The Bell Jar

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This Bell Jar is a novel that truly captures the anxiety and isolation of depression. Though slow-paced at the beginning, the novel picks up near the end when Greenwood hits the pique of her mental disorder and gets placed on the road to recovery. The character dynamics change dramatically throughout as their lives and perspectives change. In addition, this novel contains many sexual and violent/dark scenes, giving readers a very real-life experience through reading. Mental disorders are not pretty, and Plath does well not to dress them up. She portrays depression for what it is: alienating, terrifying, and most of all, overwhelming. This is the story of a woman stricken by the disorder- a woman who overcomes it in order to live.

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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath follows the heart wrenching story of a young woman’s battle with depression. This novel is a must read as Plath’s use of characterization and symbolism bring the story to life. Overall, The Bell Jar is a timeless novel that comments on the idea of freedom through suffering. Life for young women in the 1950s sets the stage for this emotional novel of one girls bouts with insanity and thoughts of suicide. Women in this time period were just coming around to having lives outside of the home, such as having careers, other than being secretaries and teachers. Along with the upcoming freedom women were beginning to experience, this novel is semi-autobiographical of the life of Sylvia Plath as well. The plot of The Bell Jar mirrors Plath’s own life events such as interning at a magazine in New York City, developing depression and attempting suicide. Overall, realizing that this novel details parts of Sylvia Plath’s own life helps the reader to understand that the thoughts of Esther Greenwood are, in fact, the thoughts of a mentally unstable person. The characterization, symbols, and themes in The Bell Jar make this novel timeless. Esther Greenwood is the protagonist and narrator of the story. Since the novel is told from first person point of view the readers are able to be inside of Esther’s head and witness her slow mental deterioration. The characterization of Esther having low self confidence and believing that she had been “inadequate all along” (72), even though she comes from a normal family and has way above average grades, points out to the readers that depression can plague anyone. Furthermore, the descriptions Esther uses to explain why she wants to kill herself are chilling. Esther explains that “It was as if what [she] wanted to kill wasn’t in that skin or the thin blue pulse that jumped under [her] thumb, but somewhere else, deeper, more secret, and a whole lot harder to get at” (142). Overall, she does not want to die, but she wants to be rid of the part of her that is filled with this insanity. In addition, the symbolism helps with Esther’s characterization because she feels that she is trapped inside a bell jar, she is confined in an airless vacuum that she is unable to escape from. Esther’s peace only comes when “All the heat and fear had purged itself” (206) and “The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above [her] head. [She] was open to the circulating air” (206). Even though Esther is freed from the bell jar she knows that it is still there waiting to descend and make “the world itself...a bad dream” (227) again. Esther has a constant battle with herself for freedom in The Bell Jar, this fight for freedom through suffering is the underlying theme that envelopes the entire novel. Plath continually comments on the fact that to be free in life, one must suffer first. However, Plath brings her novel to an uplifting ending as Esther’s suffering comes to an end and she is “perfectly free” (232). All of these literary elements come together to make The Bell Jar an everlasting story. This novel is eternal because Esther is an ordinary young woman who is struck with depression at the height of her youth. Her story could be placed in any setting and any time period yet still achieve the same effects. Plath’s control of the literary elements of characterization and point of view pull the readers into the novel by allowing them to witness Esther’s downward spiral into the pits of insanity. In my opinion, The Bell Jar achieves its ultimate goal of revealing the horrifying truth that mental illness is not solely for the weak or disadvantaged, it can happen to anyone. Altogether, Sylvia Plath has written a timeless novel that utilizes characterization and symbolism to comment on the theme that in order to reach freedom, one must suffer first. The Bell Jar is an ultimate must read because it is raw, chilling and realistic. Overall, the larger point that Plath is trying to comment on in The Bell Jar is the idea that insanity does not prey on the deprived.

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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a well written novel that emphasizes the importance of freedom in life. By taking readers into a world where both mental and physical freedoms are at risk, this novel stresses freedom’s importance to individuals. The Bell Jar also emphasizes the chaos that can occur once freedom is taken away from an individual. The main character, Esther, experiences life while battling depression. However, this disease does not stop Plath from connecting readers to Esther. The ability to feel as though you are experiencing the disease right along with Esther is one of the most unique pieces that Plath was able to portray. This novel exceeded far beyond my expectations, and I believe it will satisfy any reader wanting to look at life through a different lens. Through Plath’s use of flashback and similes, she was able to create a fantastic novel that pulls readers right in, making them feel as though they are living through the same roller coaster of depression that Esther experiences. When reading this novel, it is important to keep in mind the time period that it was written in. Published in 1971, the roles between women and men in society were different from what they are today. At this time, it was expected of women to be mothers and perform the domestic duties in life. Men however, had the freedom to choose what they wanted to do as long as they supported their family’s needs. These roles shaped Esther’s view on physical freedoms, without realizing the mental freedoms depression was taking away from her. “So I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed, and afterward you went about numb as a slave in some private, totalitarian state”(69). This idea of having freedom taken away from Esther comes up multiple times throughout the novel, demonstrating the more powerful role men in society had at the time when this novel was written. From start to finish, readers witness Esther’s major transformations caused by her depression. Unlike many novels where coming of age starts at the bottom and works its way to the top, this novel’s coming of age works like a roller coaster, traveling in ups and downs all the way through. Readers watch as Esther falls from a happy time without depression to the moment when she hits rock bottom. “Then, at the rim of vision, it gathered itself, and in one sweeping tide, rushed me to sleep”(138). After Esther’s weakest moments, readers are then carried through her days on the road to recovery. “I had pretended I didn’t know why they were moving me from the hospital in my home town to a city hospital, to see what they would say”(143). While reading through this journey, the most remarkable aspect is how Plath is able to make the reader feel as though they are the main character. Plath’s use of flashbacks allow enough context for readers to infer what characters and events led Esther to depression. Plath’s use of similes also allows readers to compare their personal emotions to Esther’s depressed thoughts, allowing readers to experience Ether’s life with her. “I felt like a racehorse in a world without racetracks or a champion college footballer suddenly confronted by Wall Street and a business suit, his days of glory shrunk to a little gold cup on his mantel with a date engraved on it like the date on a tombstone”(62). This simile allows readers to relate their feelings to Esther’s feelings and try to understand what Ether’s life would be like. Personally, I feel that the author’s goal was to give readers the opportunity to live through a life with depression. With that goal in mind, Sylvia Plath accomplished it far above my expectations. I was amazed at Plath’s ability to allow me to relate to a character that was sick with depression so closely and understand what she was going through. Sylvia Plath was also successfully able to give readers enough background information through her use of flashback without explaining every detail that Esther had ever experienced. Readers were able to realize at what points Esther was either slowly falling or recovering from depression without having unrealistic major events that transformed her. This made the journey seem realistic to what a similar situation in life today would be like. By the great detail Plath provided in Esther’s personal thoughts and opinions, both her actions as well as her surroundings were convincing. When understanding the time that this novel was written, the concept of freedom and Esther’s constant fear of losing this freedom was understandable. This was successfully connected to Esther’s negative view on the majority of people and events in her life due to her sickness. Overall, I would highly recommend this novel to anyone in search of a novel that gives you a new perspective on life by taking you into a world where you live as though you are suffering from depression. Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar is a novel that questions the idea of freedom, both mental and physical. This idea of freedom is shown through the lack of physical freedoms Esther felt she had in the world, as well as the mental freedoms taken away from her due to her depression. Plath’s ability to successfully relate readers to Esther and her depression allows readers to understand the importance of freedom in life, as well as the problems that arise when this freedom is taken away.

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The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, is a novel that holds heavy elements like depression, suicide, and sex, therefore it is not a novel meant for those who are discomforted easily. The story involves Esther, a girl trapped in a world of unreality and uncertainty which leads her to attempt suicide. Sylvia Plath traces experiences from her own life in this text. The Bell Jar is a chilling, yet brilliant story that brings light to the world of depression. As previously stated, Sylvia Plath includes autobiographical elements in this book. She, like the protagonist in the story, was born and raised near Boston. Plath’s father died when she was 8 years old; similar to how Esther loses her father at the age of 9 in The Bell Jar. When Plath began to write this novel, she based much of it on her own life. Plath eventually married famous poet Ted Hughes. As their relationship turned to turmoil and their marriage ended, she fell into a depression just as her novel The Bell Jar was being published in England. Just weeks after the publication, Plath committed suicide. After being recognized as an accomplished poet, this text, along with her death, brought Plath to light as a cherished novelist. The Bell Jar follows the narration of Esther Greenwood. She begins the story in New York, studying with a fashion magazine just towards the end of her college years. In this setting, Esther introduces readers to Buddy Willard. Esther dates Buddy throughout the majority of her story, but she informs readers right away that “[She] did look down on Buddy Willard” (52) because he “was a hypocrite” (52). After spending time in New York, where she clearly doesn’t fit in, Esther returns home to Boston to stay with her mother. Esther’s glimmer of hope for the summer is shattered when she returns home to learn the news that she had not been accepted to a writing class that she has been dreaming about. She soon plunges into an intense depression at this point. Esther can’t get herself to read, write, or sleep for months on end. She begins to see a psychiatrist, but she grows wary of him when he prescribes her with a horrific shock treatment. Esther then begins to seriously contemplate methods of suicide. She considers hanging and drowning herself. She even thinks, “One wrist, then the other wrist. Three motions, if you counted changing the razor from hand to hand. Then I would step into the tub and lie down” (147). She finally decides to take the whole bottle of sleeping pills her psychiatrist has prescribed to her. Her mother finds her in the basement unconscious and she is then sent to a city hospital. Esther gains fame throughout Boston from her suicide attempt. After a short period of time, her scholarship benefactor Philomena Guinea decides to send her to a luxurious facility for mental rehabilitation. Here, Esther begins a process of rebirth and regrowth. She coincidentally meets a past acquaintance named Joan at this institution. Esther doesn’t like Joan very much primarily because Joan irritates her, but secondarily because she has a suspicious relationship with Buddy Willard. Near the end of the novel, Esther decides to throw away her virginity and she sleeps with a stranger she has only known for one day. She ends up getting seriously hurt from the sexual activity and calls Joan for help. Joan, who witnesses and nurses Esther until she reaches the hospital, grows weak from the traumatizing event and decides to kill herself. Esther is deeply wounded by Joan’s death because she realizes that even though she found Joan annoying, she was her only real friend. Esther finishes out her time in the hospital and decides to go back to school. She feels revived and in touch with reality now that she has been rehabilitated, but she fears that the bell jar will close over her again someday. The Bell Jar isn’t a plot-heavy text, but it is definitely a book worth reading. The author does a superb job of displaying the thought processes and torments one suffers through depression. She presents a chilling tone throughout the entire story by having Esther narrate her suicide in such a nonchalant manner. At one point, Esther claims, “That morning I had tried to kill myself. I had taken the silk cord of my mother’s yellow bathrobe as soon as she left for work, and, in the amber shade of the bedroom, fashioned it into a knot that slipped up and down on itself. It took me a long time to do this, because I was poor at knots and had no idea how to make a proper one” (158). Esther is so logistic about her suicide attempts; she narrates them in such a way that hits the readers hard about her seriousness. The book not only approaches suicide, but it also approaches sex in a very grave manner. Plath holds no reigns on addressing Esther’s painful loss of virginity. Plath uses diction choices like “But as Irvin drove me through the barren, snow-banked streets I felt the warm seepage let itself through the dam of the towel and my skirt and onto the car seat” (230). Relating the towels to snow makes the blood seem all the more violent and powerful. Sylvia Plath creates a vivid illustration of controversial matters in her story The Bell Jar. The Bell Jar is an effective portrayal of the trenches of depression. Sylvia Plath uses her language and narrative style to relate this story to her own life, making it all the more powerful. The Bell Jar is an incredibly well-written piece of art.

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The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, takes the reader through Esther Greenwood’s life from June 1953 to January 1954 as she battles through the downward spiral of her life that is depression. By telling the novel through Esther’s eyes, the reader truly gets a sense of what depression is like. Esther lives in New York where glamour and appearance is everything, but no one sees how imperfect her life truly is. As the novel starts, Esther is a young woman, attending college on scholarship, and living in the lap of luxury. Slowly, however, she falls into depression through the continuous hardships she must face. The novel dives into the inescapable reality of depression and the problems of self-image caused by society, ultimately asking if recovery is actually possible. In order to create the reality of depression for the reader, Plath describes Ether’s world with extreme vividness and compares her life to ideas the reader can understand, describing them in elegant but simple terms. Esther almost justifies her suicidal thoughts through these descriptions. Esther can see “the years of [her] life spaced along a road in the form of telephone poles, threaded together by wires. [She] counted one, two, three… nineteen telephone poles, and then wires dangled into space, and try as [she] would, [she] couldn’t see a single pole beyond the nineteenth” (123). Esther sees no future past nineteen years old. She is so young, but in her mind, her life is already over. She even decides how she would end it saying, “When they asked some old Roman philosopher or other how he wanted to die, he said he would open his veins in a warm bath. I thought it would be easy, lying in the tub and seeing redness flower from my wrists, flush after flush through the clear water, till I sank to sleep under a surface gaudy as poppies” (147). Death becomes such an easy concept for Esther, and she makes it sound almost beautiful. Not only do images create her reasoning for suicide, but they also help the reader comprehend the confusing, intangible thoughts of a victim of depression. “I felt very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo” (3). The reader can better understand how the world just seems to hang around Esther; how life can move around her while she is at a standstill. Esther is trapped inside a bell jar where “the world itself is the bad dream” (237). One problem is that she cannot choose a path for her life. She says; “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t wake up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet ” (77) She is so indecisive that she’s dying trying to choose between all the amazing possibilities for her life. However, the longer she waits, more opportunities pass her by. But what caused her to feel so dull inside? “The trouble was, I had been inadequate all along, I simply hadn’t thought about it” (77). Part of her depression is caused by the self-image she creates due to society. She feels inadequate, so she does not see value in living. As she watches her friends, she judges her own life. Her friend, Doreen, starts a relationship, and Esther thinks “there is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other” (16). Esther’s own loneliness is compounded by the excitement of the relationships around her. She feels demoralized because of the gap that exists in that part of her life. Esther refers to herself with forceful, harsh words like “inadequate” and “demoralizing” because the society around her forces her to view her own life as worthless. Through the vividness and forcefulness of Esther’s thoughts in The Bell Jar, the reader is immersed inside her head, creating an experience that is almost real; a story so genuine and tangible that the reader feels like they are suffering the depression with her, battling it with her. The reader’s eyes can truly be opened to the cold, dark existence of those suffering from depression. It draws the reader so close to Esther that they share a piece of her life. The reader NEEDS to know what happens next to Ester because they NEED to know she is okay, making it impossible to put the book down. In the end, Sylvia Plath leaves the reader to judge whether or not recovery is truly possible, or, will Esther forever remain an empty shell, living through the motions of the rest of her life, trapped in the bell jar.

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The novel, The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath is a fictional autobiography that in many ways mirrors the life of Plath. The main character of the book, Ester Greenwood undergoes similar struggles and feelings that Plath experienced during her lifetime. The setting of the novel is also key in understanding the similarities between Plath and Ester’s character. In the novel, Ester grows up in Boston, as does Plath, both attended prestigious women’s colleges and both want to purse a career in poetry and writing. Both Ester and Plath experience a gradual decent into depression and multiple attempts of suicide due to the experience of failure, oppression of women, and the pressures of society. The novel is set in the mid 1950’s, a time when women did not have an equal place in society to men. The book begins in New York, where Ester is living for the summer, working on a scholarship as an intern for a fashion magazine. She is living every girl’s dream, yet she isn’t showing it. She doesn’t take in the experience as the other interns do, and instead of helping her grow, it sets her back into her first stages and signs of depression. After New York, Ester moves back home and encounters her first major setback, the denial into a summer writing program. After this, Esters life tailspins downward, and she falls deeper into depression and mental instability. Ester’s physiatrist refers her to a mental institution where she is given shock treatments, traumatizing her and only making her condition worse. After multiple suicide attempts Ester is admitted into the city’s mental hospital. After failing to recover there, she is admitted into a private mental hospital where she is eventually able to slowly make progress towards recovery. Sylvia Plath uses literary elements such as diction, symbolism and foreshadowing to convey the novels theme. Plath’s writing helps to convey the tone of the novel through her casual, yet intricate style. In the beginning of the book, Ester describes her feelings as “the way a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo” (3). This interesting diction depicts exactly how Ester feels about her life. She feels as though the world is passing her by, while she is helplessly being tossed along by life’s twist and turns, never grasping ahold of what she really wants for herself. The book’s symbolism comes alive as she falls further into depression and a state of mental instability. Plath uses a bell jar to symbolize Sylvia’s feeling and belief that she is trapped by her mind “under the same glass bell jar” (185). The bell jar is Sylvia’s madness and mental illness trapping her “in the bell jar, blank and stopped as dead as a baby, the world itself is a bad dream” (237), and keeping her from living a normal life. Ester feels trapped by her own emotions, causing her to feel suffocated, leading to her depression and almost successful suicide attempts. Plath also uses foreshadowing to convey the novels major themes and tone. In the beginning of the novel Plath mentions multiple times Ester’s fascination with the Rosenberg’s case and how she “couldn’t get them out of [her] mind” (1). Her curiosity and slight obsession over the details of the Rosenberg case represent her own decent into depression and attempts of suicide. By Plath adding in allusions to the Rosenberg’s death, she is immediately alluding to Ester’s own later attempts to kill herself, and giving the reader insight into what is later to come in the novel. Plath uses all three literary elements of diction, symbolism, and foreshadowing to convey the novel’s tone, depict a larger meaning, and, most importantly, to convey the story’s overall theme. The major theme that Plath emphasizes in this book is the realization of society’s expectations compared to Ester’s feelings toward her place in society. The novel is set in the 1950’s, a period in which women did not fully have the same place in society as men did. Society is trying to fit Ester into a particular mold of a married woman, whose job is to raise a family and care for the children and a husband. Ester doesn’t want the typical things a woman in the 1950’s is expected to have. Instead, Ester wants a career in writing and editorial, she wants to be independent and free from marriage. This causes her to see only her imperfections compared to “normal society and women”, and causes her to be singled out as different compared to the rest of the women. This theme is meant to recognize the oppression of women during this time. Plath uses Ester as a way to convey her ideas about the role of women in society. As Ester is one-by-one turning away marriage, college, and the “typical” role a woman should play, she is pushing against society even more, creating friction as her oppositions stand. The pressure society put on women to fill a certain role causes Ester to think “[she] had been inadequate all along, [she] simply hadn’t thought about it” (77). The pressure that is placed on Ester to fit into the typical woman role in society causes her to fall into depression, giving her the feeling that she does not fit into the molds of society, nor does she want to. Ester wants to follow her own path, but because of social restrictions and the oppression of women, she instead falls down a road of suicidal depression. I would definitely recommend this book to all readers. The underlying themes and messages that Plath is conveying are understandable by both male and females from all ages. Sylvia Plath successfully captures the essence of the time period while highlighting the struggles that society was facing. Through diction, symbolism, and foreshadowing Play shows how the oppression of women in the 1950’s society forced some women into despair and depression because to the conforms of society. In this novel, Plath gets the reader to think more deeply of the influence of society’s expectations and the dramatic and deathly impact they can have on people such as Ester and herself.

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The Bell Jar written by Sylvia Plath is from the first person perspective of Esther Greenwood. Esther Greenwood is a young, intelligent, beautiful woman who has been lucky enough to study in New York City for a fashion magazine. She is living the dream of every girl her age, yet can’t seem to enjoy it. She breaks down and finds herself in several mental institutions. This novel can be read by anyone of any gender or age because it focuses on the human condition and the fragile balance of sanity and insanity. I personally would suggest this novel for teenage and young adult women, because as women we can easily relate to the female perspective. Women can also relate to the obsessive thinking about glamour, men, and ourselves, because we are secretly vain. I loved this novel and found it insightful and wonderfully written. Plath digs deep into the psyche of a young girl who is falling apart and we can all painfully relate to this feeling of madness on some level. Esther Greenwood is very hardworking and works to achieve flawless grades her entire life in order to have success. She studies in New York City and befriends Betsy and Doreen. She is surrounded by glamorous dinners, shows, and people, yet feels alone. Her boyfriend Buddy Willard is far from a true love, and her loneliness and fear of the future lead her to fall apart. The Bell Jar analyzes how society can tear down the most unexpected people; Plath displays this central theme through foreshadowing, language, and tone. Foreshadowing in the novel is prominent from the beginning. In the first lines of the novel, Esther obsesses over the executions of the Rosenburgs. “I’m stupid about executions. The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick” (Plath, 1). This line foreshadows the shock treatment that Esther later encounters under Doctor Gordon’s supervision. Her irrational fear of being electrocuted becomes very real and excruciating for her. Foreshadowing develops Plath’s theme of the unexpected falling apart. Society often views the worried to be more capable of avoiding bad events happening to them because of their concern, but in Esther’s case the opposite occurred. Plath integrated this foreshadowing to create an even more agonizing downfall for Esther. Language also expresses the grief Esther experiences. Plath’s use of diction and syntax not only make the reading more intriguing to read, but her language develops the plot in an artistic way. “I wanted change and excitement and to shoot off in all directions myself, like the colored arrows from a Fourth of July rocket” (83). Here Esther is expressing her need to fill the void inside of her. Plath uses a simile to elude this excitement that Esther longs for to Fourth of July fireworks. Plath’s image creates is a change that would be bursting with color, in a way bringing Esther back to color, in turn out of her darkness. Plath’s word choices like this one throughout the novel peel back Esther’s most inner thoughts and desires. Through Plath’s writing style, tone is created in the novel. The tone of The Bell Jar is a detached and frustrated tone. “(I felt very still an very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo)” (3). This quote summarizes the tone of the novel. She feels very empty and detached from reality as if she is just “moving dully along”. She is also very frustrated, because she does not want to be in this unhappy state. Esther understands that there is something wrong with her and the most painful part about her experience is that she cannot change this. Esther’s battle to become reattached to society leads to frustration and overwhelming depression. The tone remains constant except for a few moments of clarity and hope that carry Esther to the light at the end of the tunnel. Sylvia Plath never intended for this book to be published, and it wasn’t published until after her death. This novel has been argued to be an insight to Sylvia Plath’s mind. I believe this to be true. She writes so intensely and as readers we feel the pain through the dark eyes of Esther Greenwood. The book is suggesting that recovery is always possible from such overwhelming sadness, but the balance to keep joy is always an uphill battle. Plath convincingly expresses that we are all in the bell jar, and we must all work hard to keep ourselves sane, because it can all fall apart when we least expect it.

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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath explains the life of Esther Greenwood who is a strong, young woman who gradually grows mentally ill. As Esther’s character is revealed, readers get an idea of the mostly male dominated society and how her world becomes corrupt. Esther herself explains the story to the reader and explains every thought or idea that runs through her head. As Esther starts out in New York City living in a women-only hotel she seemed to be an average girl finding her place in the world. As Esther explains her encounters with new people she begins her downward spiral that eventually leads her to various mental hospitals. The reader gets a good idea of what a person with Esther’s mental problems goes through, as she mentions the significance of the bell jar itself. A major theme that is highlighted in this story is the treatment of women in the society and the gender roles and Esther’s thoughts and actions clearly convey this theme. This book shows the deep thoughts of a mentally ill woman struggling to understand and find her place. Plath conveys the character’s struggles very well in this story and keeps the reader hooked into the dark world of Esther Greenwood. This story of a mentally unstable woman is still engaging today because it doesn’t matter on the time in which it as written, the story could still be relatable for some people in the world today. One symbol that is obvious is the bell jar itself. Esther mentions the feeling of being stuck in a bell jar or the feeling of it hovering over her. It creates a visual to the reader of how Esther feels trapped in her own world and can’t experience or enjoy anything outside of it. It lets the reader wonder what it would feel like to be Esther and be on the inside looking out as she feel trapped in her own world and can’t escape to the real world. Esther was treated poorly by many; and that led to her own psychological destruction. When Esther is in the mental hospital, she introduces the bell jar idea. She says, “Wherever I sat-on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok-I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air” (185). This quote explains her personal anguish and frustration in being trapped in her own world and can’t get out. The bell jar is the main symbol in this story, but there are also some motifs that also add to the meaning of the story. A motif mentioned in this story are the various headlines scattered throughout the book. Some were stories she had seen and some were her own. These headlines explain her fascination with death or the mental problems of others, other than herself. One example of these headlines was, “SUICIDE SAVED FROM 7-STORY LEDGE” (136). As the story goes on and her friend shows Esther one of Esther’s own headlines, it exemplifies Esther’s concern with her mental wellness. One that highlights Esther’s story is “GIRL FOUND ALIVE!” (199). These various headlines gave readers the idea of who Esther really was and foreshadowed to what may or may not happen in the story later. A theme that is relevant from beginning to end is the gender roles of the men and women in society. Esther explains many instances in which her or her friend(s) are taken advantage of by men. (INSERT QUOTE/EVENT) One instance explains the birth of a baby and how a woman was in so much pain, but she was given a pill that would take away all her pain by a male. Esther goes on to say, “I thought it sounded just like the sort of drug a man would invent. Here is a woman in terrible pain, obviously feeling every bit of it or she wouldn’t groan like that, and she would go straight home and start another baby, because the drug would make her forget how bad the pain had been” (66). This event highlights the power men had over women and how it bothers Esther very badly and caused her mental instability. The author successfully conveys the character of a mentally unstable woman trying to find her place in society. She constantly explains her thoughts and actions well and very detailed making this book hard to put down. Readers are able to get a glimpse inside a psychologically unstable woman who did extreme harm to her body. These events caused her to unwind, but it also explains how she tried to fix herself and finally make her mark in her society.

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Sylvia's description of this girl's journey is the most moving composition I have ever read. She uses her words almost as weapons, offering you no option but to see the world through Esther's dark eyes. While Esther's idealism offers light, she cannot seem to find any actuality in her idealism and grows dark. Knowing Plath's story and end, having read collections of her journal entries, I find the story to be less fiction than is suggested. There is beauty in such a sad story. It seems that Plath had a heart so big she couldn't bear to let it live. Among her writings, this piece offers something more concrete than just her poetry or journal entries: her perception of her whole story rather than just pieces of her thoughts.

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I couldn't remember very many books I read in 2010 due to my awful memory, but the Bell Jar was one of my favorites. It started out a little too feminine for me, but after the main character's life (based off of Sylvia Plath's own life) starts spiraling downhill the book becomes very interesting and made me want to read until the very end. It showed how a person's life can change, no matter how "normal" they seem in the beginning.

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I hadn't read this autobiographical novel since high school, so I figured maybe it was time to re-read it. It was actually quite different from what I'd remembered; I'd forgotten that more than half of the book takes place BEFORE Esther goes to the hospital. I'd also forgotten -- or just hadn't picked up before -- how mordantly funny the book is. Esther's observations about the people around her and her reactions to them are incredibly witty, and even her description of a depressive's twisted thinking is tinged with the humor of someone looking back wryly. The book is sad and serious as well, but since I had missed the humor before, that was what I ended up concentrating on. There was much that I found confusing the first time I read this book. Plath's description of the slow slide into depression and the incredible inertia involved is SO spot-on, but I think in some ways it would be confusing and somewhat incomprehensible to someone who doesn't have more intimate knowledge of the experience. I could be wrong, though; it may just be that it resonated much more deeply this time around than it did when I first read the book.