The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
This was my first time reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. As for my first impressions, it was a difficult book to get through. The writing wasn't difficult, but I found that reading the book altered my mood. It's a sad book, and I guess I wasn't expecting to be so effected by reading it. Having heard it was a sad book before I read it, but not knowing anything else, I was surprised by the normalcy of Esther's life in the first couple of chapters. There are hints that she's unhappy but they can be interpreted as just everyday, "normal" moments of unhappiness. But things quickly escalate. At the start of the second half on the novel, Esther makes her first suicide attempt. It was difficult to read, but maybe not for the reasons I expected. It was off-putting how nonchalant Esther was at attempting to take her own life. This is one of the many points in the novel that made me realize that depression can alter not only how you feel but how you act. This is something I already knew, but I guess I didn't really understand the extent to which depression can alter your actions. Esther's depression made her think that suicide was a perfectly okay, viable option. That's terrifying. Her emotions/thoughts during this scene were unnerving.
Along those lines, what was scary about Esther to me was that for most of the book, on the outside, she seemed perfectly fine. But her thoughts on the inside indicated otherwise. It really makes you think, because someone could be acting perfectly happy, going about their day, and could be struggling terribly. Depression is largely a silent illness. I chose depression as my single story for a couple of reasons. One of them is that I wanted to challenge my own views about mental illness. It's easy to think that someone who looks okay is okay, but that's not always the case. I think we need to learn to be more accommodating and aware of people's internal struggles.
While I've finished The Bell Jar and have started my second book, It's Kind of a Funny Story, I might come back to The Bell Jar and post about it again since this is my first time posting about it. I'm also excited to write about the differences between Craig, from It's Kind of a Funny Story, and Esther. I'm already several chapters into It's Kind of a Funny Story and while there are some similarities, the two characters are very different and their depression is represented in different ways.
Along those lines, what was scary about Esther to me was that for most of the book, on the outside, she seemed perfectly fine. But her thoughts on the inside indicated otherwise. It really makes you think, because someone could be acting perfectly happy, going about their day, and could be struggling terribly. Depression is largely a silent illness. I chose depression as my single story for a couple of reasons. One of them is that I wanted to challenge my own views about mental illness. It's easy to think that someone who looks okay is okay, but that's not always the case. I think we need to learn to be more accommodating and aware of people's internal struggles.
While I've finished The Bell Jar and have started my second book, It's Kind of a Funny Story, I might come back to The Bell Jar and post about it again since this is my first time posting about it. I'm also excited to write about the differences between Craig, from It's Kind of a Funny Story, and Esther. I'm already several chapters into It's Kind of a Funny Story and while there are some similarities, the two characters are very different and their depression is represented in different ways.
I completely understand what you are feeling. Although I have never read this particular book, I have read ones that have left me with feelings of sadness and unease. It still amazes me that one book can have such a big impact on my emotions. This leads to me to always wonder if I became an English major because of how much I empathize with characters in books? I know many people who read books and don't feel much of anything, so I always think of that when books make me feel things that others can't seem to feel when reading.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your explorations of the topic and this book. It's a book I've never read, and probably won't, but the way you write about it makes me curious. I like that. I also like that the 2 books you've delved into so far offer you such different perspectives on depression. That's an easy way to break up a single story. When you think about the Bell Jar (what's the significance of the title, by the way?), does it have qualities that make it a good text to read beyond the story it tells? Is the writing beautiful? The characters well built? I'm always curious what keeps an iconic book on the shelf so long when others don't get attention.
ReplyDeleteI've always considered reading this book as someone who appreciates Sylvia Plath's poetry. It was interesting to see the impact such an emotional tale can have on a reader. I've read before that this novel was written as a way for her to speak about her own story with depression but I'm unsure if that's true.
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