Plath, Sylvia: 1932-1963

The Bell Jar, 1971 - Information about the Book

General Information | Facts | Articles

General Information
- The novel chronicles a young woman's mental breakdown and eventual recovery, while also exploring societal expectations of women in the 1950s.
- Information from Wikipedia
Facts
- Awards
  "The Bell Jar" did not receive any major literary awards during Sylvia Plath's lifetime. However, it has been widely acclaimed and recognized for its significance in the years since its publication. In 2019, the BBC News listed "The Bell Jar" on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels.
  Developed by Perplexity AI
- Character information
- Symbols
- Themes and Motifs
- Topics
  
  Autobiographical Elements
  The protagonist, Esther Greenwood, is a fictionalized version of Plath herself, and many events in the novel parallel Plath's own life experiences. Like Plath, Esther suffers from depression and undergoes electroshock therapy after a mental breakdown.
  Mental Illness and Treatment
  The novel provides an unflinching portrayal of Esther's descent into mental illness and her experiences in a psychiatric institution. It sheds light on the harsh and dehumanizing psychiatric treatments of the 1950s, such as electroshock therapy.
  
  Societal Pressures on Women
  Esther struggles with the limited roles and expectations imposed on women in 1950s America, feeling trapped by societal norms. The novel critiques the contradictory expectations placed on women regarding sexuality, motherhood, and intellectual ambition.
  
  Search for Identity
  Esther's journey represents a young woman's quest to find her true self and purpose in a society that suppresses her individuality. The novel explores themes of alienation, loss of identity, and the struggle for self-discovery.
  
  "The Bell Jar" is a powerful and influential novel that shed light on important issues of its time and continues to resonate with readers today.
  
  Developed by Perplexity AI
Articles
- Commentary
  The Bell Jar is based largely on Plath's own suicide attempt (summer, 1953) and subsequent treatment at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. The novel represents a culmination of Plath's attempts to describe her experience of mental illness and treatment.
  In writing the book, mainly in 1961, Plath reused a number of phrases from earlier poems, including the description of electroshock therapy, "darkness wipes me out like chalk on a blackboard" (from "Face Lift"). The Bell Jar launched the final phase of Plath's career; she wrote some of the poems later published in Ariel, the book which secured her place in the canon, on the back of Bell Jar drafts.
  Amanda Shaffer
  Excerpted, with permission, from the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database at New York University School of Medicine, © New York University.
- A Classic Story of Depression: "Plath wrote largely in the style of confessional poetry, a highly personal genre that, as its name suggests, reveals intense internal emotions." Amanda Prahl; December 11, 2019
- Critique by Robert Scholes: "The world in which the events of this novel take place is a world bounded by the cold war on one side and the sexual war on the other." The New York Times; April 11, 1971
- Sexual Authority as an Anchor in The Bell Jar: "the female body grants more than just male pleasure. Female nudity offers the power to control its sexual actions." Lauren Kaufman; February 2010
- The Bell Jar Analysis. Discussion with Nick Marek and Madison Romine, Arizona State Literature Final. 2013
- The Bell Jar at 40. Emily Gould; July 27, 2011