The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (Book Analysis) E-Book

Bright Summaries

• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 20

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Bell Jar with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, a semi-autobiographical novel which follows Esther Greenwood, a young woman who is undertaking an internship in New York when her mental health begins to decline, leading to stays in a series of psychiatric institutions. The novel is semi-autobiographical: Plath’s own struggles with depression are well-documented, and she underwent electroconvulsive therapy as part of her “treatment”. The Bell Jar is widely admired for its unsparing depiction of the paranoia, stifling conformism and gender inequality that characterised America during the 1950s, and its popularity has not waned in the decades since it was first published. Sylvia Plath was an American novelist and poet. Her best-known works are The Bell Jar and the poetry collection Ariel, which was published posthumously in 1965 (Plath committed suicide in 1963).

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• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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Leseprobe

SYLVIA PLATH

AMERICAN POET AND AUTHOR

Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1932.Died in Primrose Hill, London in 1963.Notable works:The Colossus and Other Poems (1960), poetry collectionAriel (1965), poetry collection“Daddy” (1965), poem

Sylvia Plath was an American poet and author. Her poetry collections and only novel, The Bell Jar—known for their raw and at times brutal honesty—are often seen as formative works in the confessional school of literature. Plath was brought up in Boston, Massachusetts. Like Esther Greenwood, the protagonist of The Bell Jar, as a teenager Plath was the winner of a magazine fiction competition and recipient of a scholarship to attend the women’s liberal arts college, Smith College, where she majored in English. After a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide, she was committed to a psychiatric hospital where she underwent electroconvulsive therapy. After graduating from Smith College, Plath moved to the United Kingdom to study in Cambridge under a Fulbright scholarship, where she met the poet Ted Hughes (1930-1998), whom she married in 1956. The couple had two children before Plath’s suicide in 1963. Plath’s writing often centres on her own experiences of alienation and depression, and the particular difficulties of 20th century women. Her works have sadly often been overshadowed by the speculation and mythology surrounding her marriage to Hughes and her death by suicide. Nonetheless, her writing remains amongst the most uncompromisingly honest and remarkable portrayals of mental illness to date.

THE BELL JAR

A DEPICTION OF MENTAL BREAKDOWN IN 1950S AMERICA

Genre: confessional novelReference edition: Plath, S. (1990) The Bell Jar. London; Boston: Faber and Faber1stedition: 1963Themes: depression, institutions, suicide, relationships, misogyny, confessional literature

Blurring the line between novel and autobiography, The Bell Jar traces Esther Greenwood’s experience of alienation, depression and eventual breakdown through her internship at a New York magazine, her return home and her ultimate hospitalisation. The novel was first published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. Through this fiercely private lens, the novel succeeds in offering a sharp critique of the misogynistic and repressive social politics of the 1950s, raising questions about career, marriage, sex, mental health institutions, and success.

SUMMARY

AN INTERNSHIP IN NEW YORK