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All in all, I really enjoyed the complexities of this book and I enjoy reading many books from this genre of mental health, so this was right up my alley. Throughout reading The Bell Jar I grew to appreciate Sylvia Plath as a writer, and I think that her personal experiences shined through the story of Esther to form a book with many complex perspectives. Many people may argue that Plath jumped around in the story line and caused the book to be confusing, but I would argue that this was one of the most important aspects of the book. Jumbled stories, confusing analogies, and jumps in the timeline all reflect Esther's nonlinear experience with depression and recovery. The reader's confusion simply provides a similarity between the reader and Esther as they are both lost in the story of her life and mental illness. Additionally, I believe that Plath's perspective on this book adds another element of originality that can be analyzed. I am curious how many of these thoughts and experiences belong to Plath personally and were only portrayed by the character of Esther. I do not think that this book would carry the weight that it does with an author who did not suffer from depression, so Plath's personal identity is so important to the message that the story is conveying. Particularly, I am interested in Plath's developing criticism of conformity throughout the book demonstrated by the actions of Esther. In chapter one, Esther worries about what drink to order as she thought, "I might make a fool of myself by saying I'd have it with ice or soda or gin or anything" (Plath 10). In an action as simple as ordering a drink, Esther is overthinking her decision and the way it will make her look because she is worried about fitting in. She added, "I liked looking on at other people in crucial situations... even when they surprised me or made me sick I would never let on, but pretended that's the way I knew things were all the time" (Plath 13). These quotes emphasize how much Esther cared for her appearance in a group and how hard she worked to fit in. Later, the audience can gradually watch as Esther avoids conformity and does actions such as dropping the mirror to feel different and alive. This developing refusal to conform helps the reader understand that Esther did not only want to end her life, but she also did not censor her pain to others as her condition developed.

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The Bell Jar turned out to be a very difficult novel to follow. I had a tough time keeping the story straight and felt as though it jumped around quite a bit, spending large amounts of time describing a tangent thought Esther has in the middle of a conversation. Overall, I feel as though the story seemed to drag on in a very choppy fashion, almost floating in and out of Esther’s mind, though I believe that is by design to reflect Esther’s declining mental health. In the way of social criticism, Plath seems to make major criticisms of the medical field, especially of psychiatrists and public institutions while showing favor for private institutions. She uses Doctor Gordon and Doctor Nolan to compare state and private institutions, as well as stories from the nurses and Esther’s own experiences. The State Institutions are clearly poorly run, often lacking resources and skilled workers among other things. Private institutions on the other hand are shown to be very effective and have much more skilled and caring doctors, although with a much steeper price tag. I believe that Plath compares the two varieties of institutions to criticize classism during the 50s, which still remains prominent today. Good quality care comes with a hefty price tag, and if a person isn’t wealthy and they end up with medical problems, physical or not, getting quality care will be difficult.

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After I read the Bell Jar, i found myself conflicted because yes the novel was really powerful, and moving, because of Esther real struggle with depression, and the everyday struggle that, that entails but it felt almost too real in the sense that her style of stream of consciousness felt jumpy, I understand that it adds an element of truth and makes the novel as a whole more raw and real, but to me it feels almost confusing. It really feels as if one truly wants to understand the novel it must be read and reread due to the fact of Esther consciousness. It isn't a fault of the book rather something that adds once you begin to unravel it. The stream of consciousness writing that Plath does is beautiful, but truthfully there are parts of the novel where i am still hesitant about her decline. Plath does a beautiful job indirectly criticizing the expectations that were placed upon women's shoulder, which they were forced to bear. She shows how Esther was forced into trying to find a husband, that she COULD make a good wife for. Plath shows through her criticism of gender normalities in society's viewpoint how limited women were. There was no other options for them, either you were a wife, or people looked at you in a different light. A quote that highlights this is "The trouble was, I had been inadequate all along, I simply hadn't thought about it." This quote shows how Esther starts to believe that what society projects onto her causes her lack of self worth, and how damaging these expectations can be for women.

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Sylvia Plath portrays and criticizes, through the personal perspective of a young mentally ill woman and her oftentimes pessimistic view, the way that gender roles encouraged women to be subservient to men and the way that mental health institutions operated based on assumptions that dehumanize and infantilize patients. I really enjoyed the portrayal of mental health issues as they ebb and flow with Esther. The way that she responds to her environment in ways that may seem peculiar to some felt relatable in a way that was genuine from Plath’s perspective. It shows a real understanding and Plath’s experience with mental illness, especially as her narration becomes unreliable or ‘unreasonable’. A social criticism that was especially evident was how gender roles cemented themselves in the 1950s. Esther constantly tries to avoid standards that invalidate women, like learning shorthand, and questioning sexuality. Esther specifically points out when reading the defense of chastity that it does not consider how a woman feels. Plath’s personal experience allows her criticisms to feel grounded, personal, and relatable.

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Overall, I really enjoyed the novel as a whole. I loved how Plath could make you feel the words she wrote, really make you feel the scenarios that Esther was put into. I like how Plath gave us a full journey of Esther's life. It didn't feel like I was trapped, the reading never got boring due to scene changes, yet it always kept me on my feet. I could literally feel the changes in Esther's mental and depressive state as the book went on due to the subtle context clues and syntax that Plath included. One of the social criticisms that stood out to me that Plath seemed to emphasize was the faults of a hypocrite. Throughout the novel, Esther reveals that she hates hypocrites, and actually gets more specific, calling Buddy a hypocrite, sleeping with a waitress over the summer but expecting Esther to be clean and pure. At the start of the film this is all Esther wants to be, she quotes this when shes in the bath. However, nearing the end of the book Esther sleeps with Irwin for seemingly the reason that she thinks she needed to. In a weird way, it was what she needed, but Esther once thought in a completely different way. This whole scenario is proven when Esther states she "couldn't stand [Buddy] pretending I was so sexy and he was so pure, when all the time he'd been having an affair with that tarty waitress and must have felt like laughing in my face" (Plath 71). Late on in the novel she states that she is "tired of defending [her virginity] for five years and [she] was sick of it" (Plath 228.) Even though Esther goes through very traumatic and broad experiences, her views differ greatly when compared to the beginning and end of the novel. Whether this can be classified as a hypocrite or just plain adaptation, Esther's views do change and they are completely contradictory of each other.

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While I really enjoyed The Bell Jar, the structure of the novel writing kept me from fully appreciating it. The writing of this book is actually really smart, as it is able to reflect the mental state of its main character and how it evolves. Plath utilizes her perspective as an unreliable narrator not to demonstrate a author’s skewed view of the world, but instead to show how the views of the world can twist the minds of those who live in it. This is the strength of Plath’s writing style, and yet it is also where I find my personal issue with this book. The segmented, disorganized areas of the book, while smart from a narrative perspective, made it hard to read and took me out of the story at times. So while the structure of this book is narratively powerful, it personally keeps it from being a more enjoyable book. Plath’s writing, however, is also able to criticize the views of mental health at the time through the use of personal experience. One instance where I believe that Plath shows this criticism of mental health the best is when Eshter’s mother states, “‘We'll take up where we left off, Esther,’ she had said, with her sweet, martyr's smile. ‘Well act as if all this were a bad dream’”. Plath demonstrating the disregard for Esther’s mental health by her mother shows how mental health was disregarded as a temporary problem of the time. By comparing the mother to a martyr, Plath also shows how those who suffered from mental health problems were seen as problems themselves. Plath stong use of literary techniques allows her to criticize the views on mental health in the past in an effective manner.

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Sylvia Plath portrays what life was like in the 1950s for a mentally unstable woman. This interpretation of life back then, gives a great look into how far society has come in developing new and better techniques for treatment. “The Bell Jar” was one of my favorite things that we read this year. I liked that it was a novel. Just like the poetry unit, I did not think I would like it but it turned out to be a good book. At first I had a really hard time getting into the book and did not like the writing style at all. I had a hard time following what was going on and just did not get a good first impression. Reading more into the book, I started to follow along a lot better and started to visualize a lot of the scenes in my head. Plath criticizes a lot in this novel, but the one that stood out to me the most was  gender roles even though it is the most obvious one. Plath criticizes social standards by trying to make Esther conform within society to be “normal”. This word normal really stood out because nothing about Esther is normal and normal is a broad term that could mean anything. This normalizing of Esther is prevalent throughout the whole story. One of the big moments of people pushing her to be normal is, “They want you to be in a special ward” (175). When Esther's mother tells her this, she is pushing more for her daughter to be normal. Plath uses the experiments and many other tactics to criticize the pressures people felt to become normal again within society.

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The Bell Jar is my favorite reading that we had this year. When I was first reading the novel, I didn’t really like it. It was slow, and in my opinion, not very unique. I liked when it started getting into her delusional thoughts, forcing the readers to think whether what she is saying is true or made up. It opened my eyes for the different expectations women had back then. It also took me down a rabbit hole of different medical treatments for mental health illnesses back in the 1950s and 1960s. I’ve honestly been so interested in these topics since I took psychology, so this novel helped me find a basis to start. Sylvia Plath did an amazing job at showing what life for not only women, but those struggling with mental health problems.

Things that I kept note of was her obsession with “purity.” She mentioned purity 8 different times. I noticed, however, that it stopped after her mental health declined. The readers could see the shift away from her true self, and into this person that has been completely different from the rest of her. Right before her spiral she says “it might be nice to be pure and then to marry a pure man, but what if he suddenly confesses he wasn’t pure after we were married, the way Buddy Willard had?” (81). This quote really shows her obsession with purity. Even in that sentence she said it 3 times! Most readers say she lost it after Marcos rape attempt, but I think Buddy exposing that he has had an affair with a waitress really started the push of insanity. I am not trying to understate the damage Marco caused, but the initial insanity got triggered after what Buddy has said.

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Regarding my opinion on the novel The Bell Jar, it is complicated. While I enjoyed reading the novel, I found it fascinating how Plath was able to portray Esther's mental instability. The novel as a whole really brought to my awareness the lack of freedom and equality women had in the 1950s. Plath was able to show readers how Esther’s mind worked in such a way that it shows Plath’s struggle with her mental health. Throughout her novel, Plath’s social criticism reveals her feelings surrounding mental health. Plath reveals herself through Esther, which can be seen through the writing style, as it would be hard for someone without a mental illness to be able to capture the way of thinking someone with bipolar disorder or depression has. Plath’s criticism can be seen in the quote, “My mother’s mouth tightened. ‘You should have behaved better, then” (176). This quote shows how society deems mental illnesses as a “joke” or that the person is making it up for attention. This reveals how Plath felt that her mental illness would be judged in society and how she felt trapped inside her thoughts. Plath uses this book to show how her mental health was not taken seriously during her life.

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Sylvia Plath portrays an authentic, yet cynical historical look at an era where psychological medical practice was just developing, portraying the abuses and harm that occurred under common medical procedures of the time. It is this very cynical presentation of the world by Plath that I enjoy from the novel. Cynicism, to Plath, is just the realities society often refuses to acknowledge or express, and it innately shows an aspect of honesty rather than the cruelty often associated with cynicism. I enjoy the honest portrayal of life, even if that includes the hard truths we are all too often sweeping to the side. Honesty breathes life into our understanding of the people around us, the world, and the universe. It is something Plath expresses more than aptly in her novel through the character of Esther Green.

Cynical honesty drives the novel throughout its entirety. Through the contrast of cynical perspectives upon Esther’s life events and perceived realities of medical practices, Plath presents a criticism of the influence wealth disparity has on medical outcomes. Even in the very beginning, Plath begins with a depiction of the electrocution of the Rosenbergs, something that juxtaposes the later induced medical practice of Electroconvulsive therapy. By beginning the novel with the Rosenbergs, Plath sets up negative connotations and perceptions of electrocution in general. Then, in combination with Esther’s thoughts, uses the character of Dr. Gordon, to display the links between the two. Plath presents Esther’s thoughts as “I wondered what a terrible thing I had done,” in reaction to the painful and unsuccessful convulsive-inducing shock from Dr. Gordon (143). This clearly displays a criticism of the medical practice in general, but upon a deeper look, displays a subtler criticism of wealth inequality as the story continues. There are themes of this in regards to the medical institutions in general, such as when a nurse relays the differences between the state mental institution and the private one Esther is held within. Plath in this short scene contrasts the privileges the women at the private institution and the lack thereof in the state institution, in order to show what a difference wealth makes in quality of care in medical institutions. Plath, however, takes it a step further, as she later ties back in the Electroconvulsive Therapy, as Esther’s doctor in the private institution takes her through it once again. This time however, it does not induce pain, instead the procedure works as intended, and Plath writes that Esther feels as though “the bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above my head. I was open to circulating air” (215). Plath ends the presentation of Esther’s pain as she began, through the discussion of electrocution, and successfully shows that even though the pain persisted, it finally ended with the right care. The very fact that the pain presented by Plath didn’t end until a private institution was utilized, is a criticism of wealth acting as a barrier to sufficient medical care. As she completes her metaphor of electrocution, Plath leaves something else with the reader, criticizing society's greedy and profit-driven nature, as it harms those within it.

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Sylvia Plath presents a compelling story of a women and her position in the 1950's struggling with sexism and mental health in a society where both topics are swept under the rug. When reading the novel, I felt heartbroken for Esther and everything she suffered through from growing up with one parent, working so hard for a dream just to be rejected, overcoming sexual assault, and being pressured by society to fit a certain standard that did not comply with her own beliefs. Esther refuses to fit the status quo, and I admire her for it as it is so difficult to resist the temptation to blend in and do what everyone else does just to be able to avoid the judgmental gaze of others. I enjoyed her personal insights to her views on life, other people, and her memories, as it allowed me to connect with her as a reader and understand her thought process as the story progressed. I really enjoyed the details through the use of imagery throughout the novel and how it allowed me to visualize the scene, almost as if I were standing in her shoes. I could sympathize with her, experience the jabs of betrayal she felt too often, and be in the moment with her. The down side of the strong imagery is when Esther spiraled, it felt very personal despite not actually being the one to experience her depression, suicidal thoughts, or emotional (and physical) downfall. The entire novel was an emotional roller coaster that I thoroughly enjoyed, bringing me perspectives on society I failed to recognize before.

Plath heavily criticized gender roles and mental health throughout her novel, and although both topics were impactfull, I am going to focus on her criticism of the role of a woman in the 1950's. Plath highlights the fact that women had to meet certain standards in order to be deemed valuable in any way through the ways women presented themselves, their education, and how pure they were. For example, Esther was heavily influenced by society’s demand for women to remain pure until marriage until she realized men aren’t expected to follow these same expectations, resulting in her desire to lose her innocence as a jab to Buddy and anyone else she kept her innocence for. She went from bathing frequently and drinking straight vodka to keep herself clean and pure, to going weeks without bathing, not caring one bit about how she was perceived. This reveals Plath’s criticism of the sexist expectations that women were expected to follow, but men weren’t. Women and men are not equal and may never be, despite the progress that has been made since Plath wrote this novel, women, through religion, are still expected to remain pure, they are expected to appear beautifully, and are expected to marry and be mothers eventually. If a woman, in today’s society and in the book alike, don’t satisfy the social expectations, they are outcasted. Sylvia Plath wrote, “And I knew that in spite of all the roses and kisses and restaurant dinners a man showered on a woman before he married her, what he secretly wanted when the wedding service ended was for her to flatten out underneath his feet like Mrs. Willard’s kitchen mat” (Plath 85), which encapsulates the social standard of this time period as a whole, representing how the men of this time just wanted to charm a woman so they can turn her into their housewife and take away her freedom.

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Slyvia Plath effectively in The Bell Jar works to express a whole reality of complex societal expectations and the societal pressures that come along with trying to meet those and being unable to do the right thing in the unending situational ambiguity in forced binaries. With this idea of binaries one the criticisms that stuck out to me is gender roles between men and women how both are expected to fill those respective roles within society and thus are held to different standards. For example, when Esther finds out about Bubby’s hidden impurity and asks classmates about it “But these seniors said most boys were like that and you couldn't honestly accuse them of anything until you were at least pinned or engaged to be married” (71). Plath through this quote expresses a criticism of gender roles particularly with the lack of male accountability, and thus how women are held to a higher standard than men within society. Furthermore, it conveys how powerless women are to do anything going up against a man because of these longstanding binaries and skewed standards  held by society, so much so men can get away with anything no matter how bad.

Throughout this novel I was surprised how much I enjoyed it even though it was at times confusing to follow with the stream of consciousness writing style, poetic style writing within the prose, and its overall dark and uncensored expression of traumatic events. For example, her use of the poetic element of personification and repetition in “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am” (243), is much more effective than just saying she listened to her heartbeat in a more prose nature of writing it. The use of “I am, I am, I am” (243) to represent it and the use of brag personifies the heartbeat to represent a greater depth to living as in saying I am here rather than just being an organ function. Further, considering the autobiographical nature of the main character, Esther, illustrated when Esther decides to write a novel. She expresses “My heroine would be myself, only in disguise. She would be called Elaine. Elaine. I counted the letters on my fingers. There were six letters in Esther, too. It seemed a lucky thing” (120), so if the parallels of Plath's life and Esther were not glaring before this certainly alludes that she is speaking on her real life experiences. Sylvia, her name also being six letters, is basically telling us that this book is her experience and feelings in a world where women and people with mental health struggles are silenced. Overall, if any one of the masterfully used elements were gone from the novel, its criticism, and the reality of Plath’s experiences that are expressed would not be as effective and hard to ignore.

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Reading The Bell Jar was honestly a very different experience from most novels I have read in school. At first, I struggled to fully connect with the story because the writing style was difficult to follow. Sylvia Plath constantly shifts between Esther’s present experiences, memories, thoughts, and different points in time without much warning, which sometimes made the novel feel confusing to follow and almost scattered. There were moments where I had to reread sections because the transitions between Esther’s thoughts and reality blended together so quickly. However, as I continued reading, I realized that this writing style actually reflects Esther’s mental state and helps readers experience the confusion and emotional instability she feels throughout the novel. Even though it was frustrating at times, I ended up appreciating how intentionally Plath wrote the story. Despite the difficulty of following certain parts, I found the novel really interesting because it feels very honest and personal. Esther’s thoughts are unfiltered, uncomfortable, and realistic in a way that makes the reader feel trapped inside her mind with her, giving the reader a better understanding of her true thoughts. I liked how Plath did not try to romanticize or dull Esther’s struggles or make everything seem better than it really was. Instead, the novel feels emotionally heavy and negative for most of the story, which I think was intentional. Almost every part of Esther’s story feels filled with pressure, disappointment, loneliness, or fear, and that constant negativity creates the feeling of suffocation that the title “bell jar” represents. Although the negative tone sometimes made the novel draining to read, it also made Esther’s experiences feel more authentic and impactful. One of the strongest social criticisms in the novel is Sylvia Plath’s illustration of how society viewed and treated mental illness during the 1950s. Throughout the book, Esther is not treated with understanding or compassion, but instead with fear, judgment, and embarrassment, almost like an object more than a person. This is especially shown when Esther’s mother refers to people in mental hospitals as “ those awful people” (Plath 145). Later, she says, “I knew my baby wasn’t like that” (Plath 145). These quotes stood out to me because they reveal how mental illness was seen as something to be ashamed of or to hide rather than something deserving of care and support. Esther’s mother does not initially respond with empathy, and instead with denial because she cannot accept the stigma attached to mental illness. Plath uses these moments to criticize a society that isolated and dehumanized people struggling with their mental health instead of helping them.

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“The Bell Jar,” in my opinion, was super hard to follow, and a lot of times I think that I missed details just because of the odd transitions between Esther’s thoughts and her reality. It was sort of unorganized, but I grew to like this as the book went on. I realized that it makes the novel seem more realistic, as it shows Esther’s unfiltered thoughts about such a wide range of topics, and it is through these thoughts that readers can see just how serious Esther’s mental illness was. For example, if we didn’t see Esther’s thoughts, we might not see how she oftentimes distorted the reality of a situation, and then we might not be able to see the severity of her condition. Some of her thoughts, especially about death, suicide, and her relationships with men, demonstrate how her thinking may differ from someone who has little to no mental illness, and I think it was easy to tell the difference between narratives in other books with “normal” narrators versus Esther’s narration of her life. The way Plath writes about Esther’s thoughts also created a feeling of discomfort for me, which I think could also be used to show Esther’s discomfort in her life. Even though Esther was always around people, Plath wrote the book from a point of view that almost isolated Esther from the rest of the characters, which I thought made the book more interesting. Overall, I think that this chaotic tone was really needed to sort of overwhelm the reader, and get a small glimpse of what Esther was going through.

As for social criticism, one of the most important things Plath criticised through Esther was the stigma attached to people dealing with mental health issues. While this may not be as big a problem today, mentally ill patients in the 1950’s were often mistreated due to a lack of understanding of their condition. As I mentioned above, the descriptive details that Plath uses to write about Esther's mind show just how ill she is mentally, which makes the readers seem surprised about how people like Esther’s mom and Dr. Gordon reacted to her condition. For example, Dr. Gordon asks Esther “what [she] thinks[s] is wrong" (130), implying that there may not be a problem, and that the only issue is one she made up herself. Additionally, Plath reveals the common misconception about mentally ill people when Esther’s mother refers to them as “awful people” (145), which makes them seem like they intentionally are mentally ill. Plath uses both of these people to convey her criticism of the stigma attached to mental illness at the time. I think that Plath didn’t necessarily try to portray these people as rude, but just ignorant about the severity of mental illness, and this ignorance was also seen in the rest of society. This criticism is so important because it seems so evident to the readers that Esther is struggling, but these adults fail to see that Esther needs help until her condition becomes so extreme and even life-threatening. Instead of people trying to gain Esther’s trust, Esther is treated like she is overreacting and failing to appreciate all that she has been given. Plath criticizes the tendency of society to dismiss mental illness when a person appears to be successful and intelligent. I also think that Plath is criticizing how limited the mental health treatment was in the 1950’s, especially the traumaof Esther’s traumatic shock treatment with Dr. Gordon. Rather than making her feel heard, she is left questioning “what terrible thing it was [she] had done” (143), leaving her feeling more disconnected than before. Through Esther’s Experiences, Plath reveals how dangerous it is to be ignorant when it comes to mental health, especially when people refuse to take the time to understand those being affected.

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The Bell Jar by Slyvia Plath is a novel where readers learn about gender roles and the societal expectations that existed in the 1950s. It follows the life of Esther Greenwood and how these expectations greatly influenced her mental health and life choices. I found the novel to be very intriguing as I was able to learn more about mental health issues that existed during this time period. When I think of the 1950s, I think of war aftermath, economic issues, social inequality, etc. However, I never think of mental health issues which is why I thoroughly enjoyed learning the complexity of Esther’s mind and choices she made during this time period. She was a young girl who stopped following societal standards and decided to question them, ultimately contributing to her growing sense of disconnection from the world and her mind. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading about her character as it was very insightful during this time period. The social criticism that Plath wrote which stood out to me was how mental health struggles are misinterpreted, minimized, and often overlooked rather than being taken seriously in society. Plath demonstrated through Esther that mental health was not a topic of conversation that many people understood or even tried to. They based their assumptions on credited doctors who did not fully comprehend the intensity of depression, but believed it could be fixed with extreme remedies. For instance, when Esther is undergoing her first shock treatment, she experiences a pain that rattles her whole body. She then goes on to express, “I wondered what terrible thing it was that I had done” (Plath 143). This highlights how mental health issues were viewed as a physical concept or science experiment that could be controlled or fixed. In addition, Plath expresses her distaste of society through Esther's voice, showing that patients suffered at the hands of credited doctors that society deemed appropriate to fix them. Instead, it made patients like Esther worse as they did not have the proper resources to begin the healing process. Furthermore, Plath continues to criticize the level of support that depressed individuals had. For example, Esther’s mother states that she no longer wants to see Doctor Gordon, and Esther’s mother replies, “I knew my baby wasn’t like that” (Plath 145). This demonstrates Plath criticism on social attitudes towards mental health struggles. Ultimately, suggesting that mental illness is often viewed as a shameful notion rather than a normal human experience. As a result, society’s understanding of mental health was based on judgement rather than true meaning. Overall, the novel provided insight to how society treated and responded to mental health struggles, highlighting the misunderstandings and judgement that surrounded it.

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In reading this novel, I was surprised to see myself actually enjoying the entirety of it. Although at some points of the book I was disengaged and a little annoyed with Esther’s actions, I truly believe that parts of it was completely necessary in the novel. This novel was semi- autobiographical and paralleled parts of Sylvia Plath’s own life; her own struggles, her own mindset. The way that this novel was written, it displays a backstory and the originality of Esther’s character that is fundamental in order to be able to sympathize with her later. Without getting to know her in the beginning, some parts of the novel would have made no sense, such as when Esther could no longer write. This wasn’t just a physical asset that was lost, it was part of who she was. Without understanding how much writing and poetry meant to her earlier in the novel, this would not have seemed like such a major deal. Although this may seem like a twisted thing to say, I think that sometimes it is refreshing to read something that doesn’t just have an unrealistic romanticized plot line.

The criticism that stuck out most to me was Sylvia’s discontent with the way that society treated people with mental illness. During this time, there was not a lot of knowledge in this area, and in this novel it is a little obvious. Not only did society lack an understanding of the way that people would genuinely struggle, it was also turned into a way of using class systems that would determine who could receive actual help. In this novel, Esther struggles with her mental health and doesn’t get the necessary help until she is already at the point of suicide. Even at this stage, her own mother cannot grasp the severity of her issues. In between going to different mental facilities, Esther’s mother makes multiple remarks that lack any kind of empathy or intelligence surrounding this topic. During this era, mental illness was seen as mindset rather than an actual sickness. When Esther had decided that she was done receiving treatment at the local facility, her mother responded that she knew that Esther would “decide to be all right again” and that she wasn’t “like those awful people” (Plath 145). Sylvia allowed for this treatment to be subtly shown throughout the novel and even may have worked it through the reader as well. In all honesty, while reading this novel, I would find myself getting frustrated with Esther’s actions and state of mind and would sometimes wonder why she did the things she did. I believe that this was intentional. It shows how easy it is to disregard the person struggling just because it doesn’t make sense to one’s own mind. Not only is this a struggle of the 1950’s, mental health is still a largely debated topic right now. There is so much uncharted territory and stigma surrounding mental illness even today and further emphasizes how hard it must have been back then.

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While reading The Bell Jar had mixed feelings throughout the novel, but by the end I appreciated how intentionally Sylvia Plath wrote Esther’s perspective. At first, the novel felt difficult and overwhelming because Esther’s thoughts constantly shifted and many scenes kept switching from past to present. It often felt like events happened without clear transitions, which made the story frustrating to follow. However, as the novel progressed, I began to realize that the stream of consciousness style mirrors Esther’s deteriorating mental state. The writing places the reader directly inside the confusion, numbness, and instability Esther experiences. One thing I especially noticed was that as Esther spirals further into depression, the reader also becomes more emotionally distant from her. Earlier in the novel, her thoughts feel sharp, sarcastic, and personal, but later the narration becomes flatter and more observational, almost as if we are watching Esther instead of fully understanding her. I ended up appreciating this stylistic choice because it reinforces the isolation created by the “bell jar” itself. Even though the novel can feel uncomfortable and emotionally heavy, that discomfort seems intentional because it forces the reader to experience part of Esther’s disconnection from reality.

The social criticism that stood out most to me was Plath’s criticism of how society in the 1950s defined people, especially women, by their usefulness and ability to fulfill expected social roles. Throughout the novel, Esther feels trapped between different futures that society expects her to choose from, such as marriage, motherhood, or a respectable career. This pressure is most clearly shown through the fig tree metaphor when Esther explains, “I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose” (Plath, 77). Each fig represents a different life path, but Esther becomes paralyzed because choosing one future means losing all the others. Through this metaphor, Plath criticizes a society that forces women into narrow identities instead of allowing them freedom to exist as complex individuals. Esther’s fear is not simply about making a decision, but about becoming trapped in a single socially accepted role.

This criticism is also seen through Esther’s experiences with mental illness and the medical system. When Esther begins treatment, many of the people around her dismiss or misunderstand her suffering rather than helping her. Esther reflects, “That made it sound as if nothing was really wrong, I only thought it was wrong” (Plath 130). This moment reveals how mental illness was minimized and invalidated, especially for women, during the time period. Instead of treating Esther as a person in pain, society often treats her as someone failing to function properly. Plath continues this criticism through the bell jar metaphor itself: “To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream” (Plath 237). This quote explains how mental illness completely changes Esther’s perception of reality and isolates herself from the world around her. Through Esther’s experiences, Plath criticizes both the restrictive expectations placed on women and society’s failure to genuinely understand mental illness.

Overall, I ended up appreciating the novel much more than I expected because of how deeply the writing style mirrors Esther’s mental state and the social criticism Plath develops throughout the story. Although the ending felt unresolved, I think that uncertainty reflects the reality of mental illness itself, that there is no simple or perfect conclusion. The novel leaves readers questioning whether Esther will truly escape the “bell jar,” which reinforces the lasting impact of the pressures and expectations Plath critiques throughout the novel.

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Sylvia Plath allows the readers to see the dehumanizing ways women were treated during the 1950's, specifically women with mental health issues who were struggling. Plath uses her main character, Esther, to demonstrate this idea, by using her experiences with mental health struggles, and explaining how no one took this seriously or believed that these feelings and emotions were real and uncontrollable. I enjoy the fact that the story is told from the point of view of the character who is struggling, because it allows the audience to see the different ways a person who has problems may think. I personally never have had any mental health issues, or really known anyone that has either, so it is interesting to see the daily life and mind of a person going through it. Esther was a very bipolar character, and it just fascinates me to see her constantly changing behavior and compare it to a "normal" person. She knew she had issues, but did not know what to do about them.

Plath criticized the expectations put on women during the 1950's, and to the extreme that they were dehumanized by males in specific. Plath shows this by using the experiences Esther endures to demonstrate how men did not care about women as people, but essentially only as objects. They were expected to get married, have children, and complete household chores during the day while their husbands were at work. Esther has multiple encounters throughout the novel where people scold her for not wanting to get married, implying that she has no purpose in life if she does not want to do so. Plath not only criticizes the expectations males in particular had on women, but also the expectations society placed onto them. In Chapter 8, Esther tells Buddy Willard, "I'm never going to get married" (93). In response to this statement Buddy claims, "You're crazy. You'll change your mind" (93). These quotes show the way Buddy held Esther to society's strict expectations, and thought a woman could never not want to get married eventually. But, Esther makes it clear throughout the entirety of the novel, that based on her experiences with men, and the way she had seen the world, she does not want to be married and held to high standards by any man. Plath uses Esther to portray herself in a way, to show her anger regarding the way women were treated during this time, and how women were held to such high standards, but men could do as they pleased with no consequences.

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After reading the novel, The Bell Jar, I have mixed opinions regarding the piece as a whole. In the beginning, I sympathized with Esther when it came to her opinions about the patriarchal society of the 1950s. I saw where her grievances stemmed from, and though Esther was a bit odd in some of her thought processes, I overall understood why she had issues with different societal opinions regarding women’s independence and the expectations placed on them. As the story progressed, however, the plot began to become very melancholy and dark as I read it. I began to not like the book as much because of the mental spiral that Esther went through and the depressive thoughts and actions that I had to read about. As Esther started to get better, though, I started to appreciate her more as she learned how to cope with her depression and push herself beyond the limits that society had placed on her as a woman.

As The Bell Jar progressed, especially during the first half and very end of the story, it was evident that Plath was criticizing the social expectations and objectification placed on women during the 1950s. Plath uses Esther in a semi-autobiographical manner to mirror Plath as a person, and as Esther makes comments regarding the unfair treatment placed on women and her distaste with men during that time period, such as, “The trouble was, I hated the idea of serving men in any way” (Plath 76), it is evident that this was actually Plath’s opinion as she lived during this time period. Plath likely used her own life experiences as a basis for her writing, and as the story progressed, her grievances surrounding the expectations placed on women to conform to men and value an appearance of purity and innocence became very evident through Esther. Esther’s recurring inability to form a stable connection with a man reinforce this idea, demonstrating how Plath believed the men during this time were so terrible towards women that it was impossible to form a romantic relationship with them. At the same time, Plath often includes details about Esther noticing other people’s physical appearance, showing how that appearance was such a forefront in many women’s lives during that time. This pressure adds to Plath’s distaste with social expectations during this time as it demonstrates a criticism surrounding the objectification of women and pressure to constantly appear “perfect,” even when women were internally struggling.

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Sylvia Plath gives readers a timeless look into the universal struggle of trying to reconcile one's own identity with that of a larger societal pressure. Specifically, Plath allows readers to get a look inside the head of a person who is dealing with a social pressure that contributes to her loss of self. Every time I read this novel, I am moved by the candor Plath uses in her confessional style to reveal to the audience not only the reality of the time in which she lived, but the reality of a mental struggle that on some level is so relatable to the human experience. Plath's ability to create an autobiographical character which is obviously a cathartic means for her own self expression also allows readers, if they are so inclined, to better understand the struggle of one dealing with bi-polar depression. The poetic language allows Plath to plant a lot of symbolic language into her prose, making little jabs towards people and facets of society in a camouflaged way. Esther Greenwood might not outright say "I hate men" but her characterization of them within the novel presents her implication quite clearly. For example,  in the scene where she is seeing a live birth with Buddy Willard she is surrounded by the "miracle" that society has said women should strive for, and she does not feel overwhelmed with joy or hope, but instead sees (and almost feels) the pain of the woman who “never stopped making this unhuman whooing noise” (Plath 66).  Through Esther’s response to the birth, we get a feel for Plath’s criticism about the plight of women in the 1950s.  There were not many choices for them to use their brains, but rather to exist in the social space, a woman must be quiet, pretty, proper, and in servitude to a man, or the collective rule of men that was apparent in the economic rules of the day.  Plath’s depiction of the experience also reveals her criticism of the patriarchy in a 1950s society where men control the lives and pursuits of women by social pressures enforced by gendered social expectations.  The “trick” was to dupe women into playing along, much like the illustration of Esther’s realization that the pain medicine that was given to the woman going through the pain of birth that would “make her forget she’d had any pain and that when she swore and groaned she really didn’t know what she was doing because she was in a kind of twilight sleep” (Plath 66).  To characterize the plight of women and the power of men, Plath creates her protagonist, Esther, who comes to the realization that the “magic medicine” working as a trick to keep women agreeing to be pregnant was “just the sort of drug a man would invent” (Plath 66).  It is understandable that people might characterize Esther (and even Plath) as an unreliable narrator and discard her perspective.  To that end, I’d challenge those tempted to do that to think instead about how a social pressure may drive one to see the world in the same way.  When one feels mentally trapped, no amount of goodwill can overpower the weight of her “bell jar.” So, who exactly built the bell jar and who needs to take responsibility for Esther’s spiral?  Is it a lack of opportunity?  Is it gendered expectations? Is it the pressure to hide negative feelings like grief and doubt instead of dealing with them? Plath’s narrative helps readers think about all of those timeless truths, and challenges us to think about the progress we have made (or not) from the place where she was inspired.  And for any voice out there that wants to suggest women “didn’t have it THAT bad,” I’d say, “Would you trade places with women in the 1950s?” OR more daringly, would you do it even in 2026?

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. 1971. 50th Anniversary Edition ed., New York, Harper Perennial, 2013.