We All Forget Esther Was Just a Girl

         
The Bell Jar is a staple in our modern understanding of mental health. TV shows, books, movies, and conversations often reference the novel but entirely miss its depth. The nature of Sylvia Plath’s life, and especially her death, have created an air of stigma and apprehension around her work. Often, readers seem to either handle the weight of the novel’s origin either by separating the author and the work, or by exaggerating the relationship.Although it is enriching to analyze The Bell Jar apart from the life of Sylvia Plath, it is entirely impossible to completely understand the value in the novel without seeing the deepest heartbreak of the story. It is now known after Plath’s death that she had once intended to publish a second novel detailing a more grown-up Esther in a phase of “health”. Of course this second novel was never completed because Plath went on to die by suicide before she could write it.

What I mean to say is that there must be a balance found in reading The Bell Jar, in all honesty I find the story to be one of a phoenix rising from the ashes, the story of a girl who not only survived but went on to permanently mark the American mind, but it is equally a story of great tragedy. Plath is not someone who can be broken down and analyzed, her words have lived in such infamy for so long now I feel we often forget she was just a woman, and a poet. “I am, I am, I am” (234).

It is in this vein that I think it is important to view Esther as a character who is so much more than her struggle. She is not “pure”, she is not always kind, and she is certainly not society’s picture of a woman. It is in Esther’s imperfections that she is the most human. Esther treats many of the people in her life horribly, her mother gets the brunt of this burden, but she is mean to nurses, friends, and peers. Esther honestly reads as cruel at times: she leaves Doreen locked outside their room after the night out with Lenny (and this was before she even got deep into her spiral), she borderline bullies and mocks her mother’s sympathies, and she constantly belittles those around her and attempts to establish a constant sense of superiority. It is so easy to absolve her of a lot of guilt and responsibility while reading as we feel a deep sympathy for her, but it is in this way that the character, and Plath by extension, have become so dehumanized in the general view. Despite the often morbid language, and distressing spiral Esther uses and undergoes, we consistently see elements of her adolescence shining through.

Many important thought patterns Esther experiences in the novel that can easily be attributed to her age and personality are assumed to be a symptom of her illness or an effect of the lens of the bell jar. For example, the way she feels about Buddy, her sudden loss of interest in him and intense insecurity at the thought he exaggerated his attractions is very reminiscent of common insecurities amongst teenage girls across time. This comparison is not to say that Esther’s and Plath’s journeys and struggles were not incredibly real and mature, but it is to say that the power and importance of The Bell Jar is in the humanity of it. It is so easy to over analyze this novel. The Bell Jar is a haunting story not because it is some complete masterpiece but because it is deeply honest, youthful, and painted with many brushes of Sylvia Plath’s own life.