Summary:
A basic overview and description of the Bell Jar by Silvia Path.
The Bell Jar is a glass jar used to protect things of value; Sylvia Plath uses this imagery throughout the book to show Ester's isolation. Esther has her own "Bell Jar," because she feels isolated all the time, depressed for no reason, and is completely and utterly confused about her future. This idea complete isolation and depression for no reason is a problem because Esther is supposed to be having the time of her life, yet she seems too entrapped in her own bell jar, thus isolating her and keeping her from having fun or enjoying anything. All these things enviably led to her physiological breakdown.
To begin, Esther feels isolated from everyone all the time. She never seems to fit in or want to. One prime example of this is when she is in New York and supposed to be having the time of her life; she says "I tired to jack up my morale." This clearly shows her feeling of depression, while being in New York even though all the other girls are having a great time, so she thinks she should also, but can not bring herself to have any fun or feel anything. Esther's morale should have been great as she should have been enjoying the city to the fullest. Another prime example is when Esther is thinking to herself how much stuff she could not do. This is evident when she says "I had been inadequate all along, I simply hadn't thought about it." This shows Esther's Isolation perfectly.
To further show Esther's depression and morale, she always is depressed about nothing, even when her life is going perfect. Buddy Willard would have been the perfect husband for Esther, the problem is she is hypocritical and depressed because she is trapped in her "bell jar." Esther thinks just because he had sex with a waitress, he was lying about being pure to Esther, thus making him hypocritical. An example of her behavior is "I found out how he had fooled me all those years and what a hypocrite he was." Esther never thought of Buddy the same again. Esters never ending depressions are a defiant cause of her breakdown.
To continue, Esther is utterly confused about her future. This depresses her because she does not know how one could have a career, be married, and have children. Esther says this best when she refers to the fig tree. ; "I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each end every one of them, but choosing one ment id loose the rest, and I sat there unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black and, one by one the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one plopped to the ground." This shows exactly how confused Esther really is. This is why she refers to herself as being in a bell jar because she can not escape her own reality and depression. Esther thinks she will forever be trapped in the bell jar. Esther learns at the end it can be cured, but she still fears the bell jar encasing her again.
To summarize, Esther's breakdown was caused by many things, some being unknown. The three main reasons being, she feels isolated all the time, Esther is depressed about nothing, and she is completely confused about her life, all these greatly influenced the mental breakdown. Luckily the bell jar lifts from Esther, but her fear is forever there that it will return.
This is the complete article, containing 605 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
