The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar is a novel by Sylvia Plath, which was originally published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel is autobiographical, with the names of places and people changed to avoid causing offence. After Plath's suicide, the novel was published under her real name, and the novel did cause great offence.

The Protagonist, Esther Greenwood, gains a scholarship in New York, at the time of the Rosenbergs execution. Esther makes friends with Doreen, and although she thinks that Doreen is a "dirty common slag", Esther attempts to be like her in every way, attempting to lose her virginity at every opportunity, which becomes an unhealthy obsession.

She has a boyfriend, Buddy Willard, who is diagnosed with tuberculosis and is sent to a sanatorium. Esther simply struggles to cope with life in New York and moves back to live with her mother, who she believes was part responsible for the death of her father, who was a diabetic. She becomes addicted to sleeping pills, and is sent to see a psychiatrist.

She is then sent to a metal hospital, making new friends along the way, and is subjected to intense electric shock therapy.

Esther does not lose her virginity until chapter nineteen, near the end of the book, and she suffers immense bleeding and is admitted to hospital.

The book is full of irony, especially if one knows about Plath's life. For example, she continually makes reference to her hatred of children and how she would never have any, but Sylvia Plath does in fact have children with the English poet Ted Hughes.

Some critics have likened the book to a female version of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.