The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was written as a semi-autobiography. The depression that Esther suffers from is a projection of Plath’s own illness, many of the events that occur in the novel also happened to Plath, for example her attempted suicide. Esther and the author are similar in more ways than one, as they both felt as though they didn’t fit in and they were very much dissatisfied with the societies they were living in. The use of a first person narrative in this instance allows the reader to get inside the protagonist’s head, exposing the thoughts and feelings that would not be seen if this text were to have been written in the third person, for example. In Esther’s case, Plath most likely chose this form to enlighten the readers on why
