The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath

It is exceedingly common for humans to use fictional writing in order to express their hardships in life. It is clear to researchers that Sylvia Plath wrote The Bell Jar for this sole purpose. Plath faced many struggles in her short life, all of which were explained in her novel. There are a plethora of studies that easily show the similarities between The Bell Jar’s Esther Greenwood and Sylvia Plath. They both faced trauma, depression, and issues with self worth.

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.

Esther Greenwood suffered through multiple difficult times that wore down on her mental state. She fell sick from food poisoning, was electrocuted through shock therapy, and underwent dangerous suicidal thoughts. Each time when she persevered through the pain, she emerged a stronger, newly-born person. In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath uses plot development and characterization to illustrate that often times, painful experiences are necessary for a person to progress in life.

The suicide of Sylvia Plath is still felt today as she died due to the expectations society set on her as a woman in living in the mid 1900s. In her autobiography, Plath creates a character by the name of Esther Greenwood that gets thrown into the loop of life predestined for her by society and feels these expectations pile upon her. Her inability to cope leading up to her suicide attempt turns into a wake up call. The pressures society in the 1950s put on Esther affect her perception of society and cause a decline in her mental health. In the novel, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Esther feels the pressure of society, turns away from the influence of the people closest to her, and struggles with her mental health.

Depression is a serious topic throughout the world, especially in America. Depression can result in someone feeling completely alone. There is no direct cause for depression in adolescents, but it can be brought on by the maturing process, stress from failure in some sort, a traumatic or disturbing event such as death, or even a break up. Sure, everyone has an off day here and there, where they feel like they shouldn’t even bother getting out bed in the morning, but to feel this way day in and day out is something most don’t experience. The Bell Jar is a very accurate and helpful tool to see what deep depression is like for someone, their thought process, and the actions they feel obligated to take when they

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

Buddy Willard is the medical student Esther Greenwood is expected to marry. Their mothers are good friends, and it is clear that both of their families anticipate their marriage. At first, even Esther and Buddy did. However, before Buddy went to the TB facility, he unintentionally exposed himself, in Esther’s eyes, as being a hypocrite.

People often inquire who they are; when asked a question such as this one, they hesitate. They consider every possible answer, despite their response being so obvious. A person is made up of three major parts- their personality, the cultures that mold their personality, and their dreams. These three components are analyzed within the novels, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. These themes contribute to the evolution and demolition of characters, leading to events that create thrill within the two.

In the 1963 novel, The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath depicts the mental breakdown of a young woman, Esther Greenwood, as a result of the pressures of her environment. Esther grows depressed throughout the novel and goes “crazy” due the many conflicting choices she is faced with. In Esther’s 1950s society, she is expected to marry and have children. Yet, she is confronted with her many wants that conflict with this picture of ideal femininity. As Jay Cee says, Esther “wants to be everything” (83), and this is precisely where her dilemma lies. Essentially, Esther’s breakdown can be attributed to her fear of making a choice. This fear is communicated when Esther states “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked” (62). Esther is torn between the want for many different futures. The “branches” suggest that her choices are mutually exclusive, and she is only able to take one path. All the figs are “fat purple,” communicating that all the options are equally fruitful, desirable, and attractive, making Esther’s decision extremely difficult. She describes an array of paths including motherhood and careers, none of which she is able chose from. She states she, “wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant loosing all the rest” (63). Unable to make a decision she “starves to death” (63), and allows the futures to “die.” She says, “the figs began to

Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963) focuses on Esther Greenwood’s quest to freedom of oppression. Esther lives in a world where women are objectified and placed under a figurative bell jar. Buddy Willard as well as other men in the novel place Esther in this bell jar by projecting their negative views of woman onto her. The bell jar is symbolic throughout the whole novel because it is responsible for much of the trouble that Esther experienced. It caused her pain, questioned if she could really live up to her potential, and reduced her as a woman. Since she lives under this bell jar Esther’s growth as a person is stunted because she allows Buddy and the negative experiences in her life to rob her of what it is to be a woman, however she is reborn when she embraces her essence, and uses those negative experiences as stepping-stones that lead to a newfound confidence.

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 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

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 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.