There are many different themes present in The Bell Jar. Esther, the protagonist, struggles with issues commonly afflicting the women of her era. The book, set in 1953, reflects the scarcity of professional roles available to women, who were expected to merely stay home and find satisfaction in their maternal roles as housewives. Another constant theme is the factor of so-called adequacy present throughout the book. The Bell jar has often been labeled as a “protest” towards the expectations women of the time that were necessary to fulfill in order to be considered both normal and successful in Society.

Within these themes, Plath also uses literary elements to convey her message, such as symbolism, metaphors and parallelism, the latter being the most prevalent. For example, Plath starts the book detailing the recent events of the Rosenberg’s execution. At the time, it was an article of great

Thus, Esther is conflicted between these two opposites.

aspects of the story into simply black humor. The Bell Jar is an unsettling book. There are times, when, with the odd caricatures and bizarre actions, The overall effect is to surprise the reader into amazement, awareness of the grace, wisdom and power that Plath holds over Esther in her encounter with the dark side.

In my own eyes, Esther Greenwood, displays the characteristics of an antihero. Her detailed descriptions of suicide, vivid with similes of beautiful things, do not appeal to my mind. In one instance she describes the beauty of slitting your writs in a warm bath. “I thought it would be easy, lying in the tub and seeing the redness flower from my wrists, flush after flush through the clear water, till I sank to sleep under a surface gaudy as poppies.” (139) However the commanding style of the novel is captivating, as Plath brings Esther to her steady breakdown, Plath has the ability to manipulate the disturbing

As I enjoyed lifelike descriptions of Esther many acquaintances and friends, I found that by the end of the book I was practically plotting my own decisions through

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