Summer Reading '11 discussion

I read in my edition of The Bell Jar that Plath is writing autobiographically, so much so that she had to publish the novel under a pseudonym not to give away the people she knew and grew up with. And being that Plath also lost a father when she was young and that she killed herself, I'm not sure that we can assume that Ester Greenwood ever does escape the bell jar permanently.

It seemed like Ester's depression is linked to the uncertainty of her future. She has a million dreams but can’t hone in on one. Part of her wants to be a writer, part a housewife, part a world traveler, etc. Gender issues aside, I think that many about to graduate college (or high school) or in any transitory life stage can relate to Ester. We don’t know what’s up ahead. Even those who seem well supplied with an awesome, relevant degree aren’t guaranteed the job.

I’m not saying that the uncertainty is the only factor, but my question is, How do we escape our own bell jars?—and this is referring to the anxiety and depression, which doesn’t necessarily result in suicide or suicidal thoughts. How can we help the Ester Greenwoods who we come into contact with? Psychologists often say that the key to getting out of depression is being others- focused, but would that help Ester?

How do we escape our personal bell jars?

"Straight & fast."

that's one way to do it, Alaska.

I just picked up copies of the first two books on the list from my library and hope to catch up quickly.

I finished it today and found it to be a very interesting story, especially since so much of it was based on Plath's life. It was different (and I'm sure very controversial at the time) for her to be so blunt about the suicidal thoughts of the character, such as her walking around the house with a robe tie noosed around her neck, but finding no place to hang it. Esther thinks of multiple ways to commit suicide, but isn't really able to follow through until the pills, but even then she is unsuccesful.
I didn't care for the ending. I prefer to have a sense of finality when a novel is over, and this one left me asking "....and then what???". But it was an interesting read overall.
I was surprised by how much it made me miss living in Boston. I recognized the names of towns and popular sites like the Swan Boats, Wellesly, Beacon Hill, Lynn, the Commons, Cambridge; even though the time period is different, it made me remember the great times that I'd had for the couple of years that I had lived there. Funny how a book can evoke personal memories that are completely outside of the plotline!

I hated the ending too, for the exact same reason. But I think Plath wanted it to be like that so that the reader could somehow understand what her character (or she) was feeling, which was uncertainty. She never knew if or when the bell jar would come again.