Research Paper (The Bell Jar) - CM1135

Writing my final paper for this course was difficult but proved to be interesting at the same time . In my research i discovered a lot about Sylvia Plath and her literary work. I have to say she is my favourite writer. I've now read a variety for works by Plath however, my favourite of Plath's works is The Bell Jar.

I loved this book because in conducting my research I discovered that this novel is based off of Sylvia Plath's life. Esther Greenwood is Sylvia Plath. So in reading the novel without realising it you are basically reading a biography of Sylvia Plath through the fictional character of Esther Greenwood. It is amazing how similar Esther Greenwood and Sylvia Plath are. First of all they were both straight A student in college and both went to college on a scholarship provided by a wealthy older woman.  Both of them had also lost their father, had unsatisfactory relationships with men and spent the summer of 1953 doing an internship for a magazine in New York. After they had finished their internship both had learned that they did not make their summer course that they had been hoping to get into which was one of the factors that lead them into depression. Sylvia and Esther both attempted suicide with pills but were unsuccessful and were hospitalised afterwards where they were treated with EST. Esther was later released into society where her future was uncertain however Plath took her own life about a decade after the release of the novel. In conducting my research this is what I discovered about the similarities between Esther Greenwood and Sylvia Plath.

Doing research for my final paper - CM1135

Research Paper

          Finding useful information for my final paper has been one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. One would think that writing the research paper would be the most difficult part of finishing a research paper I don’t find that to be true. It took me at least two hours to find my three academic journals for my paper. Finding academic journals that you can extract at least a little useful information from is often times a nightmare. Most are extremely complicated and hard to understand. After you’ve read through them then you have to try and figure out what parts will be useful to include in your paper.

          After I had found three academic journals I then had to find three other sources that would provide me with useful information. This took about another hour. After picking through all six of my sources I had to begin writing my paper and this involved jumping back and forth from source to source. One thing I’ve learned is that the one perfect source that you’re hoping to find that will include all the information, or at least most of the information that you need is never there.

          My paper is due today and I’ve finally finished after three long days of writing and editing. Next time I write a paper I will not leave finding my sources to the last minute. It took me a day to write the paper and twice as long just to find my information. I would recommend anyone who writing a research paper to start the research process at least two weeks prior to the due date.

The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)

            One reason why The Bell Jar is so interesting is because it is based almostentirely off the life of Sylvia Plath. Sylvia was born to Otto and Auriela Plath. Plath was more advanced than most children her age. She learned to speak much Earlier than most children and by the time Plath was five years old she was already writing complete poems. Plath’s father passed away on November 5^th, 1940. After shelearned of her father’s death eight year old Plath said that she would never speak to God again. Sylvia was sad, angry and grieving at the same time. It seemed that Plath never truly got over the death of her father and was angry at him for leaving her. Plath was an amazing writer and wrote many works while she was alive. Two of herworks that I am most familiar with are her poem Daddy and her novel The Bell Jar. Once you are familiar with Sylvia Plath’s biography you can easily link these works to her own life. Sylvia is no longer alive today as she took her own life by sealing herself in the kitchen, turning on the gas in the oven and keeling in front of it where she was later found by a nurse and a construction worker.

The Bell Jar

My favourite novel this semester was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I did enjoy a couple of the others but this one surpassed all of the other novels in the course for a variety of reasons. First of all you can't help but become interested in the character of Esther Greenwood. Whether you love or hate her you will always want to know what is going to happen next. The novel is also extremely easy to read. Unlike Mrs.Dalloway for example, the novel is not hard to understand. Anyone can simply pick up The Bell Jar and understand it as soon as they begin reading. After reading through most of the novel the reader quickly becomes used to Esther's strange behaviour. I find it interesting how Plath was able to write the novel in such a way that Esther's strange behaviour eventually seemed normal to the readers. I loved this novel, it was not only my favourite novel this semester but, the my favourite novel of all time.