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    book. Both of them had experience with magazines and so-called journalism, both of them committed suicide, but had different endings. “The Bell Jar” shows the story in nonlinear plot when story goes back to Esther’s past life with Buddy Willard and college years. “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath illustrates a situation of 1950s in the world and especially in U.S of America, where the problems with oppressive men society were very high she tried to critic society of that time. Times when…

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    Transitioning into adulthood is hard for any gender but it was especially difficult during the 1950s, a socially conservative time. As a woman in the 1950s, transitioning to adulthood was difficult and for Esther it was nearly impossible. Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar provides the opportunity to view a young woman's journey into early adulthood during a period where gender roles, double standards, and social norms severely restricted the options and opportunities available to women. Further, when…

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    understand her metaphors. Plath uses a clear example of simile when Esther is dragging herself down about her looks. Esther is comparing her appearance and talents to other people as if she is “a racehorse in a world without racetracks or a champion college footballer suddenly confronted by wall street and a business suit” as all of her accomplishments shrink down to a small dated trophy “like a tombstone” (77). This simile compares Esther to a successful person who cannot find their niche…

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    Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar

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    This excerpt from Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar describes the main character’s feelings that madness separates her from the outside world. Referring to those feelings as the “bell jar,” Plath explores the themes of reality, sexuality, and femininity. Plath also creates a tone of hopelessness and gloom as the main character battles with suicidal depression. Esther Greenwood is full of academic promise and ambition. She should be thrilled with her progress towards her career, but she feels…

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    The Immeasurable Impact of Sylvia Plath "Her voice, once she found it, was too strong, too strange, not to have struck a note of challenge, her life too brief and intense not to have been packages as that of yet another doomed female genius." (Katha Pollit) Sylvia Plath is a controversial female writer that is still being speculated over to this day, shrouded in mystery and known to have met an abrupt and painful end. One simple thing cannot be refuted: she continues to offer a voice for women…

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    about sexuality, beauty, and mental health onto. It is only after Joan’s death and her break up with Buddy does Esther make another reference to herself and the bell jar: “But I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure at all. How did I know that someday--at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere--the bell jar, with its stifling…

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    Sexism In The Bell Jar

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    The Bell Jar was written around the 1950’s and 1960’s, when women were expected to adhere to specific societal norms. Often, these norms included being a mother of children, staying at home cleaning or cooking, and being an obedient wife. Society placed high importance, along with these expectations/behaviors, on the women while they were at home or in public. Society accepted women who met all these factors. Esther, a character in The Bell Jar, and Sylvia’s autobiographical figure, lacks all of…

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    Elements of Voice: The Bell Jar The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a timeless literary classic. One reason that this novel has transcended the ages since the 1960s is Plath’s expert use of the elements of voice. Few novels may stand the test of time. A vast knowledge of author’s craft is necessary to create a story that is intricate and detail-oriented without becoming overly specific and unrelateable. Sylvia Plath suffered from depression throughout her life, which led to her poetry and novels…

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    Often described as a perfectionist, Sylvia Plath was an enviable, popular, academically successful college student when her losing battle with depression began. Having published her first poem at eight years old, Plath was a writer at her core, and her journey with mental illness can be revealed and analyzed in her writing which gave Plath a method of coping with and externalizing her many debilitating anxieties. In her many published poems, stories, and essays Plath covers topics on identity,…

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    The Story of an Hour is a short story by author Kate Chopin, that was published in 1984. The story was originally published in Vogue, on December 6th, titled "The Dream of an Hour”. Louise Mallard, the main character, has heart problems. Therefore, at the beginning of the text we are told that she must be informed of her husband’s death in a careful manner. Her sister Josephine delivers the news. The reader is also told that Louise’s husband’s friend, named Richards, had learned about his…

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