The Bell Jar Essays (Examples)

15+ documents containing “the bell jar”.
Sort By:
By Keywords
Reset Filters

Example Essays

Essay
The Bell Jar Shows How Shock Therapy Makes Women Strong
Pages: 7 Words: 2016

How Esther is a Model of a Self-Sufficient Woman in The Bell Jar Introduction
Sylvia Plath’s first person narrator in The Bell Jar comes across as a Holden Caulfield type—a disaffected, somewhat lost, but highly intelligent individual capable of critical thought and therefore exceedingly lonely in a world of conformists, who seem to show no desire to question anything or to know themselves. The narrator of Plath’s novel is Esther Greenwood—a young woman living in New York, a city she loathes. As a result of an acute sense of not being able to fit in anywhere, Esther suffers from depression and tries to kill herself. She ends up receiving a number of shock therapies—such as insulin shock therapy and electroshock therapy—before finally beginning to feel free to be her own person without fear. From a Feminist Criticism perspective, it can be argued that Esther is the model of a strong, independent, self-sufficient…...

Essay
Plath Bell Jar the Life
Pages: 9 Words: 2701

Eventually, Esther sneaks into the cellar with a bottle of sleeping pills -- prescribed to her for the insomnia she was experiencing, without any other real attempts to understand or solve the underlying problems of her mental upset -- having left a note for her mother saying she was taking a long walk. Esther then swallows as many of the pills as she is able, and it appears to be several days (it is never conclusively stated in the text) before she is found and taken to the hospital, where she awakens to learn that she has yet again been unsuccessful.
Following her physical convalescence, Esther is subjected to electroconvulsive therapy, which she notes has a soothing effect on her depression. Things begin to look somewhat better for Esther; she is being well-cared for at a private hospital paid for by a rich benefactress and admirer of Esther's work. The…...

mla

Works Cited

Buell, Frederick. "Sylvia Plath's Traditionalism." Boundary 2-5(1) (1976), pp. 195-212.

Gilson, Bill. "Biography of Sylvia Plath." Accessed 3 April 2010.  http://www.poemhunter.com/sylvia-plath/biography/ 

Liukonnen, Petri. "Sylvia Plath." Accessed 3 April 2010. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/splath.htm

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Harper, 2000.

Essay
Media Selection The Novel of
Pages: 4 Words: 1596

"Doctor Gordon twiddled a silver pencil. "Your mother tells me you are upset." I curled in the cavernous leather chair." (Plath, 1999, p.128) "A few more shock treatments, Mrs. Greenwood," I heard Doctor Gordon say, "and I think you'll notice a wonderful improvement." (Plath, 1999, p.145) Insulin therapies merely make her miserable and gain weight. Only her own bonding with the female psychiatrists on staff, and overcoming her sexual frustrations and hang-ups provides her with some tenuous relief at the conclusion of the book.
Thus, the Bell Jar can be seen as a portrait of a uniquely feminist crisis of the self, of the adolescent self in a normal but fragile and frustrating juncture of development, or of modern psychiatry's inability to deal with such a crisis, except in very ineffectual ways. Esther feels conflict as a woman frustrated to choose between masculine professional ideals and maternity, although upon closer…...

mla

Works Cited

Borgen, William a. And Norman E. Amundson. (2005) "Stages of Adolescent Development." (2005) From Amundson, N.E., Borgen, W.A., & Tench, E. "Personality and intelligence in career education and vocational guidance counseling." In DH Saklofske & M. Zeidner, Editors. International Handbook of Personality and Intelligence. New York: Plenum.

Kaplan, Cora. (1990) "Language and Gender." The feminist critique of language. Routledge: London and New York.

Plath, Sylvia. (1999) the Bell Jar. New York: HarperPerennial.

Plath, Sylvia. (1992) the Collected Poems. New York: HarperPerennial.

Essay
Ambiguity in American Literature
Pages: 3 Words: 1158


Sylvia Plath explores ambiguity from the perspective of a woman living in a man's world in The Bell Jar. Esther receives different messages about who she is and who she wants to be. Society tells her to be the good wife and mother but she never adapts well to this notion. She feels ambivalence toward most of the women she meets and ultimately feels pulled in different directions when it comes to expectations and desires. The conflict Esther experiences results from what society expects from "good girls." The article Mrs. Greenwood sends her exposes the hypocrisy she cannot ignore. The article explains how a "man's world was different than a woman's world and a man's emotions are different than a woman's emotions" (Plath 65). The notion of women being pure as the wind-driven snow and submitting to the will of their husbands becomes more of a burden than anything else…...

mla

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Signet Books. 1952.

Heller, Joseph. Catch 22. New York: Dell Publishing Co. 1961.

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1951.

Essay
Woman Loves Her Father Every Woman Loves
Pages: 3 Words: 1359

oman Loves her Father, Every oman Loves a Fascist:
The Politics and Poetics of Despair in Plath's "Daddy"

Sylvia Plath is one of the most famous poets to emerge in the late 20th century. Partially due to the success of her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, which details her partial recovery from suicidal depression, Plath's poetry has been frequently analyzed through the lens of her clinical mental problems. "Dying is An Art," the critic George Steiner titles of his essay on Plath, referring not only to a line from her poem "Lady Lazarus" but the critical elision of the poet's personal suicidal depression with the source of her confessional poetic gift. For instance, Plath's masterpiece, "Daddy," is a dramatic monologue in the voice of a German woman whose father was a Nazi. Yet despite the 'assumed' nature of "Daddy's" voice and the apparent divergence of poet from the speaker, the poem…...

mla

Works Cited

Plath, Sylvia. "Daddy." From The Norton Introduction to Literature Edited by Jerome

Beaty, et. al. Eighth Edition.

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Harper & Row, 1971.

Howe, Irving. "The Plath Celebration: a Partial Dissent." From The Norton Introduction to Literature Edited by Jerome Beaty, et. al. Eighth Edition.

Essay
Welcome Module's SLP For Module Continue Collect
Pages: 1 Words: 370

Welcome module's SLP. For module, continue collect data days. Is larger sample changing ? Is increasing
The larger sample size is statistically significant in the sense that it helps to complete the projected bell jar curve. A bell curve shape is "an indication of a normal distribution in statistics" (Trochim, 2006). However, it is not changing the mean in any substantial way. The larger sample size simply provides more evidence to reinforce the effect of the bell curve of the data. Since the data reflects independent sampling, which is data that has no effect on one another (Easton & McColl, no date), the larger sample size does not significantly change the mean.

Minutes listening

In order to calculate the mean, I used the following equation:

Mean

X = 72+90+130+180+75+225+300+84+100+150+180+120+62+79+

Mean = 1939 + 15 = 129.266 minutes

These calculations reveal that the mean is slightly decreasing with the additional five days of data. The mean was at…...

mla

Z-Table Calculator, Retrieved November 12, 2008, from  http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/z_table.html 

Z-Table and Standard Normal Distribution, Retrieved November 12, 2008, from  http://www.oswego.edu/~srp/stats/z.htm 

Example of the normal distribution, Retrieved November 12, 2008, from  http://www.ms.uky.edu/~mai/java/stat/GaltonMachine.html

Essay
Plath as Well as an Examination of
Pages: 3 Words: 890

Plat as well as an examination of two of er poems. Tere were tree sources used to complete tis paper.
Her Life

Sylvia Plat spent er sort adult life as a writer. Her works are eld up today as classic pieces of poetry and literature and examined for teir undercurrents as well as teir meanings. Plat was born in 1932 to a professor fater of German descent and an American moter wose parents were of Austria. Her fater ad migrated to te states wen e was 15 years old and e met er moter at a German class tat se took in later years. He was te teacer, se was te student and teir union ended in marriage and te birt of Sylvia (Sylvia Plat (ttp://victorian.fortunecity.com/plat/500/bio2.tm).

Plat was an overaciever er entire life. Se skipped grades in scool and won onors bot academically and socially in er ig scool ventures. Se often…...

mla

http://victorian.fortunecity.com/plath/500/bio2.htm 

Plath, Sylvia. In Plaster. (paperback Books, 1990).

Plath, Sylvia. Mirror. (Paperback Classics 1990).

Essay
Poetry Explication
Pages: 3 Words: 1171

Fern Hill (Dylan Thomas)
The "Poetry Explications" handout from UNC states that a poetry explication is a "relatively short analysis which describes the possible meanings and relationship of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem."

The speaker in "Fern Hill" dramatically embraces memories from his childhood days at his uncle's farm, when the world was innocent; the second part brings out the speaker's loss of innocence and transition into manhood. This explication will identify and critique Thomas' tone, imagery (including metaphors) and expressive language (as it contributes to the power of the poem). ("Fern Hill" uses 6 verse paragraphs; there are 9 lines in each paragraph.)

"Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs / About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green / the night above the dingle starry / time let me hail and climb / golden in the heydays…...

mla

Works Cited

Bible Meanings. (2011). Lamb. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.biblemeanings.info/words/animal/lamb.htm.

Cox, C.B. (1959). Dylan Thomas's 'Fern Hill.' The Critical Quarterly, 1(2), 134-138.

Thomas, Dylan. (2012). Fern Hill. Academy of American Poets. Retrieved December 9, 2012,

from  http://www.poets.org .

Essay
Technology in History
Pages: 8 Words: 2807

Technology [...] food processing in history, and how the development of food processing technologies has altered lives for the better. Food processing, and the healthy, edible food it produces, is taken for granted in today's society. However, in the nineteenth century, fresh food was not normal, and technologies were developed to preserve food, so that more Americans could enjoy fresh, wholesome food year round. It was one of the most important technologies to develop, and it changed the way people ate, drank, and enjoyed their meals.
Before the advent of food processing, fresh food spoiled, it was that simple. In medieval times, people attempted to cover up the smell and taste of tainted food by using fragrant herbs in the cooking and serving process. Even earlier, people used salt to preserve meats, and they used smoking and drying, especially for meats. However, none of these processes was totally satisfactory, and…...

mla

References

Grew, Raymond, ed. Food in Global History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999.

Oliver, John W. History of American Technology. New York: Ronald Press Co., 1956.

Pilato, Denise E. The Retrieval of a Legacy: Nineteenth-Century American Women Inventors. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2000.

Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. History of Food Anthea Bell, trans. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1992.

Essay
Two Artworks from Jomon Period Compared
Pages: 3 Words: 723

History and background This paper will compare two works of art from the Jomon period, that was one of the lasting Neolithic phases in the history of Japan. The name for this period was based off of the “cord markings” which signified the ceramics that were made throughout the period. The people in this era were mainly fishermen or hunters and had semi-sedentary lifestyles with their homes made out of pit primarily surrounded by wide open spaces. The artworks excavated fron this time period provide monumental insights to the history and inclinations of art in this period and how it influenced the times to come, however the artifacts themselves shine very little light on the ethnic structure of the people or their language at the time (Department of Asian Art, 2002).
Jar
The first artifact I chose was titled "Jar". it was a bulbous-shaped bottle that had a very small and narrow brim…...

Essay
Application of a Pedagogic Model to the Teaching of Technology to Special Education Students
Pages: 230 Words: 60754

Pedagogic Model for Teaching of Technology to Special Education Students
Almost thirty years ago, the American federal government passed an act mandating the availability of a free and appropriate public education for all handicapped children. In 1990, this act was updated and reformed as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which itself was reformed in 1997. At each step, the goal was to make education more equitable and more accessible to those with special educational needs. During the last presidential term, the "No Child Left Behind" Act attempted to assure that individuals with disabilities were increasingly mainstreamed and assured of high educational results. All of these legislative mandates were aimed at insuring that children with disabilities were not defrauded of the public education which has become the birthright of all American children. The latest reforms to IDEA, for example, provided sweeping reforms which not only expanded the classification of special needs…...

Essay
Traditional Se Asian Bamboo Flutes
Pages: 95 Words: 28549


Some Chinese researchers assert that Chinese flutes may have evolved from of Indian provenance.

In fact, the kind of side-blon, or transverse, flutes musicians play in Southeast Asia have also been discovered in Africa, India, Saudi Arabia, and Central Asia, as ell as throughout the Europe of the Roman Empire. This suggests that rather than originating in China or even in India, the transverse flute might have been adopted through the trade route of the Silk Road to Asia. In addition to these transverse flutes, Southeast Asians possessed the kind of long vertical flutes; similar to those found in Central Asia and Middle East.

A considerable amount of similarities exist beteen the vertical flutes of Southeast Asia and flutes from Muslim countries. This type of flute possibly came from Persians during the ninth century; during the religious migration to SEA. Likeise, the nose-blon flute culture, common to a number of traditional African…...

mla

works cited:

Purple highlight means reference from his thesis, chapters 1-5

Blue highlight means reference from his raw research that was sent (17 files)

Yellow highlight means that writer could not find reference; one of the 17 files received

Gray highlight means writer found this source

Essay
Emile Zola and Honere De Balzac Were
Pages: 10 Words: 4058

Emile Zola and Honere De Balzac were writers that embraced their century and time period. They wrote comprehensive histories of their respective contemporary societies. Although they share a similar interest in dissecting time throughout their novels, Emile shows a more modern take on time than does Honere De Balzac. In fact, his methodical approach to the social, moral, and sexual landscape of the late nineteenth century proves Zola as the quintessential novelist of modernity. Zola shows this through irregular change in his novels: The Drinking Den, Germinal, La Bete Humaine, Nana, and The Debacle. hereas Balzac, in his work, Le Comedie Humaine, Eugenie Grandet, and Father Goriot, follows an old fashioned classic style of realism that focuses on the upper class. Balzac shows time through detail and structure, Zola through change and dynamic fluidity.
Zola's epic kind of realism is shown through variety and complexity. His characters are all different and…...

mla

Works Cited

Balzac, Honore, and Pierre G. Castex. La Comedie Humaine. Paris: Gallimard, 1976. Print.

Balzac, Honore, and Alexander G.H. Spiers. Eugenie Grandet. Boston: D.C. Heath & Co, 1914. Print.

Balzac, Honore. Father Goriot - the Original Classic Edition. Dayboro: Emereo Pub, 2012. Print.

Bell, David F. Real Time: Accelerating Narrative from Balzac to Zola. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004. Print.

Essay
Fade In 68th Street Between
Pages: 10 Words: 2645


Sam

This is too much. I need to stop before I...Jacob. come in here.

Sam closes the door behind him. Shot of the door closing behind Jacob and Jacob looking as though someone punched him in the crotch.

Jacob

Yeah? What's up? Oh and if you're going to tell me that the cops will find out I did it, this isn't Law and Order okay? it's difficult to catch someone committing a crime unless you're stupid or unlucky.

Sam

We need to talk. Look man, it's not fun anymore. I...want out.

Scene 5: "Warning": Jacob goes to the Boss's office in the upper west side, 86th street. The receptionist tells him to go inside and he closes the door behind him. The mustachioed boss clasps his hands while turning off the flatscreen.

Jacob

Hey boss, I had a bit of a problem doing a deal in the Bronx.

The Boss

What kind of problem? Did the customer not pay?

Jacob

I accidentally killed…...

mla

References

Huang, G., Jain, V., Learned-Miller, E.: Unsupervised joint alignment of complex images. in: International Conference on Computer Vision, pp. 1 -- 8 (2007)

Ramanan, D., Baker, S., Kakade, S.: Leveraging archival video for building face datasets. in: International Conference on Computer Vision, pp. 1 -- 8 (2007)

Laptev, I., Marsza-ek, M., Schmid, C., Rozenfeld, B.: Learning realistic human actions from movies. in: IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (2008),  http://lear.inrialpes.fr/pubs/2008/LMSR08 

Sivic, J., Everingham, M., Zisserman, a.: Person spotting: video shot retrieval for face sets. in: Leow, W.-K., Lew, M., Chua, T.-S., Ma, W.-Y., Chaisorn, L., Bakker, E.M. (eds.) CIVR 2005. LNCS, vol. 3568, Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

Essay
Rise and Fall of Chaco Canyon
Pages: 9 Words: 2403

Anasazi civilization developed and prospered in the Four Corners region between 1 AD and 1300 AD and left precious traces of a swelling and prosperous civilization. Pottery, baskets, ornaments, tolls and especially architectural achievements (including "apartment-house style villages")- all were elements characterizing this civilization.
Anasazi in Navajo means "the ancient ones" or "the ancient enemies" and the Anasazis were the ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians that live nowadays in New Mexico and Arizona. The several centers of Anasazi civilization included Northern San Juan, Chaco, Kayenta, Virgin, and Rio Grande, directions in which the Anasazi population and civilization spread and created a local community.

Historical evolution

The archeological evidence discovered in the area proves that the Anasazi first moved into the area and into the southern Colorado Plateau some time at the beginning of the 1st millennium, that is, around 1 AD. The local population of the time became a "settled, agricultural…...

mla

Bibliography

1. Burley, Jon Bryan. Anasazi Site Planning: Historic Precedents, Modern Constructs, and Multi-cultural Dynamics. 1995. On the Internet at http://www.ssc.msu.edu/~laej/historypapers/Burley3/Burley3text.html

 http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/chacocanyon.html 

 http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/rothko/140/chaco.html 

  http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/1942/h_gold_4.htmlhttp://www.co.blm.gov/ahc/anasazi.htm#farm 

Q/A
What makes a title truly captivating and memorable in good writing?
Words: 884

The Art of Captivating Titles

In the realm of good writing, a title is more than just a label; it is a captivating first impression that can entice readers to delve into the depths of your work. A truly memorable title has the power to resonate with an audience, spark curiosity, and set the tone for the journey that lies ahead. Crafting such a title requires a delicate balance of intrigue, brevity, and relevance to the content. Here are the key elements that contribute to the allure of a captivating title:

1. Enigmatic Allure

Titles that hint at a deeper meaning or....

Q/A
How does societal pressure impact Esther Greenwood\'s mental health in The Bell Jar?
Words: 486

I. Introduction
A. Background information on The Bell Jar and its author, Sylvia Plath
B. Brief summary of the novel and its protagonist, Esther Greenwood
C. Thesis statement: The societal pressure depicted in The Bell Jar negatively impacts Esther Greenwood's mental health.
II. Society's Expectations for Women in the 1960s
A. Description of societal norms and expectations for women during the 1960s
B. Analysis of how these expectations influence Esther's perception of herself and her place in society
III. Pressure to Succeed Academically and Professionally
A. Discussion of the pressure placed on Esther to excel in her academic and professional pursuits
B.....

Q/A
How does societal pressure impact Esther Greenwood\'s mental health in The Bell Jar?
Words: 462

Societal Pressure's Impact on Esther Greenwood's Mental Health in The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath's semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, delves into the mental health struggles of protagonist Esther Greenwood as she navigates a society that places immense pressure on young women. Societal expectations, gender roles, and conformity shape Esther's journey, exacerbating her anxiety and depression.
1. Societal Expectations for Women
In the post-World War II era depicted in the novel, women were expected to conform to a traditional ideal of domesticity and motherhood. Esther feels immense pressure to achieve societal success and marry a suitable man. This weight on her shoulders creates an....

Q/A
\"Have you ever felt the bittersweet pain of transitioning into adulthood?\"
Words: 242

1. The weight of the adult world pressed down on me like an anvil, its complexities and burdens weighing heavily on my youthful shoulders.

2. As the veil of childhood lifted, I was greeted not by the promised paradise but by a labyrinth of responsibilities and disillusionments.

3. The transition into adulthood was akin to navigating a treacherous river, the currents of reality threatening to sweep me away.

4. Like a chrysalis struggling to emerge from its cocoon, I wrestled with the growing pains of shedding my youthful innocence and embracing the complexities of the adult world.

5. The bittersweet pangs of maturation gnawed....

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now