Invisible Suffering In The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

In the novel The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, the theme of ‘invisible suffering’ is prominent throughout Esther’s journey of suffering with a mental illness. A key character who helps to represent this theme is Joan, as she represents the chronic course of mental illness. Through Joan, Esther realizes that even though someone may seem happy or optimistic, they may be unbeknowingly afflicted by the misery of a mental illness. Further, this misery will never truly subside or disappear due to the nature of a mental illness. I think Plath uses Joan to embody the symbol of the bell jar because of key interactions between Esther and Joan throughout the novel. When Esther and Joan reunite at the hospital, Esther begins to become familiar with the

When Dr. Quinn relays the news to Esther she seems almost numb as she describes the situation. For instance, she writes, “Doctor Quinn said. ‘Joan has been found.’ Doctor Quinn’s use of the passive slowed my blood. ‘Dead,’ said Doctor Quinn. ‘I’m afraid she’s hanged herself’”(235). Esther seems to freeze in the moment as she realizes that her friend has gone through with the act of which both of them had been unsuccessful at. In the beginning of their interactions, Esther didn’t think that Joan had it in her to kill herself as she felt that Joan didn’t suffer as much as the rest of them. The weight of this realization causes Esther to truly see the provisional state of mental illness in that things may feel fine at one moment, but it can change at any given time. The bell jar will always be there as a threat to enclose her once again in her dark and dangerous mind. Joan exemplifies this concept as she improved and seemed to be almost happy, but all that changed in an instant as the bell jar plunged down and trapped her once again. As Joan became trapped in her own mind, she ultimately lost her will to live and took her own life. As Esther goes to Joan’s funeral, she remarks: “and all during the simple funeral service I wondered what I thought I was burying”(242). Esther realizes that a part of her had died with Joan and she needed to go to the funeral to receive that closure. The naive and ignorant aspect of Esther’s character had died with Joan as Joan epitomized the symbol of the bell jar that Esther had been pondering about. Esther had never truly realized what being unable to escape, even for a brief time, from its walls could end in. In addition, when Esther thought of her future all she had were questions, and while she undoubtedly still has that uncertainty, she knows one thing for sure: she will never be able to escape from her mental illness