Obviously The Bell Jar is about the summer of 1953, the notorious year when Sylvia suffered her breakdown which resulted in treatments with shock therapy. Nothing better illustrates this than reading the book, which is almost closer to an autobiography than her journals.

All of the characters were based on characters that Sylvia loved, Buddy being based on an old boyfriend, Dick Norton. She mentions a bit about him in this entry in her journal, which also sounds like an early outline of The Bell Jar, saying: "A possible theme: virgin girl brought up in idealism expects virginity from boy her family raves about as pure. He is going to be a doctor, a pillar of society; he is already swinging toward conventionalism. Takes her through lectures on sickle-cell anemia, moon-faces babies in jars, cadavers, baby born. She doesn't flinch. What she flinches at is his affair with a waitress. She hates him for it. Jealous. Sees no reason for being a virgin herself. What's the point in being a virgin? Argument with him: humor. She won't marry him. What are her motives? He is a hypocrite."

All of those elements turn up in The Bell Jar with Esther and Buddy's relationship, as do the cadavers, the affair with the waitress, and everything else.

The subject matter is extremely serious, but to me some parts of it were humorous, and it happens to be one of the funniest books I've ever read. The clever blend of sarcasm throughout keeps things on it's toes, nothing is too dreary and depressing (even for Sylvia). I remember reading it during study hall and almost laughing out loud, but having to contain myself so no one would see me laughing while reading such a "depressing" book. Two parts in particular were when she keeps mistaking the doctor's name, calling him, "Dr. Pancreas," and funnier yet, "Dr. Syphilis." (Okay I have a weird sense of humor!) I think my very most favorite part though, is when she is conversing with a woman in the hospital, and when Esther is asked why she's there, she turns around with her bruised eye and simply replies: "I tried to kill myself." Morbid, yes. Was it intended to be funny? Of course. Sylvia's unique sense of humor definitely shows during the funnier scenes. I believe that she intended it to be this way, and in "Letters Home," she commented about how "hellishly funny" her writing had become.

Sylvia's prose writing is extremely symbolic, and often tangles in and out of metaphors. This is clearly evident in The Bell Jar, and even more so in her journals. Her imagery is fairly strong, relying on the metaphors for feeling and emotion instead of straight out saying what the character is experiencing. I don't think the reactions to this book would be as strong if it had been written any other way.

The ending is particularly sad, seeing how much hope she felt, but knowing the bitter reality of how she ended up. Hopefully through her writing we can all try to understand her for the gifted writer and wonderful mother that she was, not necessarily the mad neurotic woman that she is often mistaken to be. I don't think she was that at all. She was a writer attempting to understand life through her work, who became an icon and inspiration of the modern literary world. In essence, that's what she always wanted.

If you'd like to see more information about The Bell Jar, I would highly suggest going here: The Bell Jar, or at this site: Peter Steinberg's Sylvia Plath Site.