Weaknesses of Esther and Plath Exposed in Sylvia Plaths The Bell Jar E

Weaknesses of Esther and Plath Exposed in The Bell Jar The glass of which a toll jar is constructed is thick and suffocating, intending to preserve its ornamental contents but instead traps in it stale air. The thickness of the bell jar glass prevents the prisoner from clearly seeing through distortion. Sylvia Plath writes with extreme conviction, as The Bell Jar is essentially her autobiography. The fitting title symbolizes not only her suffocation and mental illness, but as well the internal struggle of Plaths alter ego and novel protagonist Esther Greenwood. The novel illustrates the base of operations confinement by highlighting the weaknesses of both Esther and Plath. Esthers first statement, It was a queer, stifling summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs (1) sets the tone for the novel and establishes her preoccupation with death. She alludes to no remorse at the loss of life but rather concentrates on the wonder of execution. This style allows the comment ator to see the development of confinement that is, Esthers preoccupation with death entraps her within herself. It is perhaps her over-analysis of situations that causes the manifestations of her psyche she consistently volleys between multiple possibilities, searching for the most fruitful option. The novels theme is consistently shown as a mental battle of Esther versus herself, a direct result of her mental illness. It is obvious that Esther is at a crossroads and feels torn by life. She best describes her feelings with the following passage I saw myself in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldnt make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each a... ... her a strong person. Works Cited and Consulted Brennan, Sheila M. Popular Images of American Women in the 1950s. Womens Rights Law Reporter 14 (1992) 41-67. Bronfen, Elizabeth. Sylvia Plath. Writers and Their Work. Plymouth, UK Northcote, 1998. Evans, Sara M. Role Models of Wo men in America. in the raw York Free-Simon, 1989. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. Twentieth Anniversary Edition. 1963. New York Norton, 1983. Nizer, Louis. The Implosion Conspiracy. New York Doubelday, 1973. Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. 1963. London Faber, 1966. Radosh, Ronald, and Joyce Milton, eds. The Rosenberg File A Search for the Truth. 1983. New Haven Yale UP, 1997. Stevenson, Anne. Bitter Fame A conduct of Sylvia Plath. London Viking-Penguin, 1989. Wagner-Martin, Linda. Sylvia Plath A Biography. New York Simon, 1987.