Examples Of Mental Illness In The Bell Jar

While at home, Esther becomes into a deep depression when thinking about her experience in New York. She doesn’t want to read, write, or sleep and she stops bathing herself. Her mother sends her to see Dr. Gordon who is her first psychiatrist whom she doesn’t like and doesn’t trust. He is the man with a good looking family, and to Esther he is conceited. He doesn’t help Esther, but only hurts her more. He prescribes her with shock treatment. After this horrifying experience, she decides to kill herself. She tries to slit her wrists, but can only bring herself to slicing her calf. She tries to hang herself but can’t find a place to tie the rope, she tries to drown herself at the beach, but cannot keep herself under water, and then she crawls into a space in the basement and takes a lot of sleeping pills. “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.” (Plath pg. 117) This quote shows how she felt trapped in the bell jar, and her suicidal urges began. She awakes in the hospital to find that her attempt at suicide wasn’t successful. She is sent to another psychological ward where she still wants to end her life. Esther becomes very paranoid and uncooperative. She gets moves to a private hospital paid for by Philomena Guinea a famous novelist. Esther improves and gets a new

At times, Esther reminds me of myself. Throughout this chapter I saw myself in her actions and ways of thinking. Esther talks about Doreen disappearing most days to spend time with Lenny. While Esther said she would cut off ties with Doreen, it still bothers her. On this specific day, Doreen did invite Esther to go out to Coney Island with her and Lenny.

Sylvia Plath’s novel, “The Bell Jar”, tells a story of a young woman’s descent into mental illness. Esther Greenwood, a 19 year old girl, struggles to find meaning within her life as she sees a distorted version of the world. In Plath’s novel, different elements and themes of symbolism are used to explain the mental downfall of the book’s main character and narrator such as cutting her off from others, forcing her to delve further into her own mind, and casting an air of negativity around her. Plath uses images of rotting fig trees and veils of mist to convey the desperation she feels when confronted with issues of her future. Esther Greenwood feels that she is trapped under a bell jar, which distorts her view of the world around her.

Near the end of the book, Esther emerges from her trials with a clear understanding of her own mental health, the strength that she summoned to help her survive, and increased confidence in her skepticism of society. Esther adopts a new tone here, specifically stating that she feels free and rejuvenated. While previously demonstrated through Esther's actions and attitude, Plath makes this explicit through Esther's self-confident narration in which she states outright that she is "patched, retreaded and approved for the road." Plath still concedes that Esther may never fully be cured, as when Esther wonders

The Bell Jar is a novel about Esther Greenwood, a nineteen-year-old girl, who experiences a breakdown and her path to recovery. The novel starts off with Esther working at Ladies Day magazine in New York City as an editorial intern because she had won the paid internship for the summer. She and elven other girls stay in a women’s only hotel, get fancy dinners and gifts from the sponsors and get to have a good time exploring New York City. Buddy Willard, Esther college boyfriend, ask her to marry him but he does not understand Esther and is not pure so she decides she will not marry him and comes to realize she does not want to marry ever. While still in the city Esther goes on many dates but no guy interest her enough to marry. As the internship

Suicide is the tenth leading cause for death of all ages in the United States. About one-hundred thousand people die yearly from suicide so we can catch a glimpse of how people can relate to what Plath is portraying in Esther's life struggles. Another internal struggle of Esther is the fact that her father died at a young age, so as mentioned before the pressure to please her mother is very hard for her. Assuming that another cause for her fall into depression, is the fact that she did not have a father figure in her life which may lead to her being confused with her viewpoint on men-therefore interfering with her sex life. It is understandable how in any life the loss of a parent can interfere with how you want to live your life and make you second guess every day and every

The Bell Jar, a coming of age, semi-autobiographical novel, by Sylvia Plath follows the life of a troubled young girl named Esther Greenwood, her slow descent into mental illness and then her subsequent recovery. The second half of the book details Esther's mental breakdown, her incarceration and stumbling recovery whilst the first half uncovers the protagonists, narrators day to day struggles which go on to contribute to her eventual breakdown . Throughout the novel, the reader comes to understand that Esther feels there are few choices; in character a woman must be either the virgin or the whore, both of which are demonstrated by Esther's friends, Betsy and Doreen. This presents one of the key internal conflicts the protagonist, Esther battles.

We need the sustenance and assurance from not only loved ones in life, but also from others. This is demonstrated when Jay Cee, Esther's present boss asked Esther what she wanted to do with her life. Esther did not have any solid idea as to what she

Esther is experiencing repression because she is fighting the two different thoughts in her mind. Her state of repression is leading her to become depress.

Thus far in her life, she has been awarded multiple opportunities to which she may make a multitude of decisions. Sadly, the more options presented to her, the more crippled she becomes. This is possibly due to her conflicting views on societal expectations. Rosi Smith pointed out the fact that “The cold war era led to an ideology of cultural containment, enforcing perspective roles on women within an American suburban, conservative, and conformist setting” (Smith 33). It would be logical to conclude that Esther cannot decide what to do in life because she wants to do the opposite of what is expected of her. She is the perfect example of the rebellious adolescent, caught at a crossroad in her life. However, this is ultimately not the case. She has an inability to continue living; a fear of choosing the wrong path, and decides, whether subconsciously or not, that abstaining from decision is better than making the “wrong” one. This leads to her an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, another instance in which she is unable to decide the best way to kill herself, and ends up

All of these attempts were completely unsuccessful except for her attempt with the sleeping pills. Esther was left undiscovered and almost dead in the basement for several days before she was found. This last attempt is significant because it shows how desperate Esther was to escape not only from society but mostly her mother. Esther hid in the basement of her house and took her mom’s sleeping pills. The reason Esther even considers suicide in the first place is because she is unhappy with her life and feels as if she has no purpose.

The Bell Jar is a novel written in, 1963 written by Sylvia Plath. It is a story about a girl who under goes many traumatic life events that had the destiny to make or break her. The things she used to enjoy in life are no longer bringing joy to her life. She can’t find anything that gives her the will to go on. The Bell Jar is a story that will take reader on a journey with a girl who lets the gender roles of 1950s get the best of her. She lets people tell her what she can and cannot do and loses what it means to become your own person. The Bell Jar teaches the audience about the expectations, opportunities or restrictions on American Women in the 1950’s. As gender roles have become more diverse between a man and a woman, it is still more

Esther evidently feels as if she is constantly being judged and tested, although in fact she is not. Her magnified sense of distrust is illustrated repeatedly throughout the course of the book, at once involving the reader and developing her own characteristic response to unique situations. Finally, one who views occurrences which can only be categorized as coincidental as being planned often experiences a suspicious response. When she finds out that an acquaintance from high school is at the same hospital, her first reaction is wariness: "It occurred to me that Joan, hearing where I was, had engaged the room at the asylum on pretence, simply as a joke." (Plath 207). Although the reader is incredulous of the protagonist's manner of thought, it is also possible to feel a connection to the situation. Such a

Esther’s mother and society’s expectation as a woman, which is to be a good wife and a mother, suffocate and demoralize Esther’s dream as a professional writer. Esther’s mother wants her to “...learn shorthand after college, so I’d have a practical skill as well as a college degree” (Plath 40). Her mother believes that Esther cannot further advance her education as a writer and simply wants her to be a secretary since professional career for women was uncommon and discouraged because it disturbs the role as a married woman. These pressures often obliged her to fall into the societal expectations, to give up her higher education, and to marry somebody. However, she knew that the marriage and the babies were not for her, “because cook and clean and wash were just about

Esther hated Doctor Gordon from the first time she saw him until the end of his care to her. Doctor Gordon treated her like a broken object who needs to be fixed. But, humans are capable of emotion. He disregarded her problems and her long story, especially her feelings. There is no sign of sympathy, empathy and compassion from him. There is not even a sign of interest of him to her problems, as if it is not significant in treating her.