Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar

Angelica Garcia 

The only reason I remembered this play was because it had a mad person in it, and everything I had ever read about mad people stuck in my mind, while everything else flew out.

Storm

She stared at her reflection in the glossed shop windows as if to make sure, moment by moment, that she continued to exist.

‘…I'm neurotic as hell. IIl be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.’

And then I wondered if as soon as he came to like me he would sink into ordinariness, and if as soon as he came to love me I would find fault after fault, the way I did with Buddy Willard and the boys before him.

The trouble was, I hated the idea of serving men in any way. I wanted to dictate my own thrilling letters.

For the first time in my life, sitting there in the sound-proof heart of the UN building between Constantin who could play tennis as well as simultaneously interpret and the Russian girl who knew so many idioms, I felt dreadfully inadequate. The trouble was, I had been inadequate all along, I simply hadn't thought about it.

…and when we were sitting there side by side flying down the streets in the open sun he took my hand and squeezed it, and I felt happier than I had been since I was about nine and running along the hot white beaches with my father the summer before he died.

The room hovered around me with great gentleness, as if the chairs and the tables and the walls were withholding their weight out of sympathy for my sudden frailty.

I don't believe in baptism or the waters of Jordan or anything like that, but I guess I feel about a hot bath the way those religious people feel about holy water.

‘…All that liquor and those sticky kisses I saw and the dirt that settled on my skin on the way back is turning into something pure.'

Everything she said was like a secret voice speaking straight out of my bones.

I read this book a long time ago and decided to revisit it again. I am now at an age where I truly appreciate this book. Plath truly captures and effortlessly conveys the experiences and emotions many young women, myself included, feel each day. Her metaphors and depictions of feelings from depression to aspiration are so touching and genuine, I suppose as this work and expression stems from her real life. 

Despite the sombre tone of the novel, it did not make me sit and lament but rather take comfort in knowing this is a shared experience, that I am not alone in feeling such ways. I too aspire for so many things and do not know what my future may hold, and I do find it frightening. I choose to perceive this book as a motivator, a reminder of what can be achieved and the power I have as a young woman who can change the world. 

That through works like this by women like Slyvia Plath, we are capable of exposing the raw and darker sides of life, we can unveil the importance of mental health and make progress towards an equal society. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but do take care when reading if you are struggling with mental health and thoughts of suicide or self harm. If you are needing help this group provides helplines and support organisations around the world. You are not alone and there is always someone here for you.

Juliet Tuppurainen

TW: Depression, mental health, suicide

I read this book a long time ago and decided to revisit it again. I am now at an age where I truly appreciate this book. Plath truly captures and effortlessly conveys the experiences and emotions many young women, myself included, feel each day. Her metaphors and depictions of feelings from depression to aspiration are so touching and genuine, I suppose as this work and expression stems from her real life. 

Despite the sombre tone of the novel, it did not make me sit and lament but rather take comfort in knowing this is a shared experience, that I am not alone in feeling such ways. I too aspire for so many things and do not know what my future may hold, and I do find it frightening. I choose to perceive this book as a motivator, a reminder of what can be achieved and the power I have as a young woman who can change the world. 

That through works like this by women like Slyvia Plath, we are capable of exposing the raw and darker sides of life, we can unveil the importance of mental health and make progress towards an equal society. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but do take care when reading if you are struggling with mental health and thoughts of suicide or self harm. If you are needing help this group provides helplines and support organisations around the world. You are not alone and there is always someone here for you.

https://checkpointorg.com/global/ 

The Bell Jar

Reviews

Highlights