The Bell Jar Short Summary

The story by Sylvia Plath focuses on Esther, a college student, and her struggles with issues in life. As the novel begins, the reader encounters Esther as a young woman that is full of life’s successes. With the internship from the fashion magazine, she is spending time in New York. Esther and 10 of her colleagues explore the city of New York and attend numerous parties.

However, the exploration ends on a bad note as a man assaults Esther. In the process, the man wipes some blood on Esther’s face. That makes her feel bad. She throws off all her clothes as a sign that her exploration of New York is over, and she wants to return to her normal life. Esther forgets to leave a cloth for her journey back. One of the friends gives her clothing. She does not wipe the blood off her face so that it can act as a reminder to her.

The rejection from joining the writing college that she was looking forward to leaves her broken. She does not have any other plans for the summer. She finds living with her mother hard because they do not agree on many issues. She even finds it hard to write a novel and soon falls into depression.

Esther no longer takes hygiene and does not wash her clothes. It gets to a point where she begins thinking of the most suitable method of committing suicide. She is taken to hospital after several attempts at committing suicide.

Before she begins to recover, Esther experiences many lows. Things get hard at some point. However, she finally gets better and can face life more confidently. The story moves from success, failure, and back to success. The plot is straightforward as there are no twists.