Favorite Quotes:
"It's like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction---every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it's really you getting smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier, rushing away from all those lights and that excitement at about a million miles an hour." -page 16
"There is nothing like puking with somebody to make you into old friends." -page 44
"The one thing I was good at was winning scholarships and prizes, and that era was coming to an end." -page 77
"The seemed a dreary and wasted life for a girl with fifteen years of straight A's..." -page 84
"I was still wearing Betsy's white blouse and dirndl skirt. They drooped a bit now, as I hadn't washed them in my three weeks at home. The sweaty cotton gave off a sour but friendly smell.
I hadn't washed my hair for three weeks, either.
I hadn't slept for seven nights." -page 127
"The only reason I remembered this play was because it had a mad person in it, and everything I had ever read about mad people stuck in my mind, while everything else flew out." -page 155
"Carefully I stored the toy matches in the hem of my new wool bathrobe. If Doctor Nolan asked me for the matches, I would say I'd thought they were made of candy and had eaten them." -page 190
"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart.
I am, I am, I am." -page 243
About the Main Character:
Esther Greenwood is the protagonist of The Bell Jar. The story depicts the slow unraveling of her mind after an internship in New York City. The psychotic break that occurs is related in first person and given with eloquent and shocking detail. What I think drew me to Esther as a character was how slowly her break occurred. And how conscious she seemed to be of her situation. Sylvia Plath said of writing this novel that she thought of it "as an autobiographical apprentice work which I had to write in order to free myself from the past." Many of the events in this novel are based very closely to things Plath went through herself. She identified with Esther Greenwood...which is probably why this novel is engulfing. {I would never have known this about Plath had I not read the snippets in the back of the book---which I never do, but this book was so dang interesting I read every single page it had to offer. Totally worth it!!}
Another Character to Note:
Joan is a friend from Esther's past who ends up at the same asylum that she is in toward the end of the book. Esther is completely shocked to find Joan there and at first thinks she is there as a joke just to see how crazy Esther is doing. But, as she tells her story and interacts with the patients, Esther believes her. Joan is interesting to me because the way her break is described it almost sounds like she chose it after hearing about Esther. Kind of like, "Oh, she's crazy too! I guess I can tell people I'm crazy!" There is also a point in the novel where Esther says sometimes she thinks she made Joan up. I haven't quite figured everything about Joan, but there is definitely a lot there.
Plot Breakdown:
This is hard to write in a list form because there are so many little things that happen that add to the whole that is Esther's psychotic break. There are also some really interesting plot twists that are begging to be included, but I think it would be giving too much away. Here is my attempt at a happy medium :)
1. Esther, the intern...we are introduced to this hallow girl who spends her time gallivanting with bad influences or lying in bed avoiding work or eating all the caviar at banquets. It is obvious there is something off, but we don't yet know what as the reader.
2. Buddy Willard, the non-virgin and the anxiety of sex...Esther is basically engaged to Buddy, but she is so past over it. He repulses her, but also illuminates a topic that seems to loom over her head throughout the novel---her virginity.
3. Tears at the final day of the internship and Marco, the disgusting...Esther breaks down at photo-shoot, goes on date later that evening, and is attacked.
4. Home, here comes the ugly...no sleep, no shower, and no work.
5. Bad electroshock...it worsens.
6. Suicide---the obsession....blades, drowning, hanging, you name it, Esther considers it.
7. Dr. Nolan....hope for recovery is a whisper at this point, but things look a little brighter with Dr. Nolan.
8. A Successful Suicide, A Loss of Virginity, and An Exit Interview...
Something Interesting to Note:
For me, the one liner descriptions of the psychotic break are what make this book so rich. An example would be when Esther is newly home from her internship she gets hungry one day, goes into the kitchen and mixes up a raw egg with some raw hamburger meat and eats it just like that. I don't think I put the book down after I reached that scene until I was finished. Plath pulled me in with her descriptions.
Should you read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath before you die?
I'm sure it 's obvious by now, but I would say absolutely, yes to this one! It's given me a greater appreciation of what someone goes through when they lose their minds. Not to say I understand completely, but Plath is so involving with her writing that I still feel drawn and sympathetic towards Esther Greenwood even though I'm finished reading it. I also appreciated that it wasn't crass or vulgar at any point. It truly felt like something very personal that Plath was getting off her chest. I think I will have this book on my mind for awhile.
