Bell System

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath relies heavily on shift in tone and topic to portray the ongoing descent into depression that is the basic story arch for the main character Esther Greenwood. Plath employs a large arsenal of techniques to convey the necessary shifts in the novel. One of the most obvious methods is a direct statement of shift by a character. The direct shift is combined with hints through typical behavior, such as crying. Plath also uses contrasting statements both through Esther…

Plath was largely recognized for her poetry, she also wrote a novel. The Bell Jar, published in January 1963, was not only reflective of Plath’s life, but also focused on the limitations…

Dr. Seuss once asked: “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”, a question still relevant today. Why should we conform to society’s expectations when we were born to escape them? In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Esther Greenwood suffered from depression but suppressed how she really felt in hopes of fitting in, which caused her to sink into a further depression. Only when Esther grew out of her desire to fit in was she able to find a way out of her depression. This brought on a valuable…

person, just as Esther does. “Esther’s father was the patriarch of the family; in confronting his grave she confronts all of the different pressures she feels from life and the patriarchy.” The domesticated wilderness: Patriarchal Oppression in The Bell Jar by Allison Wilkins. Without a father figure she felt empty and it prevented her from finding happiness which she tortures herself with suicidal attempts. When she underwent her first electro shock session with Doctor Gordon she had a…

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Sylvia Plath’s novel, ‘The Bell Jar’, scrutinises how both women, the unnamed narrator and Esther, become mentally unstable. Both protagonists exploit their real life situations in their story and novel to emphasise how being a woman living in a patriarchal society has caused mental breakdowns. Moreover, they make attempts to explore and understand their suffering of depression and the possible ways to overcome it. The short…

Ariel, a collection of Sylvia Plath’s poems released in 1965 after her suicidal death, transmit melancholy and agony to anyone who reads it. This depression in her poems was caused after her husband, the poet Ted Hughes, left her for another woman. Plath’s writing style has always been criticized for being excessively autobiographical and because of her continuous suicidal suspicion. However, Plath has never been criticized for the irony of the poem “The Applicant” compared to the rest of her…

Fig 2, Rodin, A, 1882, The Kiss Fig 3, Parker, C, The Distance Similar to the idea of boundaries is concealment. Sculpture artist Judith Scott had Down syndrome and was severely deaf; she used yarn, wool, and other fibres, which may suggest a way of communicating to the public themes of loss, separations, relationships and new beginnings. Her practice consisted of abstract cocoons whereby objects are wrapped up in colourful threads, from crimson red, blues, cream, purple and black. Seeking…

I was just playing my Thursday golf tournament, when Molly the mole arrived, totally exhausted. "You have to come right away, Oliver!" she said breathlessly. But I wanted to finish my game. What could be so important? "You have to see for yourself. It's very exciting!" Well, I was going to lose the game anyway, so I had a good excuse to stop early. After we left the golf course, Molly explained that, while digging a new tunnel, she suddenly had broken through a wall and had fallen into a…

While Wendy, as a mother, is respected as an authority, she is shut away from the adventure, separated from the boy’s adventures in Barrie’s book. She is underground, and rarely sees the outside; a literal placement of Wendy beneath the boys of the island to express her subordinate nature to the dominant patriarch: “Really there were whole weeks when, except perhaps with a stocking in the evening, she was never above ground,” (Barrie 41). Barrie’s emphasis on Wendy being the mother figure who is…

gets involved in fights or deals drugs personally. One of the other positions in chess that is highly rated is the queen. The queen in chess can move anywhere it wants, is actively involved in strategies and the plot or game. In The Wire Stringer Bell most accurately represents the queen in chess. Stringer is the man that does all the dirty work for Avon (the king). Whenever there is a problem or confrontation Stringer is the one that takes care of it. The Queen is a position that you can work…