The Bell Jar Essays (Examples)

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,…

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…

"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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…