... society could be seen as a way of self-protection from the strict and difficult world. Sylvia Plath uses the motif "the bell jar" to illustrate the effect of society on Esther. As mentioned earlier, societal pressure incarcerates and suffocates Esther forming a bell jar around her. "The air of the bell jar wadded around me and I couldn't stir." The bell jar represents society's expectations and pressures, which leads her to become ... mentally instable and suicidal. Sylvia Plath asks us; to what extent is Esther responsible for her actions and to what extent is society responsible? The ...

• Word Count: 743
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... does," I said." (Plath 26). By answering to the name Esther, the narrator enforces the name of which she was called. Robert Taubman drew this conclusion about the significance of the viewpoint Miss Plath chose to write in: It [The Bell Jar] reads so much like the truth it is hard to disassociate her from Esther Greenwood, the "I" of the story, but she has the gift of being able to feel and yet ... watch herself: she can feel the desolation and yet relate it to everyday life (345 ... was a summer internship in New York City as a guest editor for Mademoiselle magazine." (Lives and Works:...

• Word Count: 994
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School