Theme Of Exile In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

“It’s been shown over and over that people who live lonely and disconnected lives, even smack in the middle of a modern metropolis, are more depressed, more suicidal and have more physical illnesses than the rest of us,” (Herbert). Although it may be mentally draining, disconnect, if practiced repeatedly, may become a comforting familiarity. People who are disconnected- from family, friends, nature, life, etc.- may not realize the harm they are causing by forcing themselves into this emotional exile. In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood spirals into a state of detachment, at first unintentionally, but then purposely. By being unaware of this emotional turmoil, Esther digs herself into a hole of deep-rooted depression and mental …show more content…
It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” However, he also basked in the knowledge that exile can be “a potent, even enriching” reality. In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath grasps her audience and pulls them through the journey of Esther Greenwood’s mental exile. Esther cuts herself off from human connection, and is so blinded by her psychological stress that she cannot see a point in connection or life at all. Esther’s “native place” was her sanity and she was ripped from that very abruptly. One cannot even begin to imagine how out of touch Esther must have been with her own mind, she lost control of her conscious and fell deep down into her cogitations. However, when she was forcibly removed from her physical situation, exiled from her literal home, she found enrichment in her surroundings. Esther began to accept the fact that she needed help in recovering, and she realized that having suicidal thoughts was an actual problem and not just a normal course of the …show more content…
Removing oneself from a situation or place that oozes negativity is hard to do, because that toxic environment becomes so familiar; but, there is a solution for everyone. The fact that recovery remedies for emotional exile come in all different forms and one just has to find the one that works for them is a message that Plath is desperately trying to communicate to her audience. Whether it be embarking from home and enrolling into a mental illness facility-a physical exile-, receiving treatments, talking with a doctor, or simply just accepting the fact that one needs help, there is a remedy for everyone. Being exiled from a pessimistic environment may be a difficult transition at first, but in the end it proves to be the first step to