The Bell Jar

"Published by arrangement with HarperCollins Publishers, Inc."--T.p

Esther Greenwood, a talented and successful writer, finally succumbs to madness when the world around her begins to falter

An overview of the novel features a biographical sketch of the American author, a list of characters, a summary of the plot, and critical and analytical views of the work.

"Though her life was brief, the American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath (1932-63) exerted a profound influence on contemporary writers, particularly women writers of the sixties and seventies. Just as to her Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry Plath brought a decidedly feminist perspective, so too did she etch in her novel The Bell Jar a disturbing vision of life for young women in America at midcentury. The Bell Jar - based on Plath's own experiences as a student at Smith College, an intern at Mademoiselle, and a young woman battling for her own sanity amid societal mores of the times - was initially published in England under a pseudonym, its American publication stifled for years by the writer's family. When, however, the 1963 novel was finally released to U.S. audiences in 1971, it achieved both critical and popular success, and has since become a classic of feminist literature and a unique vehicle for better appreciating Plath's gifts." "It is through a multifaceted lens that Linda Wagner-Martin examines The Bell Jar in this new study. Whereas past critical attention has centered on The Bell Jar as autobiography, Wagner-Martin transcends that approach, looking as well at the novel in its larger context of the social and historical forces shaping women's lives in America during the fifties and sixties. Thus eschewing a simplistic reading of the novel, the author plumbs issues of gender, genre, and narrative voice. Arguing that Plath's troubled personal history was the product of her struggle against contemporary social forces, Wagner-Martin reviews the writer's prior work and inspects earlier, partial versions of the novel; explores Plath's use of humor and sarcasm; traces the writer's representation of patriarchal structures in the novel; and ultimately places the novel squarely in the tradition of works about women at odds with a society dominated by patriarchal values. A brilliantly argued, eminently readable approach to this masterpiece, The Bell Jar: A Novel of the Fifties is certain to be lauded by scholars and students alike."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Because wherever I sat, on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok, I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air. Readers who are familiar with Sylvia Plath's work may recognize this well-known quotation from her first and only novel, The Bell Jar, which tackles issues of depression, mental illness, and the search for individuality. This compelling volume examines Sylvia Plath's life and writings, with a specific look at key ideas related to The Bell Jar. A collection of twenty-three essays offers readers context and insight to discussions centering around the pervasive impact of illness, the novel as a search for personal identity, and the autobiographical nature of the work. The book also examines contemporary perspectives on depression, such as the sometimes deadly pressure of perfectionism on gifted teens, and the idea that depression and risk of suicide run in families.

A Study Guide for Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

The perfect companion to Sylvia Plath', "The Bell Jar," this study guide contains a chapter by chapter analysis of the book, a summary of the plot, and a guide to major characters and themes. BookCap Study Guides do not contain text from the actual book, and are not meant to be purchased as alternatives to reading the book. We all need refreshers every now and then. Whether you are a student trying to cram for that big final, or someone just trying to understand a book more, BookCaps can help. We are a small, but growing company, and are adding titles every month.

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Department of English and Linguistics), course: Madness in Literature, 7 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction Madness is an important aspect in literature - especially madness of female writers respectively madness of female chief characters is interesting to deal with concerning the social role of women in the cause of time. It [madness] is that state of mind where a person’s feelings or beliefs about himself [...] are completely disrupted, making him unable to function in whatever social role – husband, parent, friend, employee – he might expect to enjoy. It is the state where the sufferer passes beyond the bounds of reality, intelligibility, and rationality as defined by the bulk of society. The psychotic is a stranger among his own people. (Nettle 12) A character consistent to this definition of madness is Esther Greenwood in Silvia Plath’s autobiographical novel The Bell Jar which was published 1963. Being a young intelligent woman, Esther becomes mad as a result of the mental stress to conform to the traditional role of women or to break tradition. Esther Greenwood is passive and unable to be agent of her life. Never having learned how to develop herself as an independent individual, she is dependent on others and follows their ideals of a fulfilling life. She is torn between starting a family and starting a career. According to this, The Bell Jar reveals the difficulty of becoming an adult, by breaking tradition to be able to realize one’s personal scheme of life. As Susan Bassnett points out, “The Bell Jar is a novel about a suicide attempt that fails; but it is also a novel about a woman who learns how to live with herself and how to come to terms with the world, that world of destruction and horror [...]” (Bassnett 122). As the story of Esther Greenwood’s madness is full of interesting symbols and motifs, it is unfortunately impossible to deal with the whole of them. Consequently this paper will focus on few aspects revealing the split identity of Esther Greenwood and show the process of her recovery as well. These basic motifs are: the fig-tree, the fake identity she builds up and the motif of the bell jar. They will be discussed in the context of Esther’s mental illness...

The Bell Jar is a highly distinctive and unusual book, and although the era of the 1950's it represents has faded and disappeared into history, the power of this novel does not dissipate. The original essays in this volume each take on a specific angle from which to examine the work. One essay discusses the issue of nature vs. nurture in the novel, while another discusses the similarities between Plath's work and Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted. The older essays provide some of the finest scholarship on The Bell Jar that has been made available over the years, and offer a wide variety of critical approaches to this work.

Essay from the year 2000 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Comparative Literature, grade: A, University of Kent, course: Ideas in the Arts - Truth in Fiction, 2 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Individuality and self-perception are the main themes of both 'The Bell Jar' by Sylvia Plath and André Gide’s 'The Immoralist'. This is so on at least two levels. Both their stories are presented by an unreliable and probably even biased narrator, who is also the main character Michel in 'The Immoralist' and Esther in 'The Bell Jar'. This may be a remainder of the strong autobiographical character of these works. It is this similarity, which makes it very interesting to compare those novels with regard to the question of how individuality is portrayed and how the characters perceive themselves. Of course, there is not enough room here, to discuss, in what ways those novels reflect their authors and how authentic they are. As these are both works of fiction, we have to be very careful as not to just translate ‘Ester’ as Sylvia and ‘Michel’ as André. We can only say, that on the first level, we have these fictional characters, who have a certain outlook on life and how they fit into the world as they perceive it - and this will be our main concern - but on a ‘meta-level’ we have the authors’ ideas on how we perceive ourselves and what individuality is. I would argue that this is an eperience, which cannot be transgressed it is something personal, that we can never get rid of. So when, Sylvia Plath invents the figure Esther, her perception of herself and the world around her cannot be completely different from her creator’s perspective. But just as it cannot be wholly different it cannot be complete either. What is worked into such fictitious characters are just elements of ourselves and sometimes they can represent earlier stages in our development - earlier selves both of the character and probably also of their authors.

Esther Greenwood, a talented and successful writer, finally succumbs to madness when the world around her begins to falter

Looks at gender-related themes in ninety-six of the most frequently taught works of fiction, including "Anna Karenina," "Brave New World," "Great Expectations," and "Lord of the Flies."

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Bell Jar with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, a semi-autobiographical novel which follows Esther Greenwood, a young woman who is undertaking an internship in New York when her mental health begins to decline, leading to stays in a series of psychiatric institutions. The novel is semi-autobiographical: Plath’s own struggles with depression are well-documented, and she underwent electroconvulsive therapy as part of her “treatment”. The Bell Jar is widely admired for its unsparing depiction of the paranoia, stifling conformism and gender inequality that characterised America during the 1950s, and its popularity has not waned in the decades since it was first published. Sylvia Plath was an American novelist and poet. Her best-known works are The Bell Jar and the poetry collection Ariel, which was published posthumously in 1965 (Plath committed suicide in 1963). Find out everything you need to know about The Bell Jar in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

Multidisciplinary and comprehensive in scope, this volume serves as an authoritative overview of scientific knowledge about suicide and its prevention, providing a foundation in theory, research, and clinical applications. Issues relevant to clinical case management are highlighted, and various treatment modalities are discussed in light of the latest research findings.

Featuring essays by leading feminist scholars from a variety of disciplines, this key text explores the latest developments in autobiographical studies. The collection is structured around the inter-linked concepts of genre, inter-subjectivity and memory. Whilst exemplifying the very different levels of autobiographical activity going on in feminist studies, the contributions chart a movement from autobiography as genre to autobiography as cultural practice, and from the analysis of autobiographical texts to a preoccupation with autobiography as method.

The book is an all-in-one compilation of 36 popular classroom demonstrations published since 1993 in the “Favorite Demonstration” column of NSTA’s Journal of College Science Teaching. The collection begins with a chapter on safety, “The Rules of Research.” From there, chapters emphasize conveying scientific principles while making them memorable.

Contains nearly two hundred alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on women's autobiography, covering selected authors from throughout history, major works, nationalities or ethnicities, and related issues, themes, and terms.

I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo. Sylvia Plath's groundbreaking semi-autobiographical novel offers an intimate, honest and often wrenching glimpse into mental illness. The Bell Jar broke the boundaries between fiction and reality and helped cement Sylvia Plath's place as an enduring feminist icon. Celebrated for its darkly humorous, razor sharp portrait of 1950s society, it continues to resonate with readers today as testament to the universal human struggle to claim one's rightful place in the world. A special illustrated edition - the second book in our collection of illustrated Faber classics.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: A, San Diego State University, course: Modern American Literature and Culture, 1 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: “It’s quite amazing how I’ve gone around for most of my life as in the rarefied atmosphere under a bell jar.” (Plath, Sylvia: The Bell Jar. New York. Harper Collins Publishers 1996, p. 250) Although uttered by Sylvia Plath, this statement fully applies for the protagonist Esther Greenwood in Plath’s novel The Bell Jar. It exemplifies her feeling of being imprisoned in a world and society she can neither accept nor reject and further reveals the identification of author and protagonist. Both Plath and Esther suffer from living under this sort of glass bell jar which makes it hard for them to breathe and to break free from the regulations of contemporary society. The author Sylvia Plath herself has experienced most of the events in the novel, including psychological disease, depression and suicide attempts. Moreover, most of the characters in The Bell Jar are based on people Plath knew and loved, although she often draws caricatures or uses the device of irony when describing them. Plath’s intention was “to show how isolated a person feels when he is suffering a breakdown” (p.262) but we never completely come to know why this breakdown occurs, which almost leads to her destruction and drives her into madness and the asylum. What we do know, however, is that Esther doubts the traditional way of a woman’s life in the 1950s which means marrying a respectful man, having children and being an obedient housewife. She can hardly decide which way of life to choose and experiences a strong inner conflict between her wish of leading the life of a poet and that of a loving wife and mother. This conflict leads to a fracture in Esther’s inner self, to diminished self-assurance and false made-up selves. Esther’s mother, although seemingly playing a passive role in the novel, has a significant influence on her daughter’s way of thinking, on her doubt of social values and to a certain extent even on her psychological disease which derives from her inner disorder. In the following, I will try to analyze the importance and influence of Esther’s relationship to her mother Mrs. Greenwood in the course of the story. In doing so, I will also examine the meaning of maternal bonds in reference to a couple of further female relationships in the novel. Moreover, I will dwell on Esther’s doubt and partial rejection of social and traditional values of her time, most of which are embodied by her mother. [...]

Provides an examination of the use of alienation in classic literary works.