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A comprehensive overview of Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar, which depicts the mental breakdown and recovery of Esther Greenwood, a college student. The summary covers the main events, themes, and characters of the book, as well as the author's biography and context.
- Sylvia Plath, Frances Monson McCullough, Lois Ames
- 1963
A comprehensive overview of the novel The Bell Jar, which follows Esther Greenwood, a college student who suffers from depression and suicidal thoughts. The summary covers Esther's experiences in New York, her breakdown, her treatment in a psychiatric ward, and her recovery.
- Overview
- Summary
- Legacy
The Bell Jar, novel by Sylvia Plath, first published in January 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas and later released posthumously under her real name. The work, a thinly veiled autobiography, chronicles a young woman’s mental breakdown and eventual recovery, while also exploring societal expectations of women in the 1950s. Plath committed sui...
The Bell Jar details the life of Esther Greenwood, a college student who dreams of becoming a poet. She is selected for a month-long summer internship as a guest editor of Ladies’ Day magazine, but her time in New York City is unfulfilling as she struggles with issues of identity and societal norms. She meets two other interns who manifest contrasting views of femininity as well as Esther’s own internal conflicts: the rebellious and sexual Doreen and the wholesome and virginal Betsy. During this time, Esther thinks about her boyfriend, Buddy Willard, and her anger when he admitted that he was not a virgin, claiming to have been seduced. She believes he is a hypocrite, having acted as if she was more sexually experienced. After being rejected for a writing class, Esther must spend the rest of her summer at home with her mother; Esther’s father died when she was young. She struggles to write a novel and becomes increasingly despondent, making several half-hearted suicide attempts. She ultimately overdoses on sleeping pills but survives.
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Esther is admitted to a mental institute, where she is treated by a progressive psychiatrist who, among other things, eases her concerns about premarital sex and encourages her to obtain a diaphragm. In addition, Esther undergoes electric-shock treatment, which makes her feel as if she has been freed from a bell jar. While on a night pass, Esther loses her virginity, which she sees as a millstone. When she begins hemorrhaging, she seeks the help of another patient, Joan, who goes with her to the emergency room. Shortly thereafter Joan commits suicide, and her death seems to quell Esther’s own suicidal thoughts. The novel ends with a seemingly reborn Esther about to face the examination board, which will decide if she can go home.
Initially celebrated for its dry self-deprecation and ruthless honesty, The Bell Jar is now read as a damning critique of 1950s social politics. Plath made clear connections between Esther’s dawning awareness of the limited female roles available to her and her increasing sense of isolation and paranoia. The contradictory expectations imposed upon women in relation to sexuality, motherhood, and intellectual achievement are linked to Esther’s sense of herself as fragmented. Her eventual recovery relies on her ability to dismiss the dominant versions of femininity that populate the novel.
Although concerned with the stifling atmosphere of 1950s America, The Bell Jar is not limited to examination of gender. The novel opens with the sentence “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs,” which refers to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. This allusion to the Cold War and McCarthyism makes implicit connections between Esther’s experiences and the other paranoias and betrayals that characterized the decade.
The novel was inspired by events that occurred when Plath was in her early 20s. Although the work ends on a hopeful note, Plath took her own life in 1963. Her acclaimed poetry collection Ariel (1965) was published posthumously.
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- Sylvia Plath, Frances Monson McCullough, Lois Ames
- 1963
Synopsis. In 1953, Esther Greenwood, a 19-year-old undergraduate student from the suburbs of Boston, is awarded a summer internship at the fictional Ladies' Day magazine in New York City. During the internship, Esther feels neither stimulated nor excited by the work, fashion, and big-city lifestyle that her peers in the program seem to adore.
- Sylvia Plath, Frances Monson McCullough, Lois Ames
- 244
- 1963
- January 1963
Learn about the plot, characters, and themes of Sylvia Plath's only novel, The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical story of a young woman's mental breakdown. Explore the study tools, quotes, and resources from SparkNotes to enhance your understanding of this classic work.
Before settling on The Bell Jar, Plath considered titling the novel Diary of a Suicide or The Girl in the Mirror. The best study guide to The Bell Jar on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.
The Bell Jar Summary. The Bell Jar takes place during the early fifties and begins in New York City, during a sultry summer in which the narrator, Esther Greenwood, is an intern at a fashion magazine after winning a scholarship. She soon befriends Doreen, a fellow scholarship winner who is perpetually cynical and bemused.
