and I mentioned Smith to my counselor and the president of my high school. Both encouraged me to apply since it had strong programs in English and a concentration in Translation Studies, which I had been looking for. Along with eleven other colleges, I applied to Smith and waited to hear back in the Spring.
In the downtime, between applications and acceptances, I revisited "The Bell Jar" and Plath's other poetry. While reading, I couldn't help but think to myself, I might go to the same college as Sylvia Plath. Despite the fact that Plath wasn't the sole reason I applied to Smith, I cannot deny the fact that she was a reason in some respect. I was and still am constantly denying the fact that I applied because I was a Plath mega-fan, but the idea of being able to attend the same college as a literary hero of mine inspired me and made me want to follow in her footsteps.
I did not expect going to Smith. I like to imagine that the institution ultimately picked me, as opposed to me picking it. I just so happened to end up living in the same area of campus that she did when she was a Smith student. Knowing that my favorite writer and a personal inspiration for me was once in my position is uniquely exhilarating. On a visit to the Mortimer Rare Books Collection in Neilson Library, I saw the original draft of her poem "Ariel" and was incredibly moved. I am hardly the only Plath fan at Smith. There are many of us; as I've said before, Sylvia is the ultimate Smith recruiter.
