Depression In The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath, follows the life of Esther Greenwood and her coming of age, but it does not coincide with the standard teen development. Instead of experiencing the way of the world through a progressive education, culminating in an entrance into adulthood, Esther degenerates into depression. Experiences such as Esther’s first visit to New York City, her success in college, and her first marriage proposal, which are intended to be life changing in a positive sense, are upsetting and disorienting to her. This leads her to make several half-hearted attempts at suicide, before making a serious attempt. Esther’s desire to die rather than live can directly be correlated to her clinical depression. Esther Greenwood is an example

Upon Esther’s arrival back to Massachusetts to visit her mother, she finds out she was not accepted into the writing course she planned on taking. This incident sends her spiraling into a period of boredom. Esther becomes unsure of what to do with her life so decides to write a novel, but as she begins to type she becomes frustrated by her lack of life experiences. Sleep deprivation gets in the way of your decision-making process and stifles creativity (Pietrangelo). Hence why Esther had such a difficult time writing her novel. Esther, who shares a room with her mother, lies in bed unable to sleep trying plan out her life. “I crawled back into bed”, Esther says, “and pulled the sheet over my head. But even that didn’t shut out the light” (123). During her thought process her mother begins to snore, and Esther thinks of strangling her. She asks the family doctor for sleeping pills because of this, which only arises suspicion. Her loss of sleep ultimately forces her mother to register her in a psychiatrist course. The psychiatrist leaves Esther scarred and she becomes increasingly more depressed and finds it even harder to sleep. As the novel proceeds, Esther’s disorder becomes progressively worse. Her insomnia became so intense that she admits, “[She] hadn’t slept for twenty-one nights” (128). Esther’s lack of sleep came with serious repercussions, other than feeling tired. The more Esther resisted

“Reckless behavior” is defined as engaging in escapist behavior such as substance abuse or suicidal actions (Smith). Esther Greenwood fits the description perfectly. Throughout the novel, Esther commits several half-hearted attempts at suicide, including the use of drugs, until she ultimately decides to make a serious attempt. Esther’s first attempt came about while sitting in the park, comparing a picture of herself to a newspaper picture of a starlet who has just died after lingering in a coma. She decides to sit on the park bench for a few more minutes, and then go and kill herself. A few days later, she had tried to slit her wrists, “But when it came right down to it, the skin of [her] wrist looked so white and defenseless that [she] couldn’t do it” (165), and practiced on her calf instead. Ether’s second attempt occurred at her house. She tried to hang herself with a cord from her mother’s bathrobe, but could not find a suitable spot. Instead she tried to kill herself by pulling the rope tightly around her neck, “But each time [she] would get the cord so tight [she] could feel a rushing in [her] ears and a flush of blood in [her] face, [her] hands would weaken and let go, and [she] would be all right again” (187). It’s evident that Esther is serious about committing suicide, but cannot bring herself around to fulfilling her effort. It’s also extremely clear that Esther has severe mental disorders, including