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    The Bell Jar Guided Notes

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    S M
    This document contains guided notes and discussion questions about The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It explores themes like [1] the importance of confessional writing and seeing oneself in literature, [2] the symbolism of the bell jar, [3] comparisons between mental healthcare from the 1950s depicted in the novel and modern times, and [4] biographical connections between the author Plath's own life and her semi-autobiographical main character Esther. Students are prompted to analyze Plath's life experiences of being a wife, mother and writer in relation to Esther's journey in the story.

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    The Bell Jar Guided Notes

    Uploaded by

    S M
    143 views4 pages
    This document contains guided notes and discussion questions about The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It explores themes like [1] the importance of confessional writing and seeing oneself in literature, [2] the symbolism of the bell jar, [3] comparisons between mental healthcare from the 1950s depicted in the novel and modern times, and [4] biographical connections between the author Plath's own life and her semi-autobiographical main character Esther. Students are prompted to analyze Plath's life experiences of being a wife, mother and writer in relation to Esther's journey in the story.

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    This document contains guided notes and discussion questions about The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It explores themes like [1] the importance of confessional writing and seeing oneself in literature, [2] the symbolism of the bell jar, [3] comparisons between mental healthcare from the 1950s depicted in the novel and modern times, and [4] biographical connections between the author Plath's own life and her semi-autobiographical main character Esther. Students are prompted to analyze Plath's life experiences of being a wife, mother and writer in relation to Esther's journey in the story.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    143 views4 pages

    The Bell Jar Guided Notes

    Uploaded by

    S M
    This document contains guided notes and discussion questions about The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It explores themes like [1] the importance of confessional writing and seeing oneself in literature, [2] the symbolism of the bell jar, [3] comparisons between mental healthcare from the 1950s depicted in the novel and modern times, and [4] biographical connections between the author Plath's own life and her semi-autobiographical main character Esther. Students are prompted to analyze Plath's life experiences of being a wife, mother and writer in relation to Esther's journey in the story.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    The Bell Jar; Guided Notes & Lecture Responses

    1. Why do you think the confessional


    writing style is important? Is it
    important for readers to be able to
    see themselves in literature?

    2. React to TedX video "Why Should


    You Read Sylvia Plath"

    3. Why are female characters like


    Esther so important to explore?
    Would Esther be considered a rebel
    today?

    4. In what ways has society placed bell


    jars on us? Jot down your response
    in this bell jar drawing and share
    your responses during discussion.

    5. Plath once wrote in a letter, "I've


    gone around for most of my life as in
    the rarefied atmosphere under a bell
    jar." Is this the main meaning of the
    novel's bell jar? Examine what other
    meanings the bell jar may have on
    an individual and greater level?

    6. Has psychiatric care improved in


    modern day? Compare and contrast
    the current medical field to the one
    described here from the 1950s.
    7. “I saw my life branching out before
    me like the green fig tree in the
    story. From the tip of every branch,
    like a fat purple fig, a wonderful
    future beckoned and winked. One fig
    was a husband and a happy home
    and children, and another fig was a
    famous poet and another fig was a
    brilliant professor, and another fig
    was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and
    another fig was Europe and Africa
    and South America, and another fig
    was Constantin and Socrates and
    Attila and a pack of other lovers
    with queer names and offbeat
    professions, and another fig was an
    Olympic lady crew champion, and
    beyond and above these figs were
    many more figs I couldn't quite
    make out. 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. I wanted each and
    every one of them, but choosing one
    meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat
    there, unable to decide, the figs
    began to wrinkle and go black, and,
    one by one, they plopped to the
    ground at my feet" (Plath, 61).

    8. “I saw the days of the year


    stretching ahead like a series of
    bright, white boxes, and separating
    one box from another was sleep, like
    a black shade. Only for me, the long
    perspective of shades that set off
    one box from the next day had
    suddenly snapped up, and I could
    see day after day after day glaring
    ahead of me like a white, broad,
    infinitely desolate avenue.”
    (Plath, 128).
    9. “What do you have in mind after you
    graduate?" What I always thought I
    had in mind was getting some big
    scholarship to graduate school or a
    grant to study all over Europe, and
    then I thought I'd be a professor and
    write books of poems or write books
    of poems and be an editor of some
    sort. Usually I had these plans on the
    tip of my tongue. "I don't really
    know," I heard myself say. I felt a
    deep shock, hearing myself say that,
    because the minute I said it, I knew
    it was true" (Plath 18).

    10. Activity of the Day


    The Bell Jar is a semi
    autobiographical novel with striking
    similarities to Sylvia Plath's own life.
    The book mirrored so much of her
    that she used the pen name
    "Victoria Lucas" to avoid being
    identified.
    Analyze Plath's real life and examine
    the biographical aspects of her
    within this novel. Examine Plath as
    the wife, the mother, and the writer.
    What was her "bell jar" in life and
    how does this compare to Esther's?
    Feel free to get creative with this
    assignment. Draw out a bell jar and
    present your findings inside your
    bell jar.

    11. List your findings on Sylvia Plath's


    life. You must have at least 10 bullet
    points in order to receive credit for
    this section

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