Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

This book left me stunned.

Plath’s writing is so raw and from the heart it is quite shocking to view the heartfelt pictures she creates through words. I read this book before I read any of her poetry, but Plath has this ability and talent with words that is so simple but so pure that it was impossible to put down.

The novel is set in 1940’s New York following the life of Esther, a young poetess who is full of dreams and ambition but doesn’t really fit in. she’s always worked hard and won multiple prizes, but she soon comes to realize nothing matters. Her college put her in a sort of bubble which made small achievements seem massive, only to realize they are pointless in real life. In truth that is a hard pill to swallow if you’ve spent your entire life trying to become something. Out in the real world she soon becomes aware she’s ill equipped for life outside her little protective bubble.

She begins to see people and has an array of dates, but she still feels on the outside. She believes the idea of a woman stereotype is not her; the marriage and baby life is not for her, she’d find that suffocating. She wants to be a writer, and the idea of being tied down frightens her. Whilst experiencing the uncertainty of life, Esther believes that writing is her true calling and will always remain with her. When a piece of her work is rejected, she breaks. This rejection alongside a lack of self-belief, a failing relationship and a fragile understanding of herself causes her mental health to snap. Slowly she is consumed by depression and all her hopes for the future are gone.

Strangely, Plath makes this very clear, she doesn’t feel sad, but empty, sort of hollow. Almost as though she’s trapped in a bell jar. She is in this place that distorts her view of life and isolates her further from society.

The rest of the text following Esther’s battle with her mental health and the toll it has taken on her family. The ending is ambiguous and open to the readers interpretation. I wanted it to be a happy ending but Plath finishes the novel in a bitter-sweet stance where we can only guess becomes of our young poet.

This book is a true masterpiece. Sadly, the semi-autobiographical novel sheds light on how perhaps Plath was feeling in the time before her tragic suicide at the age of 31. Despite that, the novel is in a sense relatable. Everyone has felt lost, isolated, fed up, rejected, trapped, and broken and what I love about the novel is that Plath doesn’t paint depression in a weak light, instead she shows the strength of her character and that help is available.

Please read this book if you have ever felt so alone. Please read this book if you feel no one understands you. Please read this book if you have ever felt empty.

This is a novel that should be on top of everyone’s reading lists no matter what genre’s you’re into.