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THE BELL JAR - FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE DOWNLOAD
STUDY QUESTIONS
1.) Who are some of the figures of madness in the novel? Name
the various characters who signal different kinds of mental illness and
analyze how they are represented.
2.) Examine the mother figures in The Bell Jar. What is
the ideal mother and the worst sort of mother?
3.) Examine Esther’s discovery of the fact that she never grieved
for her father. Trace her journey to her father’s grave. Why does she
make her most successful suicide attempt the next day?
4.) What is Esther’s idea of her own sexuality? Look at the
three scenes of sexual encounter--that with Buddy, that with Constantin,
and that with Erwin.
5.) We often use the metaphor of descent to talk about madness.
Plath has Esther descend into the basement to commit suicide. She has
the electroshock therapy room in the basement of the hospital. Are there
any corresponding images of ascent?
6.) Who are Esther’s friends? How does female friendship come
across in the novel?
7.) Characterize Plath’s brand of feminism. If you were to write a feminist manifesto based on this novel, what would it include?
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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Free BookNotes Online Book Summary
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