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Bibliography:
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.

Summary:
This novel by Sylvia Plath is centered around Esther Greenwood's seemingly rational descent into madness. More than the first half of the book is concerned with the month Esther spent in New York City as a scholarship-winning junior editor of a magazine, gallivanting downtown at night as the glamorous Elly Higgenbottom, trying to rid her mind of Buddy Willard, the boy she e dated in college who recently developed tuberculosis. Slowly, Esther begins to lose interest in her work and in the debutante lifestyle surrounding her. As she begins her summer at home with her mother, the reader has taken a liking to this sweet, charming, logical 19-year old and is drawn most effectively into her suicide attempts and disturbing habits, tempted to believe it is all perfectly normal. Esther then is dragged through several psychiatrists and mental hospitals until she lands securely at a private institution and with the help of Dr. Nolan, begins her slow ascent out of her suffocating "bell jar."

Essay:
Every young person struggles during their growing up years to "find themselves." Each person years for a unique and strictly individual identity while still searching for their worth in the approval of the people around them. In Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood is just getting out into the world. As she struggles to find her place and define her own self, she becomes frustrated with the restrictions and expectations placed on the female sex at that time. Instead of breaking free from the traditional mold to try and discover who she truly is as a person, she scrutinizes and imitates the roles and lifestyles of the women around her.
When Esther arrives to work for the magazine, she immediately idolizes her boss, Jay Cee, admiring the way the editor balances her full and prosperous life. Although Esther is a bright...