Sylvia Plath 's The Bell Jar

As one of the most renowned and well-known literary critics in the world of composition, Harold Bloom has self-importantly granted himself the privilege of specifying the reasons as to why we read. From human connection to self-actualization to the acquirement of knowledge, he adheres passionately and unquestionably that “the strongest, most authentic motive for deep reading…is the search for a difficult pleasure.” Bloom, as an experienced critic, fully recognizes the task of judging a book for its merit.

Sylvia Plath is known as a profound writer, depicted by her lasting works of literature and her suicide which put her poems and novel of debilitating depression into a new perspective. In her poem “Lady Lazarus,” written in 1962, her mental illness is portrayed in a means to convey to her readers the everyday struggle of depression, and how it affects her view of her world, herself, and even those who attempt to tackle her battle with her. This poem, among other poetry pieces and her novel The Bell Jar, identify her multiple suicide attempts, and how the art of dying is something she has become a master of. Plath’s “Lady Lazarus,” about her trap of depression and suicide attempts, is effective and thought provoking because of her allusions to WWII Nazi Germany and the feelings of oppression and Nazism that the recurring images evoke.

Suicide was a major problem among many generations of teens that grew up in brutal societies. In the 1950s, suicide was not widely mentioned, and many people suffered without any treatments. In the novel The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, Esther tried to kill herself multiple times. Her life was planned by the society, and she was pressured into fitting in with others. Esther’s mental problems took over her life, and caused her to lose out on her teen years. She was a successful college student, who won scholarships, and was working at a fashion magazine. However, she went through many events that caused her to accept suicide as a way of running away from her problems. In the novel The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, Esther’s mental illness began to have an effect on her when she interfered with Buddy, Marco, and Dr. Gordon.

Esther may have gotten a generous scholarship to live in New York interning as a fashion magazine editor for a month, but everything only gets worse afterwards. According to Janet McCann, “Repeatedly, Plath uses the imagery of enclosure to show unhealthy patriarchal social systems that are harmful to Esther, the other female characters, and also the landscape/natural world” (38). Esther’s self-esteem first starts to goes down when she frequently compares herself to the other sophisticated, elegant women of New York. When Esther throws all of her high-end clothes away from the top of the Amazon Hotel, it gives the reader the first glimpse of how disillusioned and despaired she is about herself. Continuing down Esther’s path to eventual insanity, Esther comments that “every time I picked up a German dictionary or a German book, the very sight of those dense, black, barbed-wire letters made my mind shut like a clam” (Plath 33). Esther’s mind is starting to shut down, literally, and becomes unable to comprehend even the simplest things, which will only get worse as other stress factors will start to negatively affect her mental state. Furthermore, the relationship between Esther and her boss Jay Cee displays another example where “Esther embraces relations with most of the women in the novel only to cast them off” (Bonds, “The Separative Self in Sylvia Plath's The

Many great authors in literature contributes a challenge or a guide that aides on the development of a character. It is a method that can expose the character’s real personality throughout their works. Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar, utilizes the idea of friendship in order to highlight the transformations, importance, and lessons in which developed Esther throughout the novel.

One is often enticed to read a novel because of the way in which the characters are viewed and the way in which characters view their surroundings. In the novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Esther Greenwood is a character whose "heightened and highly emotional response to events, actions and sentiments" (Assignment sheet) intrigue the reader. One of her character traits is extreme paranoia that is shown in different situations throughout the novel. As a result of this, she allows herself to be easily let down, as she believes that all events that are unsatisfactory are directed towards her. Finally, it is clear that she attempts to escape this notion by imagining an idyllic yet impossible life that she

Every woman is somewhat pressured to abide by conventional standards. Society necessitates that a woman is kept in a confined space that forces them to live a life which is contrary to what she would choose for herself. It is evident that in both the novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and the poem “She Rose To His Requirement” by Emily Dickinson that women suffer from gender roles and societal pressure, however whereas Plath illustrates a woman who attempts to rebel against traditional gender roles, Dickinson depicts a woman who has lost control of her life and is now accepting her role as a wife. These texts display three views on the expectations of women—how women are pressured, how gender roles impact women, and

Of the two readings we were given to select from for our Midterm Assignment, I chose to conduct my initial psychosocial and diagnostic assessment on the character, Esther, from the semi-autobiographical novel “The Bell Jar”, by Sylvia Plath. The protagonist in the novel is a 19-year-old girl from the suburbs of Boston growing up in the 1950’s who has accepted a summer internship working at a prominent magazine in New York City. It is made clear from the beginning of the novel that Esther’s move has resulted in a possible adjustment disorder as she narrates her feelings of sadness, misplacement, and disconnectedness from reality.

The Bell Jar teaches us that every opportunity a woman had received in the 1950’s was a gift and should be taken immediately. Women had certain expectations they must meet and ways they must look in order to be accepted by society. Women were compared to the look of models, they were expected to look just as good as they still are nowadays. For example, “ A model named Bettina was known for her tall, slim figure, youthful movements, short bobbed hair, shapely eyebrows and bright red lipstick” ( Sherrow, Modeling and Models). This shows how women were expected to be slim, with youthful energy and have short hair. Esther was one of those women who were expected to look like this. She used to have youthful energy, but events over her life started to take away that energy. Women in the 1950’s had to compete with the model’s image, women were especially compared during beauty competitions. “Women in Beauty Pageants were judged basis of physical appearance and named best looking or most beautiful” (Sherrow, Beauty Pageants). The idea that people would be considered

Sylvia's Plath The Bell Jar is a narrative literary piece describing a realistic situation encountered by the narrator. Esther, the narrator, describes in vivid details about a situation that happened in her life when she visited a foreign place to her- the mountains during snow season. Accompanied by a person of close relation, named Buddy, the two find each other virgins to the activity of skiing and displaying very different emotions towards the whole situation. The two react to this entire experience in contrary fashions, and their personalities shine brightly during the actions, which are vividly explained through imagery and dialogue. During this adventurous trip the narrator, Esther, fails to trust her instincts and allows Buddy, her foil, to poorly influence her, leaving her in a catastrophic state, but allowing the reader to realize the importance of self-reliance and trusting of oneself.

Throughout the story “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, Esther’s mental health deteriorates overtime due to various factors in her social environment such as double standards. The novel begins with Esther’s internship at the Ladies’ Day magazine in New York City. Despite living the life every girl wishes to live, Esther is dejected and feels disengaged with the environment around her; thus resulting in the beginning of an identity crisis. Through the events of the story, gender double roles in the areas of education, careers, virginity and marriage affect Esther’s life significantly and it consequently leading to Esther’s confusion with her identity within the society. During the 50s, women were seen to be inferior to and dependent on men as

Sylvia Plath’s novel, The Bell Jar, shows that the mores of America contribute to the mental deterioration of some of the most creative and introspective of people. The novel is basically an autobiography-one which is a strange mix of mundanity, grotesqueness, barbarity, nature, and glamour. Something dark and insidious perturbs the author’s stand in protagonist, Esther Greenwood, in both traumatizing and prosaic circumstances. The novel remains iconic in American culture due to its resonance with feminists and mental health experts, as well as the shocking suicide of its author.

Sylvia Plath uses many literary devices to convey her purpose in The Bell Jar such as symbolism. The Bell Jar itself is used as symbolic representation of the emotional state Esther is in. The glass jar distorts her image of the world as she feels trapped under the glass. It represents mental illness; a confining jar that descends over her mind and doesn’t allow her to live and think freely. Symbols of life and death pervade The Bell Jar. Esther experiences psychological distress which is a major motif in the novel. The death of Esther’s father and the relationship with her mother is a possible reason for her illness. Sylvia Plath expresses the difficulties Esther faces and parallels her struggle with depression and illustrates it using various symbols such as a fig tree, mirrors, beating heart and a bell jar throughout the novel.

Today’s society no longer questions a women’s independence or freedom of choice. Women no longer feel the need to behave a certain way or live a prescribed lifestyle in order to be accepted into society. Some cultures still adhere to stereotypical roles associated with being a woman, but the majority of western cultures accept personal autonomy. However, in the past women were consistently held to high standards in order to fit into the desired representation of feminineness. Sylvia Plath’s novel “The Bell Jar,” follows the life of Esther Greenwood; a woman fighting the pressures applied by society against any deviation from the normal expectation of a 19 year old woman during the 1950s. Though Esther is presented with many models of womanhood in her life, she refuses to accept them, as none represent who she wants to be. Struggling to come to terms with being able to function in her given environment Esther rejects almost every standard of femininity, while trying to attain her own definition of what it means to be a woman.

he Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath, is a dark and emotional semi-autobiography novel (“Poet: Sylvia Plath”). Although it may appear to be a dark oriented story, there are moments in the book where it can be humorous. Taking another perspective on the book, The Bell Jar could be viewed as a dark comedy as readers witness the events right through the protagonist’s eyes. Plath incorporates subtle instances of dark comedic elements into the book through the protagonist’s satirical outlook of the environment around her. Thus giving the protagonist a more realistic and compelling character which keeps the reader intrigued throughout the book.