The Bell Jar is the only novel written by the American writer and poet Sylvia Plath. Originally published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas" in 1963, the novel is semi-autobiographical, with the names of places and people changed. The book is often regarded as a roman à clef since the protagonist 's descent into mental illness parallels Plath 's own experiences with what may have been clinical depression. Plath committed suicide a month after its first UK publication. The novel was published under Plath 's name for the first time in 1967.
The book revolves around the protagonist Esther Greenwood, who wins an internship at a New York fashion magazine in
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The Bell Jar is clever and funny without being pretentious. Events like the one where all the ladies at the hotel, including Esther are suffering from food poisoning, or her many encounters with Buddy Willard are clear examples of the humour depicted in the book. Plath is also very detailed while narrating any event and can even be seen as very poetic. The way Plath makes us comprehend Esther’s mindset through her writing and takes us straight into Esther’s disturbed and depressed mind, which seems very natural. Plath repeatedly goes back and forth while narrating and describing various incidents in the text. For example, the way Plath throws the readers in the middle of her sexual encounter with Irwin and then goes back to tell us how they had first …show more content…
In Chapter five, Esther flips open an anthology of short stories, and instantly connects with a story about a Jewish man and a Catholic nun who meet under a fig tree. The short story resonates with Esther because it speaks to her own experience with Buddy. Even though she and Buddy go to the same church, they may as well be from different religions because of their vastly different outlooks – on the roles of men and women, for example. She reflects back on this imagery in Chapter seven, but this time she uses the fig tree and its branches as a symbol for the different career and life options she has infront of her, as she is unable to find her true