Sylvia Plath-Superman and Paula Brown's New Snowsuit (1955)

1. BACKGROUND- TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE STORY AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL? (I.E. WHO IN REAL LIFE IS OTTO? HOW OLD WAS THE AUTHOR ‘WHEN THE WAR BEGAN’? (1941). DID SHE COME FROM WINTHROP? ATTEND ANNIE WARREN F GRAMMAR SCHOOL? (ETC)

Sylvia Plath was the same age as the narrater when World War 2 began in 1941. Her father was in fact named Otto, like the young girl in the story, and he too died when the girl was only young. Otto Plath died in 1940, the year before the war began, from a combination of advanced  diabeties and the gangrene that had infected his amputated leg. Sylvia Plath also live in Winthrop and attended Annie F. Warren Grammar School. It can be concluded that this short story is a true account of what happened to Sylvia Plath herself as a little girl.