ipl-logo

Depression In The Bell Jar

1180 Words5 Pages

When looking in a mirror, you expect to see yourself, right? Whether it is an angry or happy or neutral version of yourself, it is still you. The only real difference you would probably expect to see is that of your image being flipped or something relatively new on your person. Seeing a complete stranger looking back at you is something most people would expect to see in a horror movie. In The Bell Jar though, Sylvia Plath has her main character, Esther, go through this exact situation several times. The story follows a timeline of how she is in college and then gradually breaks down until the point where she tries to commit suicide. Esther’s depression causes her to disconnect with her outwards appearance, which then causes her dissociation …show more content…

Esther is reluctant to take her pictures because she knows she is going to cry. After Esther breaks down, she decides to look into the mirror and thinks “The face that peered back at me seemed to be peering from the grating of a prison cell after a prolonged beating” (p.102). This scene shows that Esther is starting to have a disconnection with her body and this affects how she views herself. Not only was she disconnected with her visual representation, but she also started losing control of herself here. Even though she knew she was about to start crying, she could not control her body when she started and feels as if she was possessed. The terminology used is interesting because people who are possessed are trapped inside their bodies. The stranger is described to be in a jail cell, and people in jail are either captured or stuck there. No matter what they want, the prisoner and the person being possessed are not able to leave. This prison cell could be a metaphor for her depression. Just like the prisoner, Esther feels trapped. She is stuck within her depression and has no idea how to stop it from completely taking over her personality. In an earlier chapter, Esther calls a mirror a “silver hole”. If the mirror is a hole, then that means it is a place where she is capable of losing all or part of herself. This fortifies the idea that she is being taken over by her

Show More
Related

Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

695 Words | 3 Pages

From that point onward, Melinda hides from herself by taking down or covering mirrors, an act to forget her past. It is made clear that Melinda dislikes looking at herself as it reminds her of what happened that night at the party. As can be seen in this quote, “I watch myself in the mirror across the room... Two muddy-circle eyes

Read More

In The Mystery Murder Serial Podcast By Sarah Koenig

721 Words | 3 Pages

It tells the story through different people's perspectives. Jay was one of Adnan’s friends, they did drug deals and whatnot that kind of stuff. Adnan dated Hae for a while then broke up and she found someone she loved dearly named Don. Jay was dating Hae’s best friend Stephanie. Jay and Adnan had a weird kind of friendship; they weren’t close or anything, they just smoked weed together and did other drugs.

Read More

Anderson's Speak Symbolism Examples

383 Words | 2 Pages

To start, mirrors remind Melinda of her flaws. She sees her flaws that lead her to feel weak and stupid about what had happened. She disgusted herself because she felt it was her fault Andy Evans had raped her. In the novel, Melinda states, “I get out of bed and take down the mirror.

Read More

An American Slave Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis

522 Words | 3 Pages

Douglass is also expressing the mental affect that her mistreatment had on him. On the same page Douglass wrote, “Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone…” (pg.66). In this metaphor Douglass conveys how the power of slavery made his mistress become cruel.

Read More

What Is The Significance Of The Closets In Speak

838 Words | 4 Pages

The first thing inside the closet is the broken mirror. When first going into the janitor's closet she sees that the mirror is bolted to the wall, so she chooses to cover it up. The mirror acts as a reminder that she let what happened happen. It makes her look in the mirror at what she has also turned herself into, “The first thing to go is the mirror. It is screwed to the wall, so I cover it with a power of Maya Angelous that the librarian gave me”(50).

Read More

Sarah's Key And Night Comparison

887 Words | 4 Pages

The story revolves around two different narratives, one set in 1942 and the other in 2009, eventually merging in the end. The past narrative follows the fate of a young girl named Sarah, who is arrested with her family during the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in Paris and struggles to protect her younger brother by locking him in a closet before being taken away. The present narrative follows a journalist named Julia, who is investigating the roundup for an article and uncovers a connection between Sarah's story and her own family. As a modern-day journalist, Julia is initially detached from the historical events she is researching, but as she uncovers more about Sarah's story, she begins to feel a personal connection to it. She becomes increasingly invested in the fate of Sarah and her family, and her investigation ultimately leads her to confront her own family history and identity.

Read More

Depression In Mrs Bonnie Gilbert Grape

635 Words | 3 Pages

This movie actually does a good job portraying major depressive disorder on Mrs. Bonnie Grape’s character. At the beginning of the movie, while Gilbert is describing his family, he explains the reason behind his mom’s depression, and then every time that Mrs. Grape appears on screen, her condition is noticeable because she displays most of the symptoms. One of the most common causes for depression is grief, which can be caused by the death of someone who is close to the patient and this can be seen in the movie when Gilbert explains that his dad’s death affected his mom. An old portrait picture of Mrs. Grape is shown while Arnie is describing her as one of the prettiest and happiest girls in Endora town, who changed completely after her husband committed suicide.

Read More

A Streetcar Named Desire And The Bell Jar Analysis

776 Words | 4 Pages

This is further demonstrated when Blanche says: “A hot bath and a long, cold drink always gives me a brand-new outlook on life!”. Similarly, in Plath’s principal character of Esther Greenwood, the act of bathing presents itself as a means of renewal: “The longer I lay there in the clear hot water the purer I felt, and when I stepped out at last and wrapped myself in one of the big, soft white hotel bath towels I felt pure and sweet as a new baby”. Esther’s fascination with purifying herself likens itself to a religious ritual. Saadia El Karfi notes that whilst Esther does not acknowledge her bathing rituals as religious there is a “comparison of the feeling she feels in

Read More

Theme Of Isolation In Laurie Anderson's Speak

736 Words | 3 Pages

To try to forget and move on from being raped, she needed to avoid looking at herself and seeing the person she has become. Ever since Melinda was raped, she has been frustrated with herself and has not been able to face her reflection. This shows that she could not face her feelings. Melinda’s coping strategy was to avoid others and avoid herself. The mirror is a symbol for her emotional struggles and that she cannot deal with them.

Read More

Lack Of Control In The Secret Life Of Esther

1085 Words | 5 Pages

As Esther loses control of herself, specifically her handwriting, her ability to control her own

Read More

Shame And Self-Acceptance In Dorothy Allison's Trash

1259 Words | 6 Pages

This action represents the suppressing or drowning of Allison’s insecurities and shame which in turn could possibly lead to her own

Read More

Summary Of Leigh Stein's 'Dispatch From The Future'

554 Words | 3 Pages

She has no confidence in herself. It is a constant desire to be someone popular on Facebook. The strongest image that supports the lack of confidence the speaker is feeling is in 12th and 13th line. “I passed mirrors and pretended they were not mirrors, but clean windows, and I was not myself…” (Stein, 84).

Read More

Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper

1130 Words | 5 Pages

The narrator describes where she lives as a beautiful place to live. At this point in the story the narrator is in a mental hospital. Every perspective and belief she has on where she is at has been put into her head by her husband. Everything she knows about her situation is to calm her down and not make her think for herself. As the story continues the narrator begins to start thinking on her own.

Read More

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane Analysis

1008 Words | 5 Pages

It talks about loneliness, desperation and confusion that anyone who has no guide to ease them into the world goes through. It also talks greatly about the human mind’s ability to repress the memories that it finds too traumatic to deal with. The plot starts out simple, an unnamed protagonist attending a funeral in his childhood hometown. He then visits the home that he and his sister grew up in, bringing back memories of a little girl named Lettie Hempstock who lived at the end of the lane, in the Hempstocks’ farmhouse, with her mother and grandmother.

Read More

Critical Analysis Of The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath

1755 Words | 8 Pages

(Plath, 1971, p. 237). Despite reassuring Buddy that her illness and Joan’s suicide had nothing to do with him, he was definitely affected by her situation. Arguably, so was Joan, as Joan at least pretended that she exhibited symptoms at first so that she could be put in the same private mental health clinic as Esther. Esther’s depression also brought shame and insecurity to her

Read More

More about Depression In The Bell Jar

Related Topics

Open Document