By Sylvia Plath
I must say, I usually find the books to read from various sources. Sometimes, it is the goodreads, or it is the instagram, or it is my friends’ recommendation. This book’s inspiration was interestingly drawn from a series called Sex Education. I like one of the characters in the series, Maeve. She is one of those people who read a lot of books that instill feministic and philosophical thoughts and she is so drawn to the literary side. So, one of the books she talks about was the Bell Jar.
Anyway, the last book that I read was Darius the great deserves better. Darius was diagnosed with depression, and at this time of the world, it is no more a taboo or a sickness, it is understood and treated like any other disease with dignity, except in few cultures. And to my surprise, the Bell Jar was also about depression (because I didn’t know it at first), but it portrays a totally different light on the topic.
When everyone was talking how even if the Bell Jar was written in 1963, it is relatable till date, I had my suspicions. I thought, it might be so exciting for some and it would not be that great at this time.
But I was completely surprised how every word Sylvia writes are so true and relatable. She has written her first novel based on her own life. She also suffered from depression and she died by suicide. While all this is very sad on the outlook, Sylvia makes us feel every bit of it with her words. She shows the pain she suffered with the beautiful writing she has got.
The more hopeless you were, the further away they hid you.
Esther Greenword is doing her internship with a New York fashion magazine. She is an academically excellent student, she goes on receiving scholarships after scholarships. All she knows is to study hard and the narrative that life will be better, once you do that. She tries and works hard, but when she realises the bell jar pressing on her, she feels this emptiness, that Sylvia makes sure the reader understands.
There are certain societal norms. She lives by them very diligently without her seriously trying. When she finally scrutinizes all the things about her life, do they make any sense? Is it ever going to be really making sense?
The silence depressed me. It wasn't the silence of silence. It was my own silence.
How she views her dating life to be pointless and all the confusions she has about being a partner to a man do make a lot of sense, even till date. Some things about the plight of women, sadly make sense even after half a century.
The fig tree passage, yes, when I read it for the first time, I just loved it. And the same way, everyone who I came across was so impressed by it, that it, on its own stands as an extraordinary writing piece. The way Sylvia compares life with a simple tree, every choice of the word, is truly remarkable.
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 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.
Bell Jar is a must-read book, for so many reasons.
- The true take on the depression and how it really makes the mind clueless and suffocating, inspite of the awareness.
- The life of a woman, when all she does is trying to make a living for herself and all she can do is toll hard, yet to be noticed barely, especially when in 1963.
- How some questions are never really answered and sometimes the ignorance makes sense, because the answers seldom make sense.
- Just to admire Sylvia’s writing and nothing else.
It is a timeless novel. Please let me know what you think of it.
Rating: 4.9/5
Featured image courtesy: surveymonkey
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