How Does Sylvia Plath Use Symbols In The Bell Jar

Mental illness was a seldom talked about topic in the 1960s when Sylvia Plath penned The Bell Jar. In the essence of her book Plath shows the already present gap between someone's mind and their body and how depression, or any mental illness, can widen the space even further. Symbolism pertaining to the gap is described when main character Esther Greenwood uses objects and metaphors as representations of her depression. The story follows Esther from the onset of her illness all the way to her recovery. In The Bell Jar the struggle of mind vs body is shown through Esther's inability to complete daily life tasks, control her emotions, and her hatred of mirrors. During the most prevalent time of Esther's depression the gap between her mind and body is the strongest. The divide starts to occur because Esther wasn't able to make it into a writing course at her college for the summer and she is marooned at home in her mother's small house in the suburbs. As boredom starts to overwhelm her Esther …show more content…
Plath's metaphors are intense and large, yet hard to recognize. A main symbol is Esther's hatred of mirrors. The first instance is when Esther is in the glass ceilinged elevator at the New York hotel she’s staying at. When Esther glimpses her face in the ceiling she doesn't recognize herself. Later, during her first suicide attempt Esther looks in the mirror while she slits her wrists, as if the mirror is only a picture and not real. The symbol of a mirror is used to demonstrate that to Esther, the mirror is nothing but the physical representation of her own mental decay. When Esther wakes up in the hospital after another suicide attempt she asks the nurse for a mirror. After seeing her reflection Esther is shocked to see how far she has fallen into her illness and own physical deterioration and drops the mirror to the ground only to have it shatter. A mirror is through what Esther views her mind's effect on her