Roman à clef

Jay Scott published his article the “Jarring approach to Bell Jar” in The Globe and Mail; Toronto, Ont. His article begins with an introduction to Plath’s life before he begins to talk about Larry Peerce’s film interpretation of her novel The Bell Jar. Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar can be described as one of the most depressing books ever written. Unfortunately for Plath, the novel has part of her story that is roman-a-clef, meaning they are based on her actual life. In 1950 Plath started attending Smith College and in 1952 she became a student editor for Mademoiselle just as Esther does (Scott). Furthermore, Plath describes her experience at Mademoiselle as an “unbelievable merry-go-round month” (Scott). While she was working at Mademoiselle Plath was able to meet with many famous people of her time including Vance Bourjaily who was an American novelist, Elizabeth Bowen who was known for her fictional stories based on her life in London during World War II, and Paul Engle an American poet and longtime director (Scott).…

A Summer in New York City Before The Trapping of a Bell Jar Pain, Parties, Work by Elizabeth Winder gives an account of the summer in New York City that Sylvia Plath talks about in her novel, The Bell Jar. This novel captivates in great and vivid detail the enjoyment that Sylvia Plath has in the summer of 1953. However, while Pain, Parties, Work sheds light on the vivacious side of Sylvia Plath during that summer, it doesn’t match the life that Sylvia portrays in her own novel. Sylvia in New…

The Lord of the Flies is a dystopian novel written by William Golding. The allegorical novel takes place on an island and is from the point of view of a group of young boys. A plane crashes which leaves the group of boys stranded on the island where they have to scavenge for food and build shelters for themselves. An allegory is a symbolic fictional narrative that conveys a meaning not explicitly set forth in the narrative, (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica). Allegory, which encompasses…

The book I have been reading for my ISP is Revived, written by Cat Patrick. The first half of this book takes place in Omaha, Nebraska. Daisy, the protagonist, is a part of a federal drug testing lab, that tests a drug that brings the dead back to life. The drug is named revive, and is the antagonist. This is a society vs. self conflict. The mood in the first half of the novel was very suspenseful, and mysterious, because it unfolded all the secrets of the drug revived. The main theme of the…

The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath is about a girl named Esther who is a young women from the suburbs in Boston. She is working for an editor in New York interning at a magazine during the summer. She feels like she doesn’t fit in or belong with society and this is leading to depression. After many suicide attempts, her mother sends her to a psychiatric institution where she meets a female doctor named Doctor Nolan who eventually helps her overcome her problems and depression. I chose the signpost…

How Much Should the Author’s Life be Known Authors Sylvia Plath of “The Bell Jar” and Justin Torres of “We the Animals” both incorporated many of their personal life events and struggles into their debut novels. By incorporating their hardships into their literary work, the two books provide an extensive look into both of the author 's frustration and fanciful imagination. In “The Bell Jar”, the protagonist, Esther Greenwood, is first described as a studious girl who, through her education,…

The Bell Jar is written by Sylvia Plath and published by William Heinemann Limited in London in 1963. This is the only novel written by American author and poet Plath and was first published under the name Victoria Lucas. This semi-autobiography based in New York City in 1953 tells the story of Esther Greenwood and her journey in the city and road down depression. Plath focuses on theme such as restricted roles of women in the 50’s in America and with sub-themes like success equals career.…

Sylvia Plath writes to express the things that have happened throughout her life that also affected many young women her age. She also writes to discuss stigmatized or provocative topics. Plath takes to discussing subjects such as depression, double standards, and societal expectations, at length and candidly. Drawing from her own life and battles with depression, Plath herself went through some of the more invasive procedures as described in the novel. For Esther Greenwood, the therapy “took…

a. Jeffrey Eugenides and Sylvia Plath both carefully create characters that exist to exhibit the lives of teenage girls, and their inherit suffering during adolescent. The lives of these teenage girls in The Virgin Suicides and The Bell Jar are shaped by mental illness and isolation, stemming from a withdrawal from society and any kind of community thereafter. The Lisbon Sisters and Esther Greenwood are more often than not, forced to interact with communities and families that prove to be…

A very prominent theme throughout the book, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was that thoughts haunt people which creates a bell jar around people, trapping them in the vortex of madness which is their mind. In the beginning of the book Esther contemplates what it would be like to be “burned alive” through electrocution (1). This thought essentially comes back to haunt Esther when she talks to Hilda who is “glad [the Rosenbergs are] going to die (99),” which contributes to the accumulation of…