Monday, March 23, 2009

Suicide Sequelae



Nicholas Hughes, Sylvia Plath’s Son Commits Suicide At 47 By Hanging

Today happens to be the 40th anniversary, to the date, of the suicide/homicide of Plath's husband Ted Hughes' mistress and daughter by gassing in an apparent copycat suicide.

The sad saga continues...

15 comments:

Z said...

QUITE a family saga, that's for sure. How ironic, I thought, this morning, when I heard about this.
Looking at that photo and realizing she couldn't have killed herself too much after that shot was taken, since the boy was still a baby when she did herself in, one wonders (especially after reading those words she wrote about him) how any mother could be THAT ravaged that she'd 'want' to leave him as she did.
horrible. Depression must be too difficult to understand for those of us who've been lucky enough not to suffer from it.
God rest his soul.

Jan said...

Unspeakably sad. He seems to have chosen the path to remain alone as his mother had left him alone.

cube said...

Z: Suicide leaves behind a legacy of sadness that is especially harmful to children.

Myself, I can't fathom a mother leaving behind two small children either, but like you stated, depression is hard to understand if you're lucky enough not to suffer from it.

Jan: Very sad. The only one left now is the sister, Frieda. I hope she can get passed all the sorrow she's seen.

Ananda girl said...

What a loss. I am sorry for his suffering. It must have been brutal.

Anonymous said...

Cube, DaBlade is on vacation or something so I am writing this to you. Don't you think he should have a guest Blogger instead of nothing on his site when he is out of town? Why couldn't you fill in for him when he needs a vacation??

Gifted Typist said...

That is so desperately sad

cube said...

Ananda girl: I know. It's very sad.

PIC-PIC: It sounds like a blast, but I can't spare the time right now. I'm lucky to post something here on a per diem basis.

cube said...

Gifted Typist: It's good to see that you survived your foray into the frozen tundra. Welcome back.

Reading about the aftermath of Plath's suicide has renewed my interest in reading her journals which are now out in unabridged form. I didn't bother with the abridged edition that her husband censored.

Anonymous said...

I alwsy let patients who are expressin suicidal thoughts know, if they are parents, that children of people who comit suicide are at much greater risk of suiciding themselves. It's a terrible thing to do to a child.

sue said...

I've always thought that the loneliest situation in life might be the moment before the person commits suicide.

The second loneliest must be for the parents. I knew some whose son did this and they hardly got through it.

cube said...

citizen of the world: Exactly. This poor kid not only had his mother commit suicide, but then his stepmother gassed herself along with his little stepsister.
That's got to be an awful lot of bad baggage to carry through life.

cube said...

Sue: Luckily I don't have much experience with suicide or the depression that leads to it, but I did run across a blogger who committed suicide on Christmas Eve.

Looking back at her last few posts, and especially the last one, was very haunting even though I wasn't familiar with her blog and only knew of her through another blogger.

In case anyone is interested... Liquid Illuzion's Blog

dmarks said...

I only knew them from "The Iron Giant" movie and "The Iron Man" musical by Peter Townshend. Both inspired by something Ted Hughes wrote.

Jen said...

I saw that, how sad.

I read The Bell Jar again recently for a book discussion with the homeschool moms.

Caz said...

Horribly, horribly sad.