The bell jar quotes explained. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Plot Summary 2022-10-23

The bell jar quotes explained Rating: 9,5/10 1336 reviews

The Bell Jar is a novel by Sylvia Plath that tells the story of Esther Greenwood, a young woman struggling with mental illness and societal expectations. The novel is filled with poignant and thought-provoking quotes that shed light on Esther's internal struggles and the society in which she lives. Here are a few of the most memorable quotes from The Bell Jar and an explanation of their significance.

"I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, 'This is what it is to be happy.'" This quote, spoken by Esther as she looks out at the landscape from a train window, captures the fleeting nature of happiness. Esther is often searching for moments of joy and contentment, but they often seem just out of reach. This quote also highlights the importance of the natural world in providing a sense of peace and connection for Esther.

"I want to crawl inside his most private thoughts, the ones he thinks with his blood and not his brain." This quote, spoken by Esther as she reflects on her relationship with Buddy Willard, demonstrates the intense desire for intimacy and connection that drives Esther's relationships. She wants to be so close to someone that she can understand their deepest, most primal thoughts and feelings.

"I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo." This quote, spoken by Esther as she observes the chaos and activity around her, captures the feeling of disconnection and isolation that Esther often experiences. She feels like she is a passive observer, disconnected from the events happening around her.

"I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed, and afterward you went about as if you were half alive." This quote, spoken by Esther as she reflects on the expectations placed on women to marry and have children, highlights the constricting nature of societal expectations. Esther feels like she is expected to follow a certain path in life, and that deviating from that path would mean losing a part of herself.

In conclusion, The Bell Jar is filled with thought-provoking quotes that shed light on Esther's internal struggles and the society in which she lives. These quotes offer insight into Esther's search for happiness, her desire for connection and intimacy, her feelings of disconnection and isolation, and her frustration with societal expectations. They are an important part of the novel and help to convey the depth and complexity of Esther's experiences.

The Bell Jar Symbol in The Bell Jar

the bell jar quotes explained

If you enjoy reading this article, you may also like Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar Quotes 'The Bell Jar' is a novel by Sylvia Plath that is considered feminist, even in present times and deals with issues relating to feminism such as power, sexual double standard, the quest for identity and search for self-love, and the demands of nurturing. Her return home is the beginning of her sorrows. Their resentment of these pressures was one of the motivating forces that inspired the feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s. She is introduced to her female doctor, Dr. They discuss his recent suicide attempt and the reasons why he does not want to go home. She makes a living out of teaching typing.


Next

The Bell Jar: Top Ten Quotes

the bell jar quotes explained

They meet with two doctors Dr. There's nothing necessarily wrong with plucking this quote out of The Bell Jar — in many ways, it captures the crux of Esther's depression in a single paragraph. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. Esther is found and rescued and wakes up in a hospital. I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. There is no music because it is the best place to wipe off the helpless thoughts that bring the characters to despair.


Next

The Bell Jar: Important Quotes Explained

the bell jar quotes explained

She tries to write a novel but fails and begins to have suicidal thoughts. Her mother and brother sit on either side of her in the back seat. Esther complies and is flabbergasted to find Joan Gilling. She worries about the rigid expectations of virginity, maternity, and wifeliness that society and her mother holds for young women and feels paralyzed by her contradictory desires for her own future. The Bell Jar, chapter 10 But the person in the mirror was paralysed and too stupid to do a thing. Of course, that doesn't mean that the fig tree wasn't a genuine expression of her fears, or that a single sandwich has cured Esther of all her emotional anguish — but it's an important moment all the same.

Next

The Bell Jar Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

the bell jar quotes explained

The main character lives only in the first two. I thought, 'This is what it is to be happy. Nolan, Esther has learned to embrace her independence as a woman and shake off the stifling social expectations she used to feel constrained by. I remembered the cadavers and Doreen and the story of the fig tree and Marco's diamond and the sailor on the Common and Doctor Gordon's wall-eyed nurse and the broken thermometer and the Negro with his two kinds of beans and the twenty pounds I gained on insulin and the rock that bulged between sky and sea like a gray skull. She goes on a string of bad dates, the best of which feels anticlimactic when the Constantin, an interpreter, makes no romantic advances and the worst of which ends with the misogynistic Marco trying to rape her.

Next

The Bell Jar

the bell jar quotes explained

Marco and, to a lesser extent, Irwin objectify Esther for their own sexual gratification. Eventually, the gap between societal expectations and her own feelings and experiences becomes so large that she feels she can no longer survive. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath 1. Esther Greenwood, the main character was a college student who had great dreams of becoming a poet. A Farewell to Arms as a sad book fit only for sad teenage girls. Nolan her honest feelings, Dr.

Next

The Bell Jar: Important Quotes Explained, page 3

the bell jar quotes explained

Esther is surprised by how open and unsupervised the new hospital is, and suspects that the other patients cheerfully reading magazines and playing badminton might not actually be crazy. She feels innocent and pure, and sometimes she thinks it's not a good thing, but in this quote it was a good thing. Facing her own horrific reflection in a mirror, she does not recognize herself. However, her sponsor, Philomena Guinea, pays for her stay at a psych ward in New England. Back at home near Boston, Esther is rejected from a writing course she had planned to spend the rest of the summer taking. I wanted change and excitement and to shoot off in all directions myself, like the colored arrows from a Fourth of July rocket.

Next

The 20 Best Bell Jar Quotes

the bell jar quotes explained

The Bell Jar is a novel first published in 1963. . Esther is often told that, in relationships, the man is the arrow and the woman is "the place the arrow shoots from. The sexual encounter leads to profuse bleeding by Esther and she is assisted out of the ordeal by a fellow mental patient at the facility. Esther is ambitious and has dreams of becoming a poet but she is filled with uncertainty and feelings of hopelessness. In the summer of 1953, Esther Greenwood, a brilliant college student, wins a month to work as guest editor with eleven other girls at a New York magazine.

Next

The Bell Jar Quotes

the bell jar quotes explained

A nurse tells Esther that a friend has come to Caplan and urges Esther to visit. When I first read The Bell Jar , I was shocked to discover that it is not, in fact, a huge bummer of a book. Insulin injections and lobotomies were popular psychiatric treatments of the era. Esther is soon moved to the psychiatric ward of the city hospital where she is paranoid, uncooperative, and still suicidal. Esther and Irwin had a sexual encounter that led to her bleeding just before she committed suicide. In general, women are expected to be homemakers, wives, and mothers and to devote their energies to caring for men and children rather than pursuing their own dreams.

Next

The Bell Jar Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

the bell jar quotes explained

Her father died when she was eight. But people rarely seem to quote the page after the fig tree. I felt like a hole in the ground. To her own puzzlement, she does not find New York thrilling and romantic. Nolan and enjoys comforts and freedoms that the city hospital lacked.

Next