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evieissleepy 's review for:
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
dark
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I will preface this by saying the racism and homophobia is not acceptable, however with all classics you can expect things like this and have to take it from a critical approach- I focus more on the writing and the meaning than the moral.
I had never actually taken the time to read this before. I briefly read it for a class I took but I mostly used cliffnotes. Finally decided to sit down and read it and I finished it in 5 hours.
The jagged, non linear storytelling perfectly presents how depression and other mental illnesses can smash your perception of yourself and your life like a mirror. Others hate it and I definitely hated it when I was a few years younger but I can appreciate it now, especially with this being a relatable state of mind. Esther's poor self image, her love of new beginnings and the feeling of being pure, her distaste for regular life in the sense that there is only one path to take, and so many of her thoughts are well written and described. While I love the fig tree metaphor- I have felt this way all my life and it beautifully represents the odd feeling of being old enough to decide but not old enough to actually decide - I don't think it is the only part of this book that should be praised. On top of that, there is more to the metaphor. It's a tree- look at it literally. A fig tree will produce new fruit. There is always new fruit. You don't have to sit under the tree and starve because you can't choose forever. And you are not restricted to one fig.
Overall, Esther's cynicism and the way her depression manifests as occasional episodes of madness followed by the inescapable feeling that she is simply not good enough, will not be good enough, and cannot and never will be good enough is perfectly written. I would love to reread this and annotate it another time.
I had never actually taken the time to read this before. I briefly read it for a class I took but I mostly used cliffnotes. Finally decided to sit down and read it and I finished it in 5 hours.
The jagged, non linear storytelling perfectly presents how depression and other mental illnesses can smash your perception of yourself and your life like a mirror. Others hate it and I definitely hated it when I was a few years younger but I can appreciate it now, especially with this being a relatable state of mind. Esther's poor self image, her love of new beginnings and the feeling of being pure, her distaste for regular life in the sense that there is only one path to take, and so many of her thoughts are well written and described. While I love the fig tree metaphor- I have felt this way all my life and it beautifully represents the odd feeling of being old enough to decide but not old enough to actually decide - I don't think it is the only part of this book that should be praised. On top of that, there is more to the metaphor. It's a tree- look at it literally. A fig tree will produce new fruit. There is always new fruit. You don't have to sit under the tree and starve because you can't choose forever. And you are not restricted to one fig.
Overall, Esther's cynicism and the way her depression manifests as occasional episodes of madness followed by the inescapable feeling that she is simply not good enough, will not be good enough, and cannot and never will be good enough is perfectly written. I would love to reread this and annotate it another time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Homophobia