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tobereadbookshelf 's review for:
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
Reading this passage, I could not help but reflect on America Ferrera’s iconic monologue in the Barbie movie. The Bell Jar is set in the 1950s where doors were just beginning to be opened for women to choose their path for their future. I cannot help but feel that we let the pendulum swing a little too far in the opposite direction in this regard. Esther was faced with the challenge of choosing her one path while women today can “have it all.” We are encouraged to “explore our sexuality” and sleep around, to chase our dreams and build a career, to settle down and have a family, to continue to grow and change and advance and juggle all of the things without complaint, all in an economy that has made grocery shopping a luxury. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful to have choices, but there are many unrealistic expectations attached to being a woman and the pressures can weigh heavily.
I don’t believe it was ever definitively diagnosed, but it was pretty clear that Esther’s character was struggling with depression. The “treatments” she received were highly disturbing and undoubtedly ineffective. It is unsettling to think about how many people suffered as a result of similar misguided attempts. How hopeless and trapped they must have felt. We are conditioned to believe that doctor’s know best and I have no doubt these treatments and the environment would have only served to exasperate their symptoms and feelings of despair.
I often think that the only necessary requirements for a book be considered a classic is that it is depressing and slightly pretentious and this certainly checked both boxes. Can’t say it’s my favorite but I think it was brave of Plath to put this semi autobiographical story out into the world. I hope she found more resolution and happiness in her own life than Esther did.
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My monthly classic pick for May 🤗
Reading this passage, I could not help but reflect on America Ferrera’s iconic monologue in the Barbie movie. The Bell Jar is set in the 1950s where doors were just beginning to be opened for women to choose their path for their future. I cannot help but feel that we let the pendulum swing a little too far in the opposite direction in this regard. Esther was faced with the challenge of choosing her one path while women today can “have it all.” We are encouraged to “explore our sexuality” and sleep around, to chase our dreams and build a career, to settle down and have a family, to continue to grow and change and advance and juggle all of the things without complaint, all in an economy that has made grocery shopping a luxury. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful to have choices, but there are many unrealistic expectations attached to being a woman and the pressures can weigh heavily.
I don’t believe it was ever definitively diagnosed, but it was pretty clear that Esther’s character was struggling with depression. The “treatments” she received were highly disturbing and undoubtedly ineffective. It is unsettling to think about how many people suffered as a result of similar misguided attempts. How hopeless and trapped they must have felt. We are conditioned to believe that doctor’s know best and I have no doubt these treatments and the environment would have only served to exasperate their symptoms and feelings of despair.
I often think that the only necessary requirements for a book be considered a classic is that it is depressing and slightly pretentious and this certainly checked both boxes. Can’t say it’s my favorite but I think it was brave of Plath to put this semi autobiographical story out into the world. I hope she found more resolution and happiness in her own life than Esther did.
____________________________________________
My monthly classic pick for May 🤗