the bell jar -sylvia plath

I have a lot to say about sylvia plath, or more so her husband, the demon that is ted hughes. normally I would not focus on a man when talking about a woman’s work but I hate him with my entirety. I do. hes the reason she stuck her head in an oven. oh and guess what? the woman whom he cheated on sylvia with, actually not just cheated on, he had moved her into her home, dressed her in her clothes and let her take care of her children, stuck her head in an oven too. who is the common denominator? and hes still considered one of the best poets of all time. I want a dart board with ted hughes face on it. he ended up remarrying anyways. the bell jar. I read the bell jar during a sad time. if you had not known or guessed I am a quite dramatic person. I got sad and bought a bottle of whiskey and the bell jar. now I dont drink whiskey, I hardly drink at all, one whiff of it and I had to set it down. so the bottle sat on top of my fridge for a few months till I had some friends over and they drank it. but the book I could handle. I sat in my tower, smoking cigarettes out the window, sorry mom, sorry landlord, and read the entire book. was this performative of me? absolutely!! did I eat it up? yes 100%. the bell jar is about a young woman who gets an internship in New York City and wishes to be a writer. have you ever heard the fig tree metaphors? well she imagines that she’s sitting under one and all the branches represent a different route she can take in life. she’s unable to decide and the branches wither away and die. this is what captivated me. I often feel like im just wasting time unsure about what to do next. I never know what I really want to do, or maybe I do and I just am afraid to actually do anything. there is a peace in the in between, you feel less frozen knowing something is going to change, just not yet. does it actually change? maybe but probably not. anyways, she returns home after and she’s rejected from some writing program and is pressured with all the issues that come with being a woman in that time, she falls into a deep depression. this is also how I feel after rejection and about being a woman. eventually she finds a good therapist and they work through her issues with life, sex, control, being a woman in the 1950s and whatnot. I have yet to find a good therapist but alas. they say they exist. at least sylvia plath says they do but she also stuck her head in an oven and died so I dont think she’s a reliable narrator there. I liked this book. ive yet to write about a book ive disliked. maybe I should. not yet. you should read this book, if anything it will make you feel like a 14 year old girl again.