Synopsis
The bell jar tells the witty and devastating story of Esther Greenwoods life. Based in 1950s society Plath illustrates the lavish life of cosmopolitans, Fashion and the journaling world. Whilst also shining a light on mental illness and the raw brutality of what it is to be a woman in the 50s. The bell Jar is a classic coming of age which mirrors the harsh short lived life of Sylvia Plath.
'' To the person in the Bell Jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream''
"The floor seemed wonderfully solid.It was comforting to know I had fallen and could fall no farther."
Analysis - !Spoiler Alerts!
Sylvia Plath killed herself in 1963 the Bell Jar being the only book she ever published. The novel is a mirror to her own life, the Bell jar being the biggest symbol of this entrapment inflicted by depression that affected both her and Esther. When knowing the context of the book and the author's background the novel begins to become both disturbing and beautiful.
One of the main themes in the Bell jar is this idea of mental illness and the treatment of it in society. At the end pages of the novel Esther in her Asylum begins to beg to not have her electroconvulsive therapy, in which small electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure. This is a direct parallel to Plath's own life where she was under the same therapy to cure her depression. The novel does not paint an entirely negative picture of psychiatric care, however. When Esther goes to a more luxurious institution, she begins to repair under the care of Dr. Nolan, a progressive female psychiatrist. At the start of Esther's journey, after she overdosed her Doctor was a man who she felt to be unsympathetic, Plath here shows the power of women in stereotypical male professions.
Another significant theme of The Bell Jar is the restricted role of women in 1950s America. At the time woman were seen to be pure unless it was for their husbands whereas men were able to sleep around with whoever they want. Something in which is still prevelant in modern culture today. When Esther finds out that Buddy has slept with someone else she does not stay quiet but decides to reject Buddy for good when she realizes he represents a sexual double standard. At the end of the novel Esther loses her virginity something which is subjective to patriarchal ideology. Esther breaks this idea that you have to be married to have sex, diminishing traditional theological teachings. From a feminist perspective, Plath here shows how woman will not be isolated by patriarchal teachings using Esther as a bad ass anomalous woman within society.
Perhaps one of the most ambiguous parts of the novel is the character of Joan who seems to be a darkened version of Esther. Joan loved Buddy and loved his parents something which Esther never managed to do - due to her feeling too isolated by Buddy's patronising approach to her love for literature. The description of Joan is consistently bleak talking about how she smells like 'horses' and has 'buck teeth' and is rather 'plump' - all of which was against 1950s beauty standards. It could be argued that their similarities were a coincidence however from my perspective I interpret Joan's character as a product of Esther imagination displaying what she could of been. This is further proven when Joan arrives in the mental asylum. Her recovery seemed to always be a step up from Esther. She was better before Esther was and moved wards quicker to the extent that she made Esther feel ' inferior'. At the end of the novel despite her moving to upper Cambridge with a roommate and having a life plan of being a physiatrist she hangs herself. It seems that Plath plants the character of Joan to resemble what Esther could have been and how although some may look and feel strong on the outside they are still entrapped by the bell jar. Real or a figure of Esther's imagination, Joan symbolizes for the reader the two paths that mental illness can take you down.
The Bell Jar starts as an light hearted novel however begins to turn raw and authentic half way through. By Plath starting the novel with this lavish life to then half way through display the effects of mental illness it creates an effect of reliability. Although there seems to be a sense of justice at the end of the novel as we see Esther enter a meeting in which she could potentially return to school and normal life, this was not the case for Plath. By committing suicide by sticking her head in a boiling oven due to her long battle with depression it seems that Plath resembles more of Joan. What makes the book a paradox is how Esther and Plath are parallels however only one got the happy ending. A quote which stands out to me is ' wherever I sat - on the deck of a ship or at a street cafe in Paris or Bangkok - I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar'. It seems that this entrapment in ones mind, isolated by the depths of depression is somewhere were Plath would always be . It seems that the reader may be sustained by the semi happy ending Plath painted for her mirrored character of Esther however in reality the lines between literature and biography become blurry when realising the raw brutality of Plaths end - how she painted a happy ending for which she herself never received.
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