The Bell Jar

Analysis Paper: The Bell Jar, By: Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar is a piece of fiction that spans a six month time interval within the lifetime of the protagonist and narrator, Esther Greenwood. The novel tells of Esther’s battle towards her oppressive environment and her ever constructing insanity, that is the central battle all through the narrative. After coming residence from a month in New York as a visitor editor for , Esther begins to have hassle with on a regular basis actions reminiscent of studying, writing and even sleeping. Her psychological state decreases quickly till she ultimately makes an attempt suicide.

Throughout the remainder of the novel Esther recounts her experiences in restoration till she lastly plans to go away the hospital. Regardless that Esther’s situation appears secure at this level, she is conscious that her melancholy may return at any time. Critic’s opinions concerning the novel provide numerous factors of view and concepts pertaining to The Bell Jar.

Critic Diane S. Bond writes of society’s stereotypes of ladies, and the way this was a essential think about Esther’s insanity. She explains how as an alternative of being her personal individual, Esther conforms to the function that’s culturally engrained in society, in different phrases she does what she believes is predicted of her.

Bond describes how, “Esther fails to determine an autonomous, or separative, self, and in the end resorts to culturally-ingrained stereotypes of ladies” (49). Whereas Bond blames society’s expectations for the heroines breakdown, Paula Bennett blames the time interval of the 50’s, “The oppressive environment of the 1950s and the soul-destroying impact this environment may have on formidable, high-minded younger girls like Plath” (223). There are lots of examples from the guide that Help these concepts. Whereas in New York, Esther is anxious as a result of she will not be having fun with herself.

She feels that she must be excited and completed like the opposite ladies, nonetheless she finds her work pointless and she or he feels misplaced. Mainly, Esther believes one thing is incorrect along with her as a result of she will not be dwelling as much as society’s expectations of how she ought to really feel. Whereas the novel affords a wide range of components to be centered on, the creator’s use of symbolism is kind of fascinating. A number of the symbols used embody the fig tree, newspaper headlines, the beating coronary heart, and extra importantly, the bell jar. The fig tree is a illustration of life selections accessible to Esther.

Newspaper headlines seem usually all through the novel, normally symbolizing one thing totally different every time. For instance, at one level, the headlines signify Esther’s impact on others round her. The human physique’s bodily longing to dwell is represented by the beating coronary heart. When Esther makes an attempt suicide, she takes be aware of the sound of her beating coronary heart and connects it along with her physique not permitting her to kill herself. The most evident and vital image is the bell jar. Not solely is that this the title of the guide, however the bell jar represents the principle character’s insanity.

As Esther feels emotionally unstable, she views herself as trapped beneath a bell jar allow to flee. Symbolism is a vital component on this novel, because it provides readers perception concerning Esther’s emotions and helps Plath convey summary concepts important to the novel. The fig tree is talked about to start with of the novel. Esther has a guide of brief tales, and reads a story a few Jewish man and a nun who meet each afternoon beneath a fig tree. The nun and the Jewish man are in love; nonetheless their relationship is clearly doomed.

At first the fig tree represents Esther’s relationship with Buddy Willard. Earlier than Esther met Buddy she thought for positive she was in love with him. Nonetheless after they met and acquired to know one another, Esther grew to hate Buddy. That is considerably just like the fig tree story as a result of because the nun and Jewish man had been selecting figs, they see a chick hatch, their palms touched. After this the nun by no means comes out to choose figs once more. Esther mentions that the second she realized that she loathed Buddy Willard was the day that they noticed a child being born.

Clearly there’s a connection between the chick hatching and the child being born. One critic explains that, “The fig tree corresponds to the pure, organic rhythms of her personal coronary heart and thoughts. However as her recollection of the fig tree is affected by her relationships to Buddy, the tree not solely loses its seductive energy, nevertheless it involves picture Esther’s paralyzed creativeness. Including up all of the issues [she] couldn’t do and feeling dreadfully insufficient, Esther sees her life branching out . . . just like the inexperienced fig-tree within the story” (Budick 881).

Budick considers the fig tree as not solely a illustration of Esther’s involvement with Buddy, however as an emblem of selections that face Esther as effectively. Within the novel Esther imagines every fig on the tree as a special path she will soak up her life. She desires to decide on all of them, nonetheless she will solely select one. Because the heroine is plagued with uncertainty on which path, or fig, to decide on, all the figs die and fall from the tree. Esther associates this with the probabilities in her life slowly disappearing as time passes.

One other critic, Marjorie Perloff, pertains to Plath’s character, “I might guess that each lady who reads this passage has felt, at one time or one other, that “selecting one meant shedding all the remainder,” that as a result of feminine roles are not clearly outlined, girls are confronted by such a bewildering number of seeming prospects that selection itself turns into all however not possible. ” (517). The fig tree clearly represents sure points of the principle character’s life. This image helps readers establish with Esther in addition to perceive her character higher.

Critics agree that there are numerous parallels between the fig tree and Esther’s life, reminiscent of her relationship with Buddy Willard, and her incapacity to decide on a particular path in her life. Newspaper headlines are talked about all through the novel. In chapter 16, Joan reveals Esther newspaper articles and clippings about her disappearance. There have been preliminary articles about Esther, the lacking woman, the remainder led as much as the final article, which described the invention of the woman in a darkish gap within the basement, moaning and sick from overdosing on tablets.

Joan explains that studying these articles impressed her to go to New York and commit suicide. Though she didn’t achieve killing herself, Joan’s conduct reveals how a lot of an affect Esther’s insanity has on the lives of others. Based on Paula Bennett, “These headlines symbolize Esther’s publicity, her impact on others, and the hole between Esther’s interpretation of experiences and the world’s interpretation of them. First, they present Esther that the general public is aware of about her conduct—she doesn’t act in a vacuum, however within the eye of the world” (103).

Newspaper headlines are a illustration of the battle between Esther’s expertise of herself and others’ expertise of her. For instance, Esther sees the incident of her tried suicide as solely ache and swallowing tablets within the darkness; nonetheless, others see a surprising story of a lacking woman, a search get together, and the astounding discovery of Esther in her personal basement. Plath clearly makes use of the newspaper headlines to specific Esther’s skewed perceptions of how issues actually are, in addition to the results of her actions on not solely herself ut others as effectively, even those that are strangers, like Joan. After Esther’s quite a few suicide makes an attempt, she turns into satisfied that she would simply succeed if it wasn’t for her physique’s will to dwell. She states that she may kill herself effortlessly if it wasn’t for the “methods and ruses of her physique. ” In a single half particularly, Esther tries to drown herself by swimming in direction of a rock far off the shore. Each time she sinks to the underside her physique floats to the highest. Throughout this incident Esther hears her coronary heart beating, and she or he places it to the phrases, “I’m, I’m, I’m. This beating coronary heart is a illustration of Esther’s failed suicide makes an attempt and the human want to outlive (Perloff 518). The essential character recollects one other suicide try on the ski slopes with Buddy Willard. She purposely flies down a hill that she is aware of she can’t deal with, however as an alternative of plummeting to her demise she breaks her leg. This critic, Budick, shares views barely much like Perloff’s, nonetheless Budick explains the beating coronary heart because the cycle of therapeutic and rebirth, “The repetitive beat of her coronary heart asserts each identification (I) and existence (am). Its triple repetition recollects Dr. Nolan’s naming of Esther 3 times.

It indicators not solely the very fact of Esther’s rebirth however the rhythm that can outline it and the facility that can management it. The beat or brag will not be, like an electrical, spermatic cost (and even like a literal beginning), a one-time expulsion of self outward. It’s a steady, repeating, loving pulsation that heals and births in the identical course of. And the power that supervises it’s the self. Esther causes her personal deep breath and listens to her personal coronary heart” (883). Whereas Esther views her incapacity to kill herself, or her beating coronary heart, as a hindrance, Budick explains the beating coronary heart as useful and even loving in direction of Esther.

Regardless that she believes she actually desires to die, her beating coronary heart that pushes her ahead via dangerous occasions actually helps her heal and ultimately escape her madness. Although not all critics agree on what precisely the heartbeat represents, it nonetheless proves to be a noteworthy image within the work. The most evident and vital image within the novel is the bell jar. For Esther, the bell jar represents her madness, or “insanity. ” When plagued with madness, she feels as if she is trapped inside an hermetic jar that warps her views and ideas on the world and doesn’t enable her to attach or relate with these on the surface of the bell jar.

On the finish of the novel, the bell jar has lifted, however Esther senses that it “nonetheless hovers over her, ready to drop at any second. ” There are lots of examples within the guide that illustrate how Esther’s views are twisted whereas seeing issues from contained in the bell jar. Mrs. Greenwood, Esther’s Mom, makes an attempt to Help her on many events, however as an alternative of seeing her mom’s gestures as loving or caring, Esther develops hatred in direction of her. Largely attributable to her psychological sickness, Esther behaves selfishly. She doesn’t take into account the impact her suicide makes an attempt have on her mom, or on her associates.

Her personal terrifying world completely occupies her ideas (Bond 120). In different phrases, this critic is saying that when Esther is “beneath the bell jar” her conduct will not be rational, and her egocentric conduct is an instance of her incapacity to attach with others. When Esther is on the seashore along with her associates, she appears like an outsider, watching the whole lot that goes on. As a substitute of being herself and connecting with others, she focuses on attempting to behave regular, as if nothing is incorrect along with her, this clearly reveals Esther’s incapacity to narrate to these outdoors of the bell jar.

Based on Perloff, “Sylvia Plath isn’t any foolish sentimentalist; she is aware of fairly effectively that her heroine is totally different from most faculty ladies, that her bell jar is much less fragile, much less simple to take away than theirs. However the exterior or official distinction between insanity and sanity, she suggests in her linkage of bodily and psychological sickness, is essentially illusory” (517). Perloff’s quote immediately helps the speculation that Plath makes use of the bell jar to signify the principle character’s insanity and her lack of contact with actuality.

The whole novel is centered across the bell jar, not solely is that this image talked about ceaselessly all through the work, however it’s used because the title of the novel as effectively. Generally, I agree with the critic’s opinions on the novel’s symbolism, nonetheless there are some issues that could possibly be added to their Assessment of sure concepts. For instance, the truth that the novel began out with Esther’s response to the Rosenberg’s execution in all the newspapers is of some significance, particularly pertaining to the symbolism of newspaper headlines.

The indisputable fact that Esther obsesses over this, helps the concept that newspaper headlines symbolize Esther’s view of issues versus society’s view of issues. Whereas nearly all of the inhabitants felt that the Rosenberg couple had been getting what they deserved, Esther expressed sympathy for them. Aside from that, the critics shared a lot of my very own perceptions of Plath’s symbolism. Plath’s use of symbolism is vital in speaking summary concepts in The Bell Jar. With out symbols such because the fig tree, the heartbeat, newspaper headlines, and the bell jar, lots of the novels messages could be misplaced.

For instance, the bell jar and its illustration of Esther’s insanity give readers a vivid image of what it feels wish to lose one’s sanity. With out this image it might be laborious to place the sensation into phrases. The bell jar is an ideal image of insanity. The fig tree performs a big function in expressing the concept that “if you happen to select one, you lose the remainder”. Whereas most individuals have skilled his feeling, Plath’s use of the fig tree will get the purpose throughout gracefully and successfully. Clearly symbolism performs a significant function in The Bell Jar. Works Cited Bennett, Paula.

My life, a loaded gun : Dickinson, Plath, Wealthy, and feminine creativity. Boston: Beacon Press. Bond, Diane. “The Separative Self in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. ” Girls’s Research Vol. 18 (1990): 49-64. JSTOR. Harford Neighborhood Coll. Lib. 2 Apr. 2008 . Budick, Miller. “The Feminist Discourse of Sylvia Plath’s the Bell Jar. ” School English. Vol. 49. eight (1987): 872-885. JSTOR. Harford Neighborhood Coll. Lib. 2 Apr. 2008 . Perloff, Marjorie. “A Ritual for Being Born Twice: Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. ” Modern Literature. Vol. 13. four. (1972): 507-522.