Who is Sylvia Plath?
Sylvia Plath was an American poet and author. She suffered from depression and eventually committed suicide. Plath is remembered for her intense poems such as “Daddy and Mirror,” but is also remembered for her powerful novel, The Bell Jar. The Bell Jar, originally published in 1963, was Sylvia Plath’s only published novel and is considered an American classic. The Bell Jar is, at least partly, autobiographical and Plath delves into the depression and angst of her own adolescence through the character of Esther. Esther wins a contest to be a guest editor for a big New York magazine and after that, Esther decides she must become a writer. Through her focus on pursuing the career of her dreams, Esther questions, and sometimes does not question, her own views of morality and her own behavior. The Bell Jar takes a dark, honest look at a talented youth who is trying to understand who she is. Through the character of Esther, Plath studies society’s responses to ambition in women as opposed to
