Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar Analysis

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Sylvia Plath’s adult life consisted of her marriage to Ted Hughes, also a famous poet, on June 16th 1956 at the Church of St. George-the-Martyr. Plath became a freshman English teacher at Smith College and described the job as exhausting. She gave birth to her first child, Frieda Rebecca Plath, on April 1st, 1960. During February 1961, Plath suffered a miscarriage. A year later, she gave birth to her last child, Nicholas Farrar, on January 17th, 1962. Her marriage between Hughes was becoming difficult to maintain after both children were born and she was frequently left alone with the children. In late September of 1962, Plath found out that Hughes had been unfaithful and the couple legally separated. Sylvia Plath died on February 11th, 1963, at the age of thirty-one. She took her own life by placing her head in the oven while the gas was turned on (SOURCE).
Plath was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry posthumously. She was also honored with the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Book-of-the-Month Club Selection. The Bell Jar contains many autobiographical elements such as Esther’s trait of intelligence and her Mademoiselle scholarship. Sylvia Plath’s personal experiences are also reflected in The Bell Jar such as her rejection from the Harvard summer writing program, her breakdown after the rejection, her attempted suicide, and her institutionalization (SOURCE).
Sylvia Plath productively utilizes themes, symbolism, and structure in The Bell Jar. There are many important themes evident in the novel. One dominant theme is the social pressure on young women to marry. Esther’s relationship with Buddy Willard suggests that she must modify herself through mating, matrimony, and motherhood. The novel indirectly su...

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...ances. Plath’s narration of the novel is told by the first person narration of Esther Greenwood. Esther is an intelligent young woman who shares her thoughts on her life experiences throughout the novel. The narration is chronological, although it occasionally shifts back and forth. Overall, it is very straightforward and well implemented.
CRITICISM
Sylvia Plath’s works were heavily influenced by her personal life experiences and struggle with extreme depression. Her novel The Bell Jar reveals raw emotion and a delicate understanding of mental illness that parallels her occurrence. Sylvia Plath’s use of personal experiences helps give the book a sense of reality. The novel’s exquisite use of symbolism, themes, and structure helped The Bell Jar receive outstanding reviews. The Bell Jar is a critically acclaimed classic and holds a prominent place is American fiction.

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