Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

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By analytically digesting the exquisite syntax of the sublimely crafted novel, “The Bell Jar”, one immediately notices Sylvia Plath’s dreary narrative tone, which acts as a somber cloud that hovers over the reader's perspective of the protagonist, Esther Greenwood, consistently throughout the novel. These elements of literary contexts, such as diction and literary shifts, morph the reader’s collective image of Esther and fractures the reader’s reflection of the encompassing world. As the reader journeys along life with the narrator, the reader learns about Esther more as a human rather than as an unrealistic, fictional character. Plath gives the reader the privilege to use Esther’s candid details to form their own visual representation of the narrator, so there are no specific physical descriptions mentioned in the text. The only notable characteristics the author makes mention of are her lanky height: “I’m five feet ten in my stocking feet… and I feel gawky and morbid as somebody in a sideshow,” and her accumulating weight (Plath, 9). …show more content…

However, it is her blunt, defiant attitude that is just as audacious as it is self-destructive, which leaves her in lost in suicidal despair. Not to mention, once the observer identifies Esther’s cognitive patterns, the reader has a chance to further construct a notion of Esther’s personality. For instance, this novel begins with a hollow, morbid, and wry voice, which belongs to Esther and echoes in the reader’s mind, foreshadowing her obsession with the “worst” things in the

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