The Bell Jar Esther Greenwood free essay sample

The Bell Jar Esther Greenwood The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath has long been known as a haunting American classic. The protagonist of this timeless novel is Esther Greenwood. She travels through The Bell Jar with such intensity and purpose that her thoughts and actions are accessible and very easy to understand. Esther Greenwood is a talented woman who becomes increasingly confused and disturbed as the story progresses. Esther is described as a talented woman because of her exceptional intelligence and the success it brings her. She had to take a physics course and study with a book written by the teacher. Esther studied the entire book and learned all that she could. Even though many of the other girls in the class failed, Greenwood managed to acquire straight As for fifteen years. She attributes her success to the many hours she spent studying instead of hanging out with her friends. We will write a custom essay sample on The Bell Jar: Esther Greenwood or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Esther was also successful in her college days. She and eleven other girls won a writing contest they found in a fashion magazine by submitting essays, stories, poems, and fashion blurbs. They were rewarded with all-expenses-paid jobs in New York for a month, along with a plethora of other prizes. During her time in the city, Greenwood made an effort to have all of her assignments in by the deadline, even if her boss didn’t seem concerned about punctuality. Seemingly blinded by her own brilliance, Esther began to lose her mind. Esther has many plans for her future; unfortunately for her, she is unsure which she should pursue. She describes herself figuratively looking at a metaphorical fig tree in which all of the figs represent her options for the future. In her clever analogy, Greenwood is starving because she does not know where to start as she sits there staring at the slowly ripening figs. Before she has made any choices, all of the figs wither and drop to the cold ground. Esther was unsure of how her fiancee Buddy could lead a double life with so little compunction. While he never stopped telling Esther how perfect she was, he was entwined in an affair with another woman. Esther’s mind is also plagued by the death of her father. Even though her mother tried her best to help Esther move past it, the tragic loss nonetheless had negative effects on her life. These troubled thoughts, coupled with the immense pressure placed on her throughout the novel, combine to drive Greenwood farther and farther into herself. Esther begins to express her disillusionment with everything that has happened, as well as with the continuance of her pain. She explains â€Å"I feel very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo. † At one point, while Esther is about to be photographed, she begins crying. When she beheld her wearied visage in a mirror, she was appalled by what she saw. Her face was reminiscent of a recently escaped prisoner. She would later learn that she had not bathed or slept in over a week. Her doctor decided to have her committed shortly after she asked him for stronger sleeping pills. While in the asylum, she began trying to commit suicide. Her last attempt came close to accomplishing this end, but she was saved by doctors and sent immediately to the hospital. Esther Greenwood from The Bell Jar is a gifted woman who becomes perplexed and troubled as her life takes multiple turns for the worse. The novel explains how hard work and dedication to her studies helped Esther attain considerable success. Unfortunately, her past struggles and pains propel the woman into a profound state of ennui and discontent. Eventually, she is exiled from society because of her troubled mind. Esther lives the remainder of her life in an asylum, an unfortunate end for someone who showed such promise. In the end, no one can adequately explain the mind of Esther Greenwood, not even herself. It can be said that God alone knew what went on in that woman’s mind†¦ and that was only on a good day.