the bell jar symbolism essay

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 and images of life and death pervade The Bell Jar. Esther experiences psychological distress which is a motif

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

The postwar 1950s launched the modernist period in English Literature, which suggested a more pessimistic perception of society through societal nonconformity, decay, and alienation. Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, a parallel to her life, expresses Esther Greenwood’s character in pursuit of morality in the reality she faces in the modern society. Esther discovers that the society is not as pure as it seems and has underlying truths behind its deceptive appearance. To emphasize her realization, she mentions

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

55). Much of what Esther says can never be taken as being a purely literal statement, as she often speaks in metaphor or with phrases heavy in symbolism, such as the memorable images of the fig tree or the bell jar (Evans). Part of her narrative abilities to create symbolism in plain images lie in her use of detail in describing the setting. In The Bell Jar, the setting changes often, as Esther changes from different points in her life, shifting from the city to the suburbs to a mental hospital, with

Personal Growth in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath uses this quote in The Bell Jar to show the main character Esther Greenwood struggles. The quote states as followed,“There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room. It 's like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction--every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it 's really you

Research Paper: The Bell Jar, By: Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar is a work of fiction that spans a six month time period in the life of the protagonist and narrator, Esther Greenwood. The novel tells of Esther’s battle against her oppressive surroundings and her ever building madness, this is the central conflict throughout the narrative. After coming home from a month in New York as a guest editor for a magazine, Esther begins to have trouble with everyday activities such as reading,

In The Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath, the main character, Esther Greenwood goes through the awful troubling depths of depression. The Bell Jar goes back in time beginning in the summer of 1953 and follows the story of Esther Greenwood. Esther should be having the time of her life having won an internship in New York City, but the unfortunate truth is that she is slowly falling further into a deep depression. Sylvia Plath strongly incorporates metaphors, internal conflict, and symbolism to reveal

having babies as a benefit in helping them grow into a mother, teacher, and a role model. It helps shape them into a more independent and stronger woman and motivates them to get back up when they are feeling low. Esther Greenwood, from the book Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath, deals with many societal pressure problems for being a woman. The expectations for her were not met because she wants to go out of the societal norms and does what she wants. It is not easy for her to get out of her shell

Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar The works of Sylvia Plath have always been at least slightly controversial; most of them have themes of feminism, suicide, or depression. Plath was born in 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, and by the age of twelve she was reported to have had an IQ of about 160 (Kelly). Growing up in an age in which women were expected to be nothing more than conservative housemaids, Plath stood defiant against the views of society, choosing to expose any misogynistic prejudices or hateful