Paper Summary:

"The Bell Jar" can be seen as a portrait of a uniquely feminist crisis of the self, of the adolescent self in a normal but fragile and frustrating juncture of development, or of modern psychiatry's inability to deal with such a crisis, except in very ineffectual ways. Esther feels conflict as a woman frustrated to choose between masculine professional ideals and maternity, although upon closer analysis her identity conflict becomes even more multi-faceted and fraught, particularly in light of her family and social dynamics. The pressures of modern life, combined with the lack of understanding of the therapeutic community at the time serve to compound rather than alleviate her stress.

From the Paper:

"Before her death by her own hand, the poet Sylvia Plath made a 'name' for herself in the contemporary poetic community through such searing poems as "Daddy," an attack upon her stern, beloved German father, and her authorship of such classical poetic volumes as Ariel. (Plath, 1992) However, even before Sylvia Plath garnered such great fame as an American poet, she was also well known as a famous Smith College intern for the now-defunct Mademoiselle magazine. After gaining a coveted job at the popular women's periodical, she attempted to commit suicide after her internship had ended and before the beginning of her senior year of college, resulting in a nationally famous 'manhunt' that ended at the young woman's home. The book The Bell Jar was written under a pseudonym, and as a novel. However, it chronicles many of the external internal conflicts of femininity, adolescent identity, and personality that remain relevant today, as well as the sensational story of Plath's suicide and recovery. The also provides a potent indictment of the ineffectuality of much psychological treatment during the 1960's for both men and women."

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