The Bell Jar: Half Baked?
- Admin
- Aug 8, 2017
- 4 min read
The end has come. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath has become our closer in the long string of novels we have read and reviewed over the summer. In a way, it is quite fitting to have this particular novel as our final summer read, simply because it rings in the school year. The novel has been a staple for many a high school english syllabus, having it named “a haunting American classic”. Whether you have willingly, forcibly or through coercion read The Bell Jar, perhaps you weren’t aware that you have gotten to know Sylvia Plath just as well as Esther Greenwood.
Going into the novel, we weren’t particularly familiar with it other than it was supposed to be about mental illness and edge on the feminist side. From the very beginning, we both felt that it had a Mona Lisa Smile aesthetic about it. If you haven’t seen it, watch it, it’s on Netflix (It’s my {Geneva’s} favorite movie, definitely worth the watch). Along the same lines, this novel is being created into a motion picture with Kirsten Dunst directing it, who was also in Mona Lisa Smile. Dakota Fanning will play the role of Esther, and it will debut in 2018. So yes readers, you do have time to add this to you reading list. I’m sure every single one of you want to make room for a novel about depression and mental illness to be added to your list, so congrats, get cracking.
Much of what we were thinking while reading this book is that it can be dull at times, but it certainly wasn’t difficult to read. It wasn’t a love/hate novel; we weren’t going to stick our heads in the oven (referenced explained later), but it wasn’t truly memorable either. This critique simply comes from this novel not meaning to entertain. In that aspect, we thought the writing was original with unique imagery and details throughout. The ending was left up in the air. It could go either way in Esther’s life nothing is definite. Ultimately, Esther reminded us of a person born before her time. We can’t help but think that if she was living in the 21st century instead of the 1950s, maybe she could have flourished rather than perished. All throughout the novel, she was comparing herself to others, men and women alike, their person and their beliefs, with the results being strikingly different. This ultimately perplexed her and led her into a state of insanity, an empty glass jar filled with her thoughts and morals being put on display like a science experiment for the generation.
This novel additionally is a superior example of the 1950s, you feel submersed in the time period. With that said, it has solid cultural and historical relevance, there were a lot of references that someone from that time period would understand for instance, the Rosenbergs. By the same token, the timeline was slightly unclear. It is an easily overlooked part of the novel, but it made her descent into insanity hard to follow. As people who have not gone through mental trauma like Esther, the descent into insanity seemed a little rushed and hasty. Her breakdown seemed quite sudden and debilitating as she arrived home from New York.
Similarities Between Esther and Sylvia
An important aspect of this novel is that it is autobiographical. That means that a large section of the storyline is a reflection of the author’s life. Below is a list of similar occurrences between Esther Greenwood and Sylvia Plath.
Bell Jar References
“I knew i should be grateful to Mrs. Guinea, only I couldn’t feel a thing. If Mrs. Guinea had given me a ticket to Europe, or a round-the-world cruise, it wouldn’t have made one scrap of difference to me, because wherever I saw--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, stewing in my own
sour air” (185).
“I sank back in the gray, plush seat and closed my eyes. The air of the bell jar wadded round me and I couldn’t stir” (186).
“All the heat and fear had purged itself. I felt surprisingly at peace. The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above my head. I was open to the circulating air” (215).
“To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream” (237).
“I wasn’t sure at all. How did I know that someday--at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere-the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn’t descend again” (241)?
The Bell Jar Explained
The Bell Jar ultimately represents how Esther is feeling throughout the book. For instance, when she doesn’t feel emotionally or psychologically stable, she seems to be choking on her insanity. When she tries to look beyond herself, she often is disappointed or confused by what she sees.
This also harps back to her being a science experiment, and uncomfortable with doctors and psychologists (until Dr. Nolan comes along). During the time that the novel took place, there was often experimental practices in regards to mental health treatment.
Better Read than Dead,
Geneva and Addie
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Title courtesy of Kelsie Radford.
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