Reflective Essay

July, 2023

The Bell Jar is a novel by Sylvia Plath. It was published in 1963 under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas”. The book is about Esther Greenwood, a young lady on the verge of her late teens and early twenties, who has accomplished academic excellence since school but has started to feel depressed and experience the tough process into adulthood. The main themes of this book are mental health, the transition from girlhood into adulthood, and the expectations regarding that process.

It would be complex to describe my first reaction to the material because I did feel identified to some extent with the main character, but I also felt extreme compassion toward Esther. Maybe this journey into womanhood is similar for most of us ladies, and we do feel lonely, or compare ourselves to the rest, then feel like we have not done enough as others. However, very early in the book I could notice that Esther’s issues were due to her precarious mental health. The story was set during a time when therapy and psychological intervention were not as developed nor well seen by society.

In terms of describing Esther’s struggles with depression and loneliness, I find the author was very much accurate. Although the final chapters depict Esther receiving a successful shock treatment and most likely getting discharged from the mental facility, I find it hard to be credible. Maybe I lack the proper educational background in psychology to understand how that might have worked, but I still think that Esther healed in such a short time.

This novel made me realize that maybe this journey into womanhood is similar for most of us ladies, and we do feel lonely, or compare ourselves to the rest, then feel like we have not done enough as others. Maybe, there is a universal kind of feeling for that process. Like falling in love for the first time, but instead of feeling butterflies in the stomach, you feel a heavy load on your shoulders and tension in your stomach or throat. Because maybe, you no longer like your plans for the future, unexpected things happen that make you abandon previous prospects, or you find something about somebody that makes you think are being left behind in the game of life.

Ultimately, the feelings mentioned in the previous paragraph might happen to some extent to us all when transitioning into adulthood. However, the key is to not let the bell jar of depression cloud our vision and asphyxiate us. The key is to identify the signs of isolation and sorrow in ourselves or others, and ask for help or offer it.