Name: The Bell Jar [Book]
Brand: Sylvia Plath
SKU: 9780571081783
Price: 9.99 GBP
Availability: InStock

Esther Greenwood gains a summer internship at a prominent magazine in New York City. Esther is neither stimulated nor excited by the big city and glamorous culture and lifestyle that girls her age are expected to idolize and emulate. Instead her experiences frighten and disorient her. She appreciates the witty sarcasm and adventurousness of her friend Doreen, but also identifies with the piety of Betsy, a 'goody-goody' sorority girl who always does the right thing. She has a benefactress in Philomena Guinea, a formerly successful fiction writer. She decides to spend the summer potentially writing a novel, although she feels she doesn't have enough life experience to write convincingly. All of her identity has been centered upon doing well academically; she is unsure of what to make of her life once she leaves school, and the stereotypical female choices do not appeal to her. Esther becomes increasingly depressed, and finds herself unable to sleep. Her mother encourages her to see a psychiatrist. He hastily diagnoses her with a mental illness and has her hospitalized where she receives electroconvulsive therapy. She refuses to go back and her mental state worsens. She has a feeling of being trapped under a bell jar, struggling for breath. When she is fitted with a diaphragm, she feels free from her fears about the consequences of sex and from previous pressures to get married, potentially to the wrong man. She improves and various life-changing events help her regain her sanity.

Burley Fisher Books

The Bell Jar [Book]

Sylvia Plath

Product Description

Cookie notice