Plot Analysis of "The Bell Jar"
Plot Analysis of "The Bell Jar"
The Bell Jar takes place during fifties and begins in New York City, during a summer in which the narrator, Esther Greenwood, is an intern at a fashion magazine after winning a scholarship. She soon becomes friends with Doreen, a fellow scholarship winner who is kind of cynical. Doreen out takes Esther for drinks, where they meet several men, including Lenny Shepherd, a disc jockey. Esther and Doreen go back to Lenny's apartment, where Doreen and Lenny progressively become more intimate and even somewhat violent with each other. Esther flees the apartment to return to her hotel, where she only wishes to forget the experience that night. Later that night, Lenny brings Doreen back to the hotel, where Esther cares for her despite that she will no longer associate with Doreen.
The next day, Esther attends a banquet for Ladies Day, the magazine where she works, and afterward her editor, Jay Cee, asks Esther what she plans to do after graduating from college. Esther is unsure, and Jay Cee reprimands her for such an indecisive attitude. Still, Jay Cee reassures Esther and tells her "don't let the wicked city get you down." After going to a movie with the other interns, all of them begin to feel sick and fall ill from food poisoning from the morning banquet. Only Doreen remains healthy, because she did not attend the banquet.
Mrs. Willard, the mother of Buddy Willard, a Yale student whom Esther had been seeing, arranges for Esther to meet with Constantin, an interpreter at the United Nations. Esther now hates Buddy for his hypocrisy and condescending attitude, particularly since he expects Esther to be pure despite his affair with a waitress during a previous...