The dolphin Sprout addresses her story, “A Letter to Sylvia Plath,” to the poet Sylvia Plath. She writes to Plath mostly because she appreciates the way that Plath writes about being a mother. In motherhood, Sprout thinks, humans and animals aren’t so different—human mothers have to connect to their body’s more animalistic processes, like when they’re nursing. Both Plath and Sprout die by suicide.
Sylvia Plath Quotes in Only the Animals
The Only the Animals quotes below are all either spoken by Sylvia Plath or refer to Sylvia Plath. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
A Letter to Sylvia Plath: Soul of Dolphin
Quotes
Perhaps you should be asking yourselves different questions. Why do you sometimes treat other people as humans and sometimes as animals? And why do you sometimes treat creatures as animals and sometimes as humans?
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sylvia Plath Quotes in Only the Animals
The Only the Animals quotes below are all either spoken by Sylvia Plath or refer to Sylvia Plath. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
A Letter to Sylvia Plath: Soul of Dolphin
Quotes
Perhaps you should be asking yourselves different questions. Why do you sometimes treat other people as humans and sometimes as animals? And why do you sometimes treat creatures as animals and sometimes as humans?
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis: