Isolation In The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar

While New York City is a city of hopes, dreams, fame, shining lights, and parties, Sylvia Plath, the author of The Bell Jar, explains that is not the case for her main character, Esther. Plath replaces the glamour of New York City with isolation; therefore, the title is a direct representation of Esther’s mental suffocation. Esther also demonstrates the difficulty of a teenage girl attempting to chase her dreams, but ultimately gets confused and emotional about what she wants to do with her life. Conclusively, Esther becomes more isolated as time progresses, and she refuses to get assistance from a physician. Later she attempts to end her life, due to her isolation, denial, and intellectualization. Nevertheless, she grows through her pain and is later reborn.

A bell jar itself is an isolated object that is simply- a stiff, suppressing, unbreakable case, and those that are confined are enclosed within its glass walls without a way out. And that is the way Esther feels, isolated and alone. Her mother is the only one who is noticing this trait becoming prevalent in her daughter's life. She

Although, it is not uncommon for older teenage women to attempt suicide, “Suicide mortality increases considerably in the late teens and continues into the early twenties for both males and females. Although females are more likely than males to attempt suicide, males are roughly five times as likely to succeed in their suicide attempts”(Otsuki). Therefore, it is not abnormal for Esther to be feeling overwhelmed since she has to make so many decisions about her life. But that does not give her a reasonable excuse for not seeking assistance from a more qualified physician. Later she finally admitted to being in denial, and got treatment. Since, it was so difficult for her to grasp her life