Closing Thoughts on the Bell Jar

The Bell Jar was a fun book book to read. Full of all sorts of emotions from comedy to melancholy, there was one aspect of the book that I really adored: Esther as a character. Esther was the center of attention for the whole novel. In any book that I have read throughout my years not only at Uni but also for fun, no book has centered more on one character than The Bell Jar. Ok let me pause there, so that I can add one more book: The Catcher in the Rye.While there are multiple characters in the book, Esther is in every scene, as well as narrates the book (so I guess that’s a pretty big similarity with Catcher). The only difference is that when reading, it doesn’t seem that Esther is there, even though she is.

Moving on to something slightly different. The story ends with Esther entering a room to be once again evaluated by the board of the hospital, so that they can decided whether or not she needs to stay longer. First off, I must say that I liked this ending very much. I tend to like cliffhangers, because they yield to sequels. I’m not sure whether or not this ending can be classified as a cliffhanger, but what’s important is that it fits well as an ending. A bad ending would have been something along the lines of Esther feels really good and starts to get back to her normal life. And I feel that another author might have ended the book like that, but not Plath, because Plath actually went through this “depression.” I most certainly believe that this ending holds Plath’s main message: people with mental illnesses may recover, however, there is nothing as getting back to normal.  The bell jar analogy fits well: it might be gone for now, but somewhere it’s still looming, waiting to strike back at the (im)perfect moment.

In terms of Esther’s treatment, I would say that her cure stems from Dr. Nolan. The shock treatments and the panel of doctors observing her-- those things are obviously pointless. But Dr. Nolan has a powerful effect on Esther. Celia mentioned in class that one of the main reasons for that is probably due to the fact that Dr. Nolan is a woman. In the medical society at that time, at least in terms of Esther’s views, the field of medicine is male dominated (including the methods of treatments and the drugs). So in that society, when Esther sees Dr. Nolan, a woman who is in a position of power, who is keen and boldly opinionated, and a person who can connect her, Esther is amazed. I think that Esther sees a friend in Dr. Nolan and that’s what starts to heal her. In the end, Esther changes her attitude towards society and that’s what starts to make her happy. The big question that is left off at the end of the novel is not whether or not society is correct, but whether or not Esther will be able to survive in such a society without once again falling into a mental depression.  

Wednesday, March 4th