McCampLeggBell discussion

a little late - but better that than never ...

I've wanted to read this book for some time ... it's subject matter was what held me back - an area that I didn't really want to explore to deeply for one reason or another ... but this felt like the right time to have a little peek inside Sylvia Plath's head ...

this book is held up as an American literature classic ... it's often discussed as autobiographical as Sylvia's own life mimicked Esther's closely ...

in that it gives readers a ring-side seat into what it is like to have a breakdown ... all the courses and books you read about writing tell you to write about what you know - I'd say that Sylvia succeeded

so let's have a chat about it ...

Sylvia once wrote in a letter that "I've gone around for most of my life as in the rarefied atmosphere under a bell jar." Do you think this the primary meaning of the novel's title? What other meanings does "the bell jar" have?

Do you think Esther's attitudes toward men, sex, and marriage are unique or unusual? What role do you think her attitudes play in her breakdown? What are we being told about society's expectations regarding men and women, sexuality, and relationships? Do you think those expectations have changed since Sylvia wrote this book (early 1960s)?

Esther often admits to feelings of inadequacy. Is Esther's sense of her own inadequacies consistent with reality? Against what standards does she judge herself?