What does /lit/ think of The Bell Jar? I haven't read any Plath prior to this novel and I honestly don't know much about her as a writer.
Although it's semi-autobiographical and seems to be following a subject I have no interest in what so ever, fashion. It's still managing to keep me entertained and rustled about how much of a fucking eejit Plath is and how she seems to shift blame from herself to everyone around her.
It has a clear and articulate understanding of depression, which many writers have tried and failed to capture. For that I have to give Plath credit. But story-wise, the novel really betrays itself at the end with the wholeI'm gonna kill myself, but wait this other undeveloped character killed herself first, I guess I'm not gonna kill myself now.
>>7836780
>fucking eejit Plath is and how she seems to shift blame from herself to everyone around her.
wowee have you heard of this thing called depression?
>>7836812
Oh I'd totally agree that she captures depression well. it's kind of subtle unlike a lot of authors who scream THE CHARACTER / I AM DEPRESSED!
also I haven't finished it so i shalt not read the spoiler tag.
>>7836812
It's actually kind of important thematically that the character doesn't kill herself at the end.
All through the novel, she sets high and romantic expectations for every experience. She's going to go to New York and hang out with editors and fashionistas and other poets? Turns out that that's really more about throwing up bad seafood and everybody in the industry is either a total bitch or a vapid moron. So she goes home to hang out with her boyfriend, but he's a massive lunkhead and she hates him. No wait, she'll go back to school and write on James Joyce, but, whoopsie, it looks like Finnegans Wake is harder than she realized. So she's going to write a novel, but that doesn't really pan out.
So instead she decides she's going to kill herself, and she crawls under her house and swallows a bottle of pills, but instead of falling asleep peacefully, she wakes up and she's all purple and green and ugly. Time to go to the mental asylum, where they're going to torture her with some One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest business, and that must be "the worst thing in the world", and for a while it is, until they actually do it right, and then it's just calming. She she figures, hey time to lose my virginity, I bet it'll be great to get railed by a 6/10 boy with a big dick and a bunch of experience, but nope, she just bleeds all over her carpet and doesn't get off.
When this character kicks the crapper, Sylvia's self-insert doesn't really care. She feels a little bit glum for a minute or two, and then numb, and then forgets. She'd been imagining suicide as a great fanfare or a quiet passing when in reality it's neither. Ya get it?
>>7836780
AMERIFAT Selfish cunt //
>>7836873
Not American nor fat, but thanks for the input!
>>7836780
If you are still into her stuff you should definitely give Ariel a look, I tend to go back and read it often, its not bad.
>>7836872
I hadn't thought of it like that before. Thanks Anon. :)
>>7836780
I enjoyed it. It was interesting to read about how a woman thinks (even if it was a dramatization). I also liked her use of metaphors (fig tree, bell jar etc.). The mc seemed relatable even if I'm not a rebellious and depressed young woman.
