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Depression In The Bell Jar

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The Survival of Depression
Depression is often referred to the “common cold” of mental illness because it effects more than nineteen million Americans with in a single year (Cervoij). Although the symptoms of depression usually don't entirely go away, about eighty percent of Americans agree that treatment has helped them (Goldberg). In Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar, the protagonist Esther Greenwood, experiences what it is like to go through depression. Sylvia Plath’s novel not only expresses the profound effect depression had on Esther, but proves that she was able to regain her strength back through care and recovery. Sylvia Plath was a novelist, and an American poet. She was born on October 27th, 1932 in Jamaica plain, Massachusetts. …show more content…

Greenwood and many other characters in the novel had a considerable amount of influence on Esther. She was very malice towards her mother due to her lack of sympathy. Esther states, “ She was always on me to learn shorthand after college, so I'd have a practical skill as well as a college degree” (Plath 40). This is explaining that Mrs. Greenwood wants Esther to be able to support herself, but she doesn't have very much hope in Esther's visions for her future. Buddy Willard is a medical student that Esther was in a relationship with. After learning that he was not a pure virgin, Esther felt disgusted and inexperienced. To Esther it was a competition. Buddy desired to marry Esther, but she explains,“…I knew I would never marry him if he was the last man on earth” (Plath 52). Esther was relieved that Buddy caught tuberculosis, because she knew she would not have to see …show more content…

Mrs. Greenwood rushed Esther to the hospital after finding her lying on the floor with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand. As a result, Mrs. Greenwood moves Esther to a city hospital telling Esther that, “They want you to be in a special ward..” (Plath 175). They move her to an insane asylum called Caplan. Esther meets Dr. Nolan, who will be her new female psychiatrist. Esther begins to slowly build a sense of trust with Dr. Nolan overtime. Esther explains, “I had given her my trust on a platter and told her everything, and she had promised, faithfully, to warn me ahead of time…” (Plath 211). Esther is referring to when Dr. Nolan betrayed Esther by failing to give her a heads up before her shock therapy. At the same time, Dr. Nolan was still close by Esther's side, which comforted Esther and made her feel loved. Dr. Nolan represented a mother figure to Esther, which meant that she was starting to become emotionally stable again. With time, Esther moves out of Caplan, and gets transferred to Belsize; an asylum that meant she was close to being released.
Esther is ready to go back to college, and start living her normal life again. She is able to put her downhearted self behind her, but knows she will never forget the agonizing pain she went through. Dr. Nolan and other doctors have a board meeting agreeing to Esther's release. Esther describes her freedom as, “.. being born twice—patched

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