Sylvia Plath Accomplishments

The unrelenting pressure of the two women’s rise to success ultimately lead to both of their demise. The beliefs and struggles of Esther in The Bell Jar reflect those of Sylvia Plath. Esther’s constant battle with mental illness is an allusion to that of Sylvia Plath. Sylvia and Esther both dealt with what was described as depression. In The Bell Jar, Esther goes to a mental facility so that she can recover from a failed suicide attempt.

October 27th in 1932, Sylvia Plath was born, to parents Otto Plath and Aurelia Schober Plath. One of the

Sylvia Plath was an American Poet who was renowned for poetry mostly in the United States. She, however lived a difficult and depressing life which led to a few futile suicide attempts, but ultimately led to a successful suicide attempt leaving her children to live on without a mother. This end result was due to a multitude of issues in her life from Sylvia’s sanity. She wasn’t the most stable child. Her marriage also played a role in her suicide. Her successes weren’t acclaimed until after her death, when a majority of her work was released. There were two major aspects to her life: her poetry and her sanity. These three combined make up a majority of Sylvia’s life.

As an acclaimed poet, storyteller, and activist, Maya Angelou has contributed outstanding works to American literature. With over 50 honorary doctorate degrees, Dr. Maya Angelou has become one of the most influential voices of our time. Born Marguerite Annie Johnson, Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in Stamps, Arkansas. During the 1930’s and 1940’s in Stamps, Angelou witnessed and experienced racial discrimination in the South.

One of the major symbols Esther’s story is the namesake of the novel -- the bell jar. As a real life object, a bell jar is a scientific tool often used to create a vacuum by removing air from within the jar. Along with being used for scientific purposes, it can also be used for decorative purposes to act as a display case. As a symbol in the book, on the other hand, Plath uses the bell jar as a danger to Esther’s sanity; it threatens to send her into a hellish mental state. All throughout the novel, it is looming over Esther’s mind, threatening to trap her inside of hell and disconnect her from everything she knows and loves. At one point in the novel, the bell jar

At first glance, the term “bell jar” does not particularly stand out except as the title of the novel. However, upon further scrutiny and thorough reading, readers can deduce that this term actually has a negative connotation throughout the novel due to the fact that Esther, the main character, literally feels confined inside a bell jar with no way to get out. Written by Sylvia Plath, the novel The Bell Jar focuses on how restrictions of society suffocate Esther to the point where she is unable to handle the stress anymore. Plath uses symbols in her novel such as the bell jar, fig tree, mirror, and numerous newspaper headlines in order to emphasize Esther’s inner struggles coping with the restrictions of society, and also how she finds connections

wanted to do with her life. "You'll never get anywhere like that." (Sylvia Plath page 27)

Sylvia Plath’s wit, sarcasm, and myriad of emotions in The Bell Jar are all shown throughout. Esther Greenwood, whom represents Plath in the novel, feels trapped in a bell jar that is society. Esther never truly learned how to be an independent individual herself, so she is simply dependent on others and follows their way of life being that she is highly indecisive. Esther Greenwood’s insanity is influenced by her role within the society of the 1950s and by the dominance of males which she had to learn to coexist with. Her state is a repercussion of her standing as a female in society during the 1950s.

The Bell Jar follows Esther Greenwood, a character not unlike Sylvia Plath, in a situation not dissimilar to her own. Esther was born in Massachusetts, is a writer, and has a mental breakdown in her junior year of college. Many of Esther's problems radiate from her relationship with her parents. Esther, at the end of the novel, is hopeful about her recovery, but Sylvia ended up killing herself shortly after the novel was published.

Perhaps the most famous work of Sylvia Plath’s is The Bell Jar -- a book that follows the mental deterioration of a nineteen-year-old girl named Esther through the narration of Esther herself. Although Sylvia Plath hated life in general and committed suicide at the age of 32 after her husband left her, the myriad autobiographical elements, metaphors, and motifs that appear throughout her works produce a beautifully vivid representation of people, the world, and life itself (“Sylvia Plath”).

Sylvia Plath, your life was not anything but hard, battling your depression many times. Your first suicide attempt, you were gone for days, your family scared on where you went; little did they know you right under their feet. You were found in the cellar of your home, dazed and covered in your own vomit. Your mother, Aurelia Plath, sent you to a mental institution. There, for the second time you had electroconvulsive therapy, the first being to try and cure your insomnia, your insomnia was the cause of stress, the stress of being a failure to everyone around you.

     The glass of which a bell jar is constructed is thick and suffocating, intending to preserve its ornamental contents but instead traps in it stale air.  The thickness of the bell jar glass prevents the prisoner from clearly seeing through distortion.  Sylvia Plath writes with extreme conviction, as The Bell Jar is essentially her autobiography.  The fitting title symbolizes not only her suffocation and mental illness, but also the internal struggle of Plath's alter ego and novel protagonist Esther Greenwood.  The novel illustrates the theme confinement by highlighting the weaknesses of both Esther and Plath.

Sylvia Plath was an English poet and short story writer born in 1900s. She was best known for her novel, “The Bell Jar,” and poems such as “Daddy.” Plath’s life, including her poetry, her sanity and her marriage was a cycle of ups and downs. After her death in 1963, Plath’s life was depicted in the 2003 film Sylvia, starring Gwyneth Paltrow.

Sylvia Plath, the author of The Bell Jar, writes in a very simple and ordinary but exceptionally unique way. She put her whole young genuine heart and soul into this semi-autobiography. Her first person point of view allows the reader to really engage with the characters thoughts, specifically Esther Greenwood and her perspective on everything. In The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood encounters the coming of many things, including age and mental illness. While the coming of age is normal for the majority of society, the coming of mental illness is abnormal. With that being said, many may classify Esther Greenwood as abnormal and deviant but in all reality,

Sylvia Plath, a great American author, focuses mostly on actual experiences. Plath’s poetry displays feelings and emotions. Plath had the ability to transform everyday happenings into poems or diary entries. Plath had a passion for poetry and her work was valued. She was inspired by novelists and her own skills. Her poetry was also very important to readers and critics. Sylvia Plath’s work shows change throughout her lifetime, relates to feelings and emotions, and focuses on day to day experiences.