Introduction
The Bell Jar is a chef-d’oeuvre semi-autobiographical novel by an American poet and writer, Sylvia Plath, in the 1950s, but it was first published in 1963 in England. However, as one interacts with the contents of the book and the writer’s life, the novel becomes more of an autobiography because the characters and underlying events parallel Plath’s personal life and experiences. The novel is about the story of a poet who attempts to kill herself by overdosing on sleeping pills by a writer who committed suicide. Plath killed herself after battling chronic depression for many years, shortly after the novel was published in 1963. The fact that the author mirrors her real-life experiences makes the story interesting, and the reader could easily identify with Plath’s struggles. The feminist lens influence the plot development as the writer highlights the conflicts that she faced by deciding to follow a path that departed from societal expectations of women at the time. This paper reviews the novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
A Short Summary
The story opens in 1953 after Esther Greenwood, the protagonist has just finished college and won a month-long internship in New York, where she is supposed to be working at Ladies Day magazine. She joins other interns in the Amazon Hotel as they go through an orientation of what is expected from them during their stay at the company. Greenwood’s best friend is called Doreen – a carefree young chain-smoking woman who dresses provokingly without showing any form of seriousness in her life. As the story unfolds, the reader notes that Esther has been struggling since she is nine years old after the sudden death of her father. While she aspires to be a poet, her mother is adamant that she should study stenography or anything womanly. In New York, she is troubled by the fast-moving life and the hassles of becoming a successful editor. Therefore, as the internship nears the end, Esther becomes disconnected from the hype associated with city life.
On the eve of her departure from the city, Marco takes her out on a date, whereby he tries to rape her, but she escapes to her room in Amazon Hotel, where she strips naked and throws all her clothes through the window. She returns home to England and falls into depression after being rejected from joining Harvard. After several therapies, her condition does not improve, and she attempts suicide severally, and finally, she overdoses on sleeping pills. She ends up in a state hospital for mental health but later moved to a private hospital before recovering and moving into an apartment with a nurse, Joan. She gets a diaphragm, which frees her from the worries of unprotected sex, which she engages in the same day. The story ends with Esther preparing to be assessed to determine whether to leave the hospital and go back to school.
Critical Review
This novel belongs to the confessional poetry genre, where the author talks about real-life events overlaid with some fictitious elements and characters. The story mirror’s the author’s life experiences so close that it was first published under Victoria Lucas, which is a pseudonym for Sylvia Plath. In real-life, Plath lost her father at the age of nine, and Esther Greenwood follows the same script. She says, “I thought how strange it had never occurred to me before that I was only purely happy until I was nine years old” (75). The parallels drawn between Plath and Greenwood are strong to suffice the claim that the author was talking about her life. For instance, Esther attempts suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills, while Sylvia commits suicide. The two are chronically depressed, and their fathers die when they are aged nine years. Speaking about her life experiences from a third-person perspective gave the author the room to step out of her subjectivity and address various issues that she felt affected her life in the 1950s.
The book’s main argument deals with mental health problems caused by depression. The second half revolves around Esther’s struggle with chronic depression to the point of contemplating suicide and eventually attempting the same by overdosing on sleeping pills. Written in the 1950s, it is clear that the treatment of mental health problems has evolved over the years. In the novel, Esther undergoes electro-shock therapy, which is different from the mainly used cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). However, this treatment approach was not available at the time. The book has accomplished to highlight some of the issues that were common during the 1950s. For instance, women are expected to pursue certain careers. Esther’s mother is not comfortable with her daughter pursuing poetry. On the contrary, she wants Esther to study stenography, which is a feminine undertaking. In addition, women suffer the same problems in modern times as they did over 70 years ago. Marco assaults Esther and attempts to rape her on a date, which is a common phenomenon in contemporary times.
The author structures her argument through a narrative by the protagonist, Esther. The reader sees the world of the 1950s through the lenses of the narrator. The arguments made throughout the story make sense through the flow of information and thoughts. I am persuaded by the story because it is interesting, and having read about Plath’s real-life experiences, I feel that she does recommendable work by telling her life story via the third-person perspective.
Additionally, this book fits into Women’s and Gender studies because it addresses relevant topics such as traditional roles and positions that women were supposed to occupy in the mid-twentieth century – Esther is expected to pursue short-hand typing, not poetry. The issue of gender violence comes out strongly after Marco assaults and tries to rape Esther. The issue of gender activism also features clearly in the novel. Esther is a feminist – she believes that she can pursue her dreams even if they are not in tandem with societal expectations and projections of what roles women should play in society. This book has helped understand the subject of women’s gender, studies, and activism by confirming the available literature on the topic – that women have suffered a lot through chauvinistic societal rules and they continue to fight for and their rights and assert their position in society. I would recommend the book to others because it is captivating and informative.
Conclusion
The Bell Jar is a thrilling and informative story about the struggles of a young woman in the 1950s. Even though she is bright and determined to follow her dreams, society expects her to behave in a certain manner. She also battles with chronic depression, which ultimately drives her to attempt suicide. The story mirrors the author’s life experiences, and it is classified as semi-autobiographical belonging to the confessional poetry genre. The Bell Jar fits into women’s gender and studies because it highlights some of the challenges that women faced in the 1950s. I highly recommend the novel to anyone interested in understanding how society operated in the mid-twentieth century.
Work Cited
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Harper Collins, 1971.