One of the theories of Plath's work presented in Knoll's book "Chapters in a Mythology" is that Plath's poems reflect the struggle between Plath's warring "true" and "false" selves. In the same way, Knoll seems to be trying to serve to masters when writing her book. She writes of working closely and very well with the Hughes estate, something which is almost unheard of, considering most critics and biographer's of Plath only come head-to-head against the estate's manipulation and tight grasp on the rights to Plath's works. One arguement is that too much of her work is being transformed into a feminist liberation cause that Plath herself never took up.

For Knoll, the temptation to put in some feminist criticism was too great, as it sneaks in here and there, as she deconstructs such poems as "Rabbit Catcher" and "Moon and the Yew Tree" in the way in which the Hughes estate sees fit, sneaking in feminist thinking between the lines. What comes through ends up being a muddied critique with conflicting ideas trying to support themselves with the same evidence at hand. Knoll, like Plath, was trying to server to masters in the authorship of this book. However, unlike her subject, Knoll was unable to sucessfully convey the meaning sufficantly for either side.