Plot Overview

About the Author

The story begins by telling the story of Esther

Greenwood, a 19 year old girl who won a writing
contest whose prize was an all-expenses paid trip to
New York for a month alongside 11 other college
students. During her stay in New York, Esther goes
to events the sponsors of her trip organized for her
and she sees the other girls enjoying themselves but
Esther doesnt feel happy in any way. Esther makes
some friends such as Doreen and Betsy while she
stays in New York, but that isnt enough to keep her
happy. Esther makes plans to stay in bed all day but
her plans are canceled when her boss Jay Cee calls
her into the office. After leaving Jay Cees office,
Esther goes to a banquet where she eats poisoned
crabmeat salad. She arranges a date with a worker
from the UN and during the date she decides to lose
her virginity to him in order to betray Buddy Willard
and to feel pleased with herself. She ends up doing
nothing with the UN worker and before leaving New
York city she goes on a blind date that went terribly
wrong and throws away all of her clothes. Esther
goes back home to New England with her mother
and learns she didnt get accepted into the summer
program she applied for and becomes very
depressed and she cant read, write, or sleep. She
gets recommended to a psychiatrist and after
receiving electroshock therapy she tries to kill
herself by overdosing on sleeping pills. She also
tries cutting her wrists, hanging herself and
drowning. She then goes on to a private hospital
with the help of Philomena Guinea. She receives
electroshock treatments and begins to recover from
her depression with the help of Doctor Nolan. Esther
even meets with a friend of hers from college named
Joan. Joan kills herself and Esther will be tested to
see if she is ready to go back to the normal world.

Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 in Massachusetts

and spent her childhood in Winthrop. She had a
younger brother and at the age of eight Plath lost her
father due to an illness. During Plaths childhood,
she wrote many poems and drew in pen and ink.
After 45 failed pieces of writing, Plaths writing was
finally published on the magazine Seventeen. The
Bell Jar is based on the early life of Plath and Plath
had The Bell Jar published under the name of
Victoria Lucas due to the fact that she thought
people wouldnt like her novel and in fear of the
suffering the book would bring to Plaths close
friends whose personalities Plath had distorted and
disguised in the book. After going through
electroshock therapy and psychotherapy, Plath went
back to Smith College and things seemed like they
were returning to normal. Plath even married the
British poet Ted Hughes on June 16, 1956 in
London. Plath gave birth her first child, Frieda, in
April 1960 and on January 17, 1962 Plath gave birth
to her second child, Nicholas. Everything seemed
like it was working out perfectly, but on the morning
of February 11, 1963, Plath ended her life due to
unknown reasons.

Historical Context
The Bell Jar was published for the first time in
London in January 1963 by William Heinemann
Limited. Electroshock therapy and psychotherapy
were parts of Plaths life that greatly influenced her
novel. Before the publication of The Bell Jar, Plath
was in a bit of economical uproar and had to borrow
money to finalize her novel.

Novel Notes
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
Ivan Vasquez
12/28/15

Essential Quotes
.

If you expect nothing from anybody, youre never

disappointed (Plath 48)
It was comforting to know I had fallen and could
fall no further (37)
Add Work Cited Here:
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Harper & Row,
1971. Print.

Character Analysis
Esther Greenwood- A 19-year old girl
who tells a lot of lies, thinks her life is
miserable, makes people around her feel
sorry for her, tries to kill herself and wants to
lose her virginity in order to get revenge on
Buddy Willard.
Buddy Willard- A boy around
Esthers age who Esther was basically in
love with for around 5 years until Esther
learned that Buddy had lost his virginity to a
waitress. Buddy suffers from Tuberculosis
and after recovering, Buddy thinks that
Esther wants to marry him, but Esther
doesnt. Buddy is described as a handsome
young man and towards the end of the story
Buddy thinks that something inside him
drives women crazy because two of his past
girlfriends ended up needing a psychiatrist.
Doreen- One of the girls Esther meets
during her stay in New York. Doreen comes
from a college in the South and has white
hair and blue eyes. Unlike Esther, Doreen
doesnt take her work in Ladies Day as
seriously as Esther. She prefers to go on
dates with random men, have fun, and get
drunk. When Doreen is with Esther, Esther
feels happy because Doreen has something
about her that lifts up Esthers spirit.
Betsy- Another one of the girls from
the Ladies Day contest. Betsy is almost
Doreens opposite because she is sweet and
innocent. She is very nice towards Esther
and exchanges a skirt and a shirt for a
bathrobe with Esther.

Themes
Societal Pressure- Esther feels very
pressured in terms of doing things that
society acknowledges to be normal things.
Throughout the story Esther thinks about her
future and the things needed to be a
successful writer.
Depression- Since the beginning of
the story, Esther has always been depressed
in one way or the other. In New York she
was supposed to be having the time of her
life but on the inside she felt empty. In her
hometown New England, after learning she
hadnt been accepted into a writing program,
she became depressed up to the point of
thinking of taking her life.
Suicide- Esther not only tries to end
her life once throughout the course of the
story, she tries to end it multiple times. She
overdoses on sleeping pills, tries to hang
herself, tries to drown, and tries to cut her
wrists but that all fails. Trying to commit
suicide shows that Esther isnt sane.
Virginity- Esther always thought
about marrying Buddy Willard until she
learned that he had lost his virginity to a
waitress. After that, Esther sets herself a goal
of losing her virginity as a way of getting
revenge towards Buddy and as a way of
maturing. Esther thought that after she lost
her virginity she would be a whole new
person, but nothing changed.

Motifs and Symbols

Shock- In the beginning of the story,
Esther is intrigued by the story of the
Rosenbergs electrocution and later on in the
story Esther has electroshock therapy herself
The Bell Jar- Plath uses a bell jar to
symbolize the feeling of despair she feels
when she cant think straight which means
the bell jar symbolizes her madness.
The Fig Tree- While in the hospital
due to food poisoning, Esther reads a book
about a fig tree which brought two people
together and then separated them. She relates
the story of the fig tree to her own life and
relationship with Buddy Willard because
Buddys mom brought them together but
Buddy separated them. Later on in the story,
Esther pictures the fig tree symbolizing her
life with different branches leading off to
different paths in her life.
Hospitals- Hospitals come into play
many times throughout the story. First
Buddy is sent off to one when people
discover he has Tuberculosis. Then Esther
ends up in a hospital due to food poisoning.
After that Esther ends up in another hospital
after she tries to overdose on sleeping pills.
Furthermore she ends up in the mental ward
of a state hospital and lastly,she ends up in a
psychiatric institution which is kind of like a
hospital which goes to show that Esther and
hospitals are closely related.