Part Two: Chapter III Summary and Analysis

During her last year at Smith, when she met Ted, Sylvia was involved with a young man named Richard Sassoon. Although she was extremely attracted to Ted, he left for England with no mention of seeing her again. In a letter to her mother, she mentioned meeting Ted but reiterated her love for Richard, who apparently did not return her passion. In her journal entries, Sylvia lamented that if she couldn't be with Sassoon she would have to settle for someone else because she didn't want to be a "nun" and wanted to have children. Sylvia was in deep despair over Sassoon's abandonment of her.

When The Journals, which included this time period, were published, they were met with derision—first because of Ted's admission that he had lost a journal and secondly because...