Esther Greenwood: The Narrator Who Cannot Feel Esther is the narrator. She is talented. She is ambitious. She is also numb. She says, “I felt very still and very empty. The way the eye of a tornado must feel.” She cannot feel joy. She cannot feel sadness. She cannot feel fear. She is trapped under a bell jar. The bell jar is her depression. It separates her from the world. She watches. She cannot touch.
The Fig Tree: The Symbol of Paralysis Esther sees a fig tree in a dream. Each fig represents a future: a poet, a professor, a mother, an editor. She cannot choose. The figs rot. She starves. The fig tree represents the pressure on women. They must choose. They cannot have everything. They are paralyzed. The image is famous. It is also devastating.
The Magazine: The World of Success Esther wins a magazine contest. She goes to New York. She meets other successful young women. She is supposed to be happy. She is not. She watches her friend Doreen. Doreen is sexy and rebellious. Esther admires her. She cannot be her. She watches another friend, Betsy. Betsy is sweet and innocent. Esther admires her. She cannot be her. She is trapped in between.
The Suicide Attempt: The Descent Esther tries to kill herself. She hides in the crawl space of her basement. She takes sleeping pills. She is found. She is taken to a hospital. She is given insulin shock treatments. She is given electroshock therapy. She is transferred to a private psychiatric hospital. She is helped by a woman doctor, Dr. Nolan. She recovers. The suicide attempt is described in clinical detail. Plath does not romanticize it. She does not condemn it. She reports it.
The Electroshock: The Violent Cure Esther is given electroshock therapy. The first time, she is not sedated. It is painful. She feels her body jerk. She feels her mind break. She is terrified. Dr. Nolan gives her a second course. She is sedated. It is painless. She feels better. The electroshock is a symbol of psychiatry. It is violent. It is also helpful. The reader does not know what to think. Plath does not know.
The Ending: The Ambiguous Recovery Esther leaves the hospital. She is fitted with a diaphragm. She will be able to have sex without fear of pregnancy. She is ready to re-enter the world. The novel ends. The reader does not know if she will succeed. Plath killed herself a month after the novel was published. The reader knows. The ending is tragic.
Conclusion: “The Bell Jar” is a novel about depression. It is also a novel about the 1950s. Women were supposed to be wives and mothers. Esther wants to be a poet. She is punished. She goes mad. She recovers. She will struggle. The reader struggles with her.
