The Bell Jar
Summary
The Bell Jar
This post-modern autobiographical novel mainly focuses on mental health, addressing suicide and psychological treatments. Esther Greenwood is a young woman in the 1950s aiming for an academic career. When she is almost raped during an internship far away from home, she becomes mentally unstable. Her mental health declines further as she loses her perspective of the future, and she undertakes several suicide attempts until she is sent to psychiatry.
The novel provides a strong account of this quite current topic #metoo and extensively explores mental health issues raising awareness for the subject.
Critical edition
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Faber & Faber, 2013. 240 pp., ISBN 9780571268863