“The Woman in Cabin 10” by Ruth Ware (post 3): Protagonist reads “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, who also had both depression and multiple personality

At the end, the protagonist, Lo Blacklock, a writer, has survived a harrowing threat to her life, has reconciled with her boyfriend, and looks like she will live happily ever after, except for one thing:

One of the books Lo had brought with her to the cruise ship was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Ruth Ware highlights this fact by mentioning it three times (1, pp. 250, 261, 264), but its meaning is not explained.

Sylvia Plath was a writer who committed suicide.

Ruth Ware may have thought that the one and only connection between Lo and Plath was depression, since Plath had been traditionally diagnosed with depression, and Lo has taken antidepressant medication for many years.

But Plath, like Lo (see previous posts), probably had both depression and multiple personality. Indeed, Plath’s symptoms of multiple personality are known in much greater detail. Search “Plath” and “Bell Jar.”

One of Lo’s favorite books, Winnie-the-Pooh, includes the character Tigger (1, p. 287). I don’t think any literary allusion about multiple personality was intended, but, coincidentally, “Tigger” had been used as a name by one of Doris Lessing’s alternate personalities. Search “Lessing.”

1. Ruth Ware. The Woman in Cabin 10. New York, Scout Press, 2016.