A review by sukidookie
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, originally written under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, is a rapid and unhinged descent into madness. From the very start of the novel, something was off about Esther’s internal monologue. It was like there was a deep undercurrent of sadness and bitterness, mainly directed at her college friends, but also at herself and what was expected of her. Esther craved academic validation, as well as social validation, but in a very abnormal way, as if she was trying to capture something that was constantly eluding her — something that would make her finally, truly, happy. 

Unfortunately, many things were not on Esther’s side — the patriarchal social system of the early 1960s, and the barbarian way they treated mental health patients (inducing lobotomies, and inducing a seizure through electric shock therapy; I can’t believe they still do that today, and it supposedly is effective?) It was sad, and strangely communal, to watch Esther buckle and cripple under the weight of her social injustices. I thought it was masterful how Sylvia portrayed women’s issues in the early 1960s. The presence of the woman-hater, the hypocritical way Buddy spoke to her about marriage and purity, her bitter insights into how her friends acted around other men, (Doreen and Lenny, for example), and watching her female friends go through the same things as her (Joan’s suicide). No wonder Esther could not choose a fig from the tree; how could she, when the shape of her body would not let her even reach the branches?

At the end of the novel, and after many suicide attempts, Esther must be put on trial before a team of doctors to determine if she is fit to return to society. It’s not written what happens, whether she is cured or not, and in my particular copy of The Bell Jar, the following 10 pages were completely blank. I didn’t know if this was on purpose or not, but I thought it very poetic and fitting. I learned that Sylvia Plath, just a few weeks after publishing The Bell Jar — her only novel — committed suicide by sticking her head in an oven. I wonder if she planned on killing herself all along, while writing the book, and The Bell Jar is both a cry for help and her suicide note. 

Sylvia’s death is a testament to ongoing women’s issues in America, even today, 60 years later. I am so very sorry, Sylvia Plath, that you and many other women like you did not get the help you needed. Rest in peace. 
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