FREE ESSAY ON BELL JAR SUMMARY

BELL JAR SUMMARY

Many have paralleled Sylvia Plath's novel, The Bell Jar, to her very own life. Plath is
known for her tormented life of constant depression and disappointments, causing her to
end her life early at the young age of 30. The time frame in which the book is in matches
the times when she is enlisted in many mental institutes and ultimately her suicide. The
story of Esther Greenwood also tells the feelings and emotions of Sylvia Plath. Other
characters in the novel are said to be in relation to characters in the author's life.
The novel begins where Esther is just about halfway through her job as Mademoiselle, a
fashion magazine. She and many other girls received this opportunity because of their
exceptional writing abilities. Even though this she had waited for this chance for a
year, she is actually disappointed because she had expected more from the other
prizewinners. "These girls looked awfully bored to me. I saw them on the roof yawning and
painting their nails and trying to keep their Bermuda tans, and they seemed bored as
hell... Girls like that make me sick." (Pg. 4) A couple other unfortunate events also led
her to be depressed at her stay in the hotel. At a dinner gathering, Esther ate a lot of
crabmeat that happened to be poisoned. She passes out and awakes in her room. Her
recovery is slow and agonizing. Another social event causes yet again another mishap.
Doreen, Esther best friend there, sets Esther up with a friend of Doreen's boyfriend to
go to a party. There, the blind date attempts to sexually assault, but Esther resists and
walks away with her dignity. After returning to the hotel, Esther takes no care of the
assault and just carries on. Later, she finds out that her on and off boyfriend, Buddy
Willard, is actually not a virgin. "At first I thought he must have slept with the
waitress only that once, but when I asked how many times, just to make sure, he said he
couldn't remember but a couple of times a week for the rest for the summer." (Pg. 70-71)
Knowing this, she thought it to be okay if she were to have an affair also. On a date
with Constantin, he invites her to his room, but to her dismay, nothing happens. Once the
stay at the hotel is over, Esther returns home to Boston, home to more disappointments.
"The air punched out of my stomach. All through June the writing course stretched before
me like a bright, safe bridge over the dull gulf of the summer. Now I saw it totter and
dissolve..." (Pg. 114) During this time, Buddy Willard is in a hospital treating patients
with TB. Esther discovers that Buddy is falling in love with a nurse there, and continues
with her own life in Boston. Insomnia begins to grow upon Esther, and her mother refers
her to a psychiatrist. The doctor concludes that Esther suffers a severe state of
depression, and is tells her that electroshock therapy is needed. Later in the story, it
reveals that the first few treatments she received actually causes her restlessness.
Because of these bad therapy sessions, Esther goes through many attempts at suicide, none
successful. A major cause of her depression is revealed. "I thought that if my father
hadn't died, he would have taught me all about insects, which was his specialty at the
university." (Pg. 165) She then finds her father's grave and "couldn't understand why I
was crying so hard." (Pg. 167) After more suicide attempts, she is taken to a mental
institution. Even there, she still thinks of suicide and did not enjoy, maybe hated,
visits from her mother. In one scene in the story, the mother visits. "That afternoon my
mother had brought me the roses. 'Save them for my funeral,' I'd said... 'But Esther,
don't you remember what day it is today?' 'No...' 'It's your birthday.' And that was when
I had dumped the roses in the wastebasket." (Pg. 202-203) This was at her third institute
she was transferred to. At this same institute, she met an old friend, Joan who she grew
to dislike. But also here, she meets Dr. Nolan, the only person she seems to open up to.
She actually allows the doctor to perform electroshock therapy even with the previously
failed treatments. The sessions proved to help greatly and in a few weeks, she seemed
ready to return home. Esther goes in for her interview to be released, but "how did I
know that someday - at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere - the bell jar, with its
stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again?" (Pg. 241) And so, the story ends. 
The novel brings back to life the 1950's. Being that the novel reflects Plath's own life
in the 1950's, many similarities occur. Women grew more superficial in the 50's,
concerning themselves with the opposite sex. This is shown by the other girls at the
hotel "painting their nails and trying to keep their Bermuda tans." Also in the Fifties,
sex became more and more casual. Esther had expected Buddy to remain pure until marriage,
but she finds that he is not a virgin and was sexually active during that summer. But
this novel does not concern too much of America's history, but more of Plath's own past.
The Bell Jar depicted Sylvia Plath's life and ulitmate destruction.