hopperbelljar The Bell Jar
  By Sylvia Plath



The Bell Jar Vocabulary

Peremptory- Not allowing contradiction or refusal; imperative.

Matronly-  A married woman or a widow, especially a mother of dignity, mature age.

Awning- A roof-like structure, often made of canvas or plastic, that serves as a shelter, as over a storefront, window, door, or deck.

Placid- Undisturbed by tumult or disorder; calm or quiet.

Disheveled- To loosen and let fall (hair or clothing) in disarray.

Disdainful- Expressive of disdain; scornful and contemptuous.

Cadaverous- Suggestive of death; corpselike.

Maxims- A succinct formulation of a fundamental principle, general truth, or  rule of conduct.

Surreptitiously- Acting with or marked by stealth.

Riveted- 1. To fasten or secure finely; fix. 2. To engross or hold (the attention, for example).

The Bell Jar Characters

1.) Lenny Shepherd is a suave, popular disc jockey in New York that is dating Esther's friend Doreen.

2.) Frankie is a short, squat little filthy man that Lenny tries to hook Esther up with.

3.) Esther Greenwood is the main character (Sylvia Plath) who is emotionally distraught. Throughout the book she tries to kill herself and commit suicide.

4.) Doreen is a wild party girl who is Esther's best friend in New York who is dating Lenny. #1

5.) Jay Cee is the editor of the fashion magazine, Ladies Day, who is Esther's boss. She is strict, brainy, and a work-a-holic who tries to push Esther into the magazine business.

6.) Buddy Willard is a Tuberculosis patient who is in love with Esther and does stuff for her, but Esther doesn't love him.

7.) Betsy is a peppy, up-beat Polyanna Cowgirl with a sweet-heart-of-sigma-chi smile.

8.) Constantine is a UN interpreter who Esther has a fling with in New York because of his intuition.

9.) George Bakewell is the houseman of the hospital Esther is at and goes to her church. He wants to see her because he wants to see what a crazy girl who would try to kill herself looks like.

10.) Marco is a man that Esther met at a country club and bought her a drink. He tried to rape her and he is emotionally distraught because he is in love with his cousin who is a nun.

11.) Teresa is Esther's aunt's sister-in-law who is their family doctor. She is fond of Esther and sends her to a psychiatrist named doctor Gordon.

12.) Doctor Gordon is a psychiatrist who Esther goes to see. Esther doesn't like Doctor Gordon because he is to pretty and has a pretty family and not what she expected him to look like.

13.) Cal is a guy that Jody hooked her up with on the beach. Esther was disappointed with Cal because when she asked him if he had ever thought of killing himself he said, "blow my brains out with a gun" (Plath 156).

14.) Doctor Noland is Esther's last doctor who helps her overcome her depression.

15.) Joan is a college friend of Esther's.  Joan is Esther's nextdoor nieghbor at the mental institute at which she finds herself.  Joan is a lesbian with a slight crush on Esther.  Joan kills herself in Chapter 20.  Joan is a symbolic representation of Esther Greenwood.

16). Irwin - A young college professor whom Esther becomes 'physical' with.

17). Philomena Guinea - Rich novelist who is Esther's benifactor.
 
The Bell Jar Summary

Chapter 1: Esther worries about the soon to be executed Rosenbergs. She works for a magazine company and lives in a hotel with eleven other girls. Esther is friends with Doreen and Betsy. While Doreen and Esther are in a cab Lenny, a stranger, asks them if they want to go and have a few drinks with him in the bar. So they go. While at the bar Lenny invites them to his apartment and they leave.

Chapter 2: Esther, Lenny, and Doreen are at his apartment, which is decorated with a country/cowboy style. They all have a few more drinks and Lenny and Doreen play around with each other. Esther just sits there alone and watches. She decides to leave and walks all the way home. Later on at night Doreen comes knocking at her door and Esther leaves her right outside her door.

Chapter 3: Esther goes to a luncheon. She is not used to all that really good food so she eats a ton of food. She goes home and her boss, Jay Cee, calls her into the office. Jay Cee asks her if she enjoys her job and Esther says that she does. She also asks Esther what she wants to do with her life, and Esther does not know. She tells Jay Cee she might want to be a publisher. Jay Cee tells her she must take a foreign language. Esther doesn't have time for a foreign language class, so she thinks up the lie she told her chemistry teacher to get out of chemistry class.

Chapter 4: Esther is talking to Jay Cee. She gives her some stories to write about and then sends her to the banquet. Esther's mom wants her to learn shorthand. Esther's father died when she was at a young age and it was hard for her mom to support the family. While at the banquet, they decide to go to a movie and during the movie they all feel sick and decide to go home. Esther throws up in the cab, and in the hotel. She passes out after vomiting so much and the nurse puts her to bed. When Esther wakes up later on Doreen tells her that they all had food poisoning.

Chapter 5: Esther gets a call from Constantine, he is a UN interpreter and asks if she wants to join him for lunch. He is a friend of Mrs. Willard. Esther thinks of Buddy. Buddy wants to marry Esther but she does not want to marry him. Esther reads a story about a fig tree and how a nun and a Jewish man used to meet under it all the time. But one day the nun did not return because their relationship could never work. Esther felt that this was how her and Buddy's relationship was. He wrote her more letters saying that he thinks that they can get along. She gets upset and does not want to be with him. She remembers when they first met and about the junior prom they went to.

Chapter 6:  Buddy Willard takes Esther to the hospital. While there, she witnessed Mrs. Tomolillo giving birth. Afterwards, she finds out that Buddy is not as "clean" as her mother and grandmother have said he is.

Chapter 7:  She meets and goes out with Constantine, who works for the UN. They go out and she goes to his apartment and falls asleep on his bed. When she wakes up, Constantine takes her home.

Chapter 8:  She thinks back to when she was in the Adirondacks visiting Buddy and she broke her leg. Buddy convinced Esther to go skiing where she lost control and broke her leg.

Chapter 9: Esther starts to cry for no reason while getting her picture taken right before she and the other girls were going to leave the magazine. Doreen hooks her up with a guy named Marco, who hated just about every woman he met. Later in their date, Marco tries to rape her, but she gets away from him.

Chapter 10:  She returns home with her mother. She starts to write a novel while at home because she can't sleep. She starts to take sleeping pills, but that isn't enough, so she is told to go see Dr. Gordon.

Chapter 11: Esther meets Dr. Gordon and she thinks that he is perfect. She isn't sleeping, eating, or reading. Esther meets a sailor and she says her name is Elly Higginbottom She goes back to Dr. Gordon and the doctor tells her mother that Esther should have shock treatments at a hospital in Walton.

Chapter 12: Dr. Gordon gives Esther the shock treatment and afterwards she said she is doing fine but when she is in the car with her mom she said she's never going to see him again. She locks herself in the bathroom and turns the hot water on to open her veins but she only cuts herself in the knee.

Chapter 13: Esther meets Cal, w~ is one of Jody's boyfriend's friend. They go to the beach. Esther and Cal talk about ways to kill themselves. Esther said drowning is the most painless and burning is the most painful. Esther tries to drown herself in the water with Cal there but she fails. She volunteers at a hospital and she begins to take pills 1 by 1 until she drops the bottle and lays down.

Chapter 14: Esther is taken to a hospital for the pills and then she is transferred to another ward where she meets Mrs. Tomolillo. Mrs. Tomolillo says she is there because of her French-Canadian mother-in-law.

Chapter 15: A lady named Philomena Guinea reads about Esther's case in a Boston paper. She transfers
Esther to a private ward called Chap Ian. Dr. Nolan is her new doctor. Esther said she disliked the shock treatment and Dr. Nolan said she wouldn't do it or if she did then she would tell her first. Esther meets Mrs. Norris who is in the room next door; she also meets a girl named Valerie.

Chapter 16:  Joan explains how she winds up in the asylum. The reason why Joan is in the asylum is that she reads about Esther in the newspaper. Joan reads that Esther disappeared with the pills. This encourages Joan to go to New York and commit suicide by attempting to slit her wrist by shoving them through a window. Esther then has a bad reaction to the insulin treatments she received. Esther hates her mother. She says she does not want to see her anymore.

Chapter 17: Esther was moved from Caplan to Belsize. Since Belsize did not have shock treatments, Esther was pleased with moving. Esther was hurt that Dr. Nolan did not warn her about the morning's treatment, but Dr. Nolan calms her and takes her to the treatment personally.

Chapter 18: Esther's "Bell Jar" had been lifted as she goes outside with Dr. Nolan and breathes the fresh air. Buddy Willard writes to Esther saying he wanted to come and visit. Joan liked Buddy's family more than she liked Buddy. Esther asks Dr. Nolan want women see in each other.

Chapter 19: Esther is out so lose her virginity. She meets a math professor names Irwin. They go back to his apartment. Esther expects to feel different, but instead she realizes she is bleeding. She is rushed to the hospital where she is treated. The next day in the paper, she reads that Joan had hung herself in the woods.

Chapter 20: Esther goes back to college in the winter. She meets Buddy again and helps him dig his car out of the snow. She makes Irwin pay for her hospital bill. Esther finally feels free. She goes in front of a group of doctors at Belsize do see if she can be released. She says that one day that "The Bell Jar" will descend upon her once again.
Last updated  2008/09/28 01:13:30 PDTHits  3058