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The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
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Has anyone read this? It's on my A Level Literature syllabus and it's the most boring, depressing drivel I've ever had to read.
At first I was just a bit bored but convinced it would pick up. Then I thought the story was going somewhere but no, it lacked a point. The big event that finished the novel was that some girl with no real significance to the story at all hanged herself. Woo.
Why put something so crap on the syllabus alongside a much better novel like One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest?
At first I was just a bit bored but convinced it would pick up. Then I thought the story was going somewhere but no, it lacked a point. The big event that finished the novel was that some girl with no real significance to the story at all hanged herself. Woo.
Why put something so crap on the syllabus alongside a much better novel like One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest?
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Well, it's a long time since I read it and it certainly isn't the most cheerful read on the planet, but comparing Plath to Kesey isn't really comparing like for like. That said I've never heard 'The Bell Jar' described as drivel. Maybe you should think about getting hold of a copy of Plath's 'Letter's Home' or try 'Johnnie Panic and the Bible of Dreams' or a collection of her poetry (she was principally a poet) to try and create a reference for 'The Bell Jar'. I'm not suggesting you'll like Plath's only novel any better, but you might understand it more clearly. You may have been given 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' and 'The Bell Jar' on the same syllabus because they both deal with the nature of isolation in very different ways. Good luck.
well said, you need to have a rounded view of her as a person, particularly if it is for study purposes, to understand the Bell Jar. Definitely the Letters Home will illuminate it for you.
I think the OP would do better to get a decent book of study notes on it to explain to him/her the points he/she is missing out on. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a far more accessible book which may be why you warmed to it more immediately.
It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.
Notes on it here:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/belljar/section1.html
(There's a programme on about the Rosenbergs on BBC4 tonight; nothing to do with the Bell Jar but in case anyone's interested and doesn't know!).
Oooh I read a great book about the Rosenbergs years ago, wish I could remember what it was called.
I do like Plath's poetry though and "You're" is one of my favourites
Death & Co.
Two, of course there are two.
It seems perfectly natural now ---
The one who never looks up, whose eyes are lidded
And balled¸ like Blake's.
Who exhibits
The birthmarks that are his trademark ---
The scald scar of water,
The nude
Verdigris of the condor.
I am red meat. His beak
Claps sidewise: I am not his yet.
He tells me how badly I photograph.
He tells me how sweet
The babies look in their hospital
Icebox, a simple
Frill at the neck
Then the flutings of their Ionian
Death-gowns.
Then two little feet.
He does not smile or smoke.
The other does that
His hair long and plausive
Bastard
Masturbating a glitter
He wants to be loved.
I do not stir.
The frost makes a flower,
The dew makes a star,
The dead bell,
The dead bell.
Somebody's done for.
I really don't see why I should read about Plath's life to appreciate the book though, doesn't that in itself make it an empty novel? I've read books about things I have absolutely no interest or knowledge in and i've come away feeling at least some empathy for the protagonist and a desire to find out more about the author or the situation/events they were writing about. I felt none of that with the bell jar.
I've got it down from the shelf to read it again though, just in case I missed something
I recommend getting the Collected Poems, if you can: Crossing the Water and Winter Trees are equally, if not better, than Ariel. However, if you want to check out some of her poetry for free, here's a good link: http://www.angelfire.com/tn/plath/. It has about 200 or so of her poems, (although quite a few of them are juvenilia.)
You're
Clownlike, happiest on your hands,
Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,
Gilled like a fish. A common-sense
Thumbs-down on the dodo's mode.
Wrapped up in yourself like a spool,
Trawling your dark as owls do.
Mute as a turnip from the Fourth
Of July to All Fool's Day,
O high-riser, my little loaf.
Vague as fog and looked for like mail.
Farther off than Australia.
Bent-backed Atlas, our travelled prawn.
Snug as a bud and at home
Like a sprat in a pickle jug.
A creel of eels, all ripples.
Jumpy as a Mexican bean.
Right, like a well-done sum.
A clean slate, with your own face on.
Trawl around on-line, you'll probably find some you can print or read
Why would having background information make a novel empty? It just creates perspective and framework. Strangely, I don't like her poetry, but I really liked her 'Letters Home' and 'Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams'.
I think its empty because people are saying you'd get more from the novel if you read background info on Plath first. I appreciate that a greater understanding of the topic of a novel can make it richer but imo a good novel should be a stand alone book.
I probably didn't make myself clear, sorry
Be thankful you don't have The Mill On The Floss by George Elliot on your syllabus like I did.. Now that is rubbish!
Well, I obviously didn't make myself clear either. I said that the OP, who was struggling with The Bell Jar, might have a better understanding of it if they'd a better understanding of the writer. I didn't say they'd get more from the book or even like it, they just might be able to see why it was on the syllabus along with 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' - undoubtedly one of the great American novels of the late 20th century. 'Letters Home' shows clearly that Plath never thought of herself as a novelist and so it's hard to assess her in the same light as Kesey.
Undoubtedly I'll be doing more work on the novel and author for study purposes (we haven't even started work on it yet), but based on this novel I don't think I'll enjoy it. I think I remember something from years ago that she gassed herself in her oven? Nice.
Maybe I like Kesey better because he's a proper stoner and I can identify with him :P I'm totally wasted as I speak... type... whatever, but it is my 18th so I have an excuse.