The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar, Essay Test A. Pick six (6) of the following themes and give an example of an incident from the book that BEST illustrates that theme. (30 points) In the introduction of the novel, the reader is introduced to society’s high expectations for the female gender. The main character, Esther Greenwood, is undergoing the leisurely lifestyle of a New York City woman. One day in particular, Ladies’ Day, serves as a prime example of the conformity that occurred during this era of women’s history

The Bell Jar brings out the story of a young woman and her struggle through childhood to maturity in a foreign country, America, in the early 1950’s.Across the story several themes are manifested some of which will form the central point of this essay. Esther experiences growth seasoned with pain which drives her to the point of committing suicide, however she finally recovers from her suicide attempt, a point at which she takes a new perspective of life and chooses to aspire to survive. Her struggles

The Bell Jar and The Member of the Wedding Jordan O’Brien Thesis: In both The Bell Jar and The Member of the Wedding, the main character goes on a journey of self-discovery that completely changes her life, but each girl responds to this transformation differently. Plot/ Structure: The structure of the Bell Jar One thing that greatly contributes to the development of Esther’s character is the expectations of women in the 1950s. In that time, it was customary for a woman to become

Research Paper: The Bell Jar, By: Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar is a work of fiction that spans a six month time period in the life of the protagonist and narrator, Esther Greenwood. The novel tells of Esther’s battle against her oppressive surroundings and her ever building madness, this is the central conflict throughout the narrative. After coming home from a month in New York as a guest editor for a magazine, Esther begins to have trouble with everyday activities such as reading,

Throughout the movie, The Other Boleyn Girl and the novel, The Bell Jar, director Justin Chadwick and author Sylvia Plath respectively present the struggles faced by women in order to establish identities within their patriarchal societies. The authors of both texts explore these causes by situating their texts within a society where women are potentially disempowered at the hands of men. Where Chadwick explores the systematic disempowerment of women who are a threat to their men, Plath contrastingly

future, but the chances for that are slim because naive minds are susceptible to adapt according to their surroundings. In other words, the individual will conform to the social construct in order to fit in. The character Esther Greenwood, from The Bell Jar, a nineteen year old adult living independently in New York City experiences this. She suffers from the pressures of her society; this leads her to adjust her actions according to these pressures. She was expected to fit the “image” that was socially

1. List the major topics/issues Sylvia Plath explores in The Bell Jar (at least four). To what extent are the issues still relevant today? The major topics explored in The Bell Jar include the inferiority of women, the wrongful treatment of the mentally ill, sexuality and the double standard for men and women on sex, and conformity to society’s expectations. The inferiority of women refers to society’s view that women are subordinate to men, and are supposed to serve men after marriage, become housewives

“there is a powerful need for symbolism, and that means the architecture must have something that appeals to the human heart”(Tange para. 6). Plath, a fine literary architect, constructs symbolism within The Bell Jar for an empathetic appeal towards the reader. A bell jar is a bell-shaped glass jar used in order to enclose an object from its environment. Esther often feels trapped by her personal insecurities and emotional trauma, which keeps her from fully experiencing the real world as it actually

The Bell Jar as a Controlling Image in The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar contains a constant reference to a bell jar that acts as a controlling image. The bell jar in the novel controls the novel in three ways. It acts as a symbol for the depression that Esther Greenwood, the central character, experiences. It also serves as a metaphor for her. Finally, it is the very illusion that drives her into depression. Esther Greenwood works for a fashion magazine in New York and lives a "dream

The title of Sylvia Plath's, The Bell Jar, plays a huge roll in the novel. It is the entire moral of Plath's novel and describes the main character, Esther Greenwood, perfectly. Closely analyzed, the title has a spectacular meaning and defines Esther's mental illness more thoroughly than anything else could. Plath has done an excellent job in choosing this title for her first and only novel; any other title would not do the novel justice. The title, The Bell Jar, represents Esther's separation from