Sylvia Plath Influence On The Bell Jar

Encountering life changing events that alter the thoughts and feelings of an individual can be a valuable contribution to his/her writing. For author Sylvia Plath, experience in the world was the very foundation of her novel. Plath was raised in the male superiority time period of the 1950s in the typical family suburbs. This reality provides a preview into her novel and the stage set of her mental breakdown, including the events that led up and followed this incident. By reflecting on her traumatic adolescent episodes, Sylvia Plath, author of The Bell Jar, effectively voices her reactions to the discriminating time period of the 1950s.

Taking a closer look into Sylvia Plath’s life, readers understand the influence her life has on her work.

This novel was written in the 1950s-60s, an era where a man stood higher than a woman in society, During the 1950s, it was most typical for a man to achieve a higher education than a woman. Generally speaking, men received nearly 76 percent of all degrees and 2.5 times more Master’s degrees than women in the United States (“The Bell Jar” 32). Not only were women withheld from receiving as many degrees as men, but also “about 59 percent of single women were part of the work force, about 32 percent of married women belonged to the workforce, and about 42 percent of “other” (widowed, divorced, separated) women belonged to the workforce” (“The Bell Jar” 32). The significantly low percent of women who were married and had a job was most closely associated to the reality that it was rare to find a woman who earned an equal income as her husband (“The Bell Jar” 32). Even in the work field, it was not preferred for a woman to hold a job. This was easily seen when America was engaged in World War II. Nearly six million women were given jobs solely because men were fighting; however, when the men returned the women were relieved of the positions (“The Bell Jar” 32). Traditional gender roles of the period suggested women stay at home while men go out to work. Esther’s direct response to this was that “What a man is is an arrow

Throughout her encounters, the author provides a deeper look into how she processes them. The autobiography is a faithful depiction that provides the thoughts and reactions of the author during the time period of the 1950s. Plath committed suicide in February of 1963; however, her work and legacy did not die with her (“The Bell Jar” 24). Plath’s work is still famous to this day:

As it is, the work of Sylvia Plath is inextricably bound up with her life. Her predicament to no small degree resembles that of F. Scott Fitzgerald, a victim of alcoholism. We shall never be able to read their work in the same way we read, say, Wallace Stevens or Robert Frost. It lacks the classical quality of detachment. However, because the public tends to prefer life to letters, and in any case delights on this side of prurience in a good story, Sylvia Plath is likely to continue as an icon and a cynosure, as well as one of the more flawed and wayward of classic American writers. (Hobsbaum