The Bell Jar, Essay Example

Introduction

The Bell Jar is an a fictional novel written by Sylvia Plath that chronicles her experiences with as a magazine intern which she won a trip to New York as a guest.  The magazine gave the award to the twelve young girls that all staying in the same hotel in a dormitory like setting. The Bell Jar primary theme is the character Esther Greenwood who is slowly losing her mental health. The author Sylvia Plath does an extraordinary job of keeping the reader interested while she draws them in the insanity world of Esther. The author allows the reader to understand her personal breakdown while the reader gets a first-hand experience of the dark side of mental illness. The thesis statement is the Bell Jar novel clearly shows how different events in her life caused depression however, it was the home environment of the suburbs that was the major contributor to Esther slowly losing her mind.

Why do her depression symptoms take such a drastic turn for the worse? The primary reason Ester depression symptoms took a drastic turn for the worse is because she dreaded the home environment of the suburbs.  Esther returns home which she was already struggling with her life becoming more depressed. Esther returned home to her mother home which was a depressing event for Esther. Her depression immediately got worse when she arrived back home with the smell of the suburbs. This was a good indication that it was the environment that was part of the reason for her depression getting worse. As long as, she was in New York experiencing life she may have been depressed but not as much as being back in the depressing environment of home. Esther got off the train and she said thought of the life style of the suburbs with green lawns, cocktail parties, club tennis and animals. Esther said all these things reminded her of death. The point I am trying to make the suburb environment is one the reason she is continuing to fall deeper into depression.

Is there a particular incident that causes this change?

The train ride home Ester mother was waiting for her eagerly to give Esther some news about her application to the writing course. It was her mother delivery of the news that started the depression changes in Esther. When Esther climb into the car with her mother, she threw the stack of letters including the response from the school of writing for Esther. The mother very quick said to Esther you did not get into that writing course. This incident crushed Esther because she said she could see the bad news on her mother’s face. The was a start of a number of events from the environment of coming home for the summer for the first time to the news about not getting into the writing course. However, the writing news delivered by her mother started the primary spiral of Esther sinking further into depression.

Significance

This is significant because Esther was explaining her depression as she sunk further into depression. Esther shared how when her mother told her that the writing school did not accept her for entry her stomach hurt in the pit of her stomach. This is anxiety getting worse from the news from her mother. She explained how she he hopes dissolve like a bad weather day. This was her depression describe again as her mouth turned sour meaning she could feel the depression setting into her mouth. As the mother continued to drive her home Esther explained how she sunk lower and lower every time she passed a familiar neighbor home or site. This was a parable that she was immediately slipping into a depression state. This is significant that supports the argument that the environment was causing the depression because she said this was her first summer at home. This coincides with her committing suicide the first time she has to spend time home in the home suburb environment.

Conclusion  

The environment is the key because Esther does fine in environments that she feels help her experience life. The depression is still a part of her life however when the environment is stressing or the environment has major events that constantly contributed to her descending downward spiral to insanity. In New York, Esther has many confrontations and issues she did not like consequently she was finding ways to cope. The explanation Esther provided after getting off the train when she returned home is critical. This was Esther sharing in her own words that suburbs smell, looked and felt like death. The argument is sound because Esther had many life changing events in New York that could have caused her to commit suicide in New York. The fact that she committed suicide at home after experiencing a disappointment of not getting accept into writing school supports the assumptions. This is significance of the writing event is the critical point in Esther life that doing something to keep her busy during the summer at home. The thought of being home without any personal activities sent her into uncontrollable depression. The writing course was going to be her deal with her depression and keep her from going insane while at home.