Author's Life
Sylvia Plath started writing The Bell Jar in 1961, two years before her death in 1963. At this time, she was not living with her family, (husband and two kids) but was living in an apartment in London, England. She had just published a book of her poems and believed that she would succeed in publishing The Bell Jar. The book was published under her name first in 1967, and again in 1971 in the U.S. However, the first publication of the book was in 1963, but under a different name. This book is more autobiographical than it was non-fictional.
Author/Character Comparison
Even though it was written from a non-fiction standpoint, The Bell Jar is an autobiographical book except for the fact that the names have been changed. The main character, Esther Greenwood, is a representation of the author, Sylvia Plath. In her early 20s, Plath was a very successful student enrolled at Smith College in Massachusetts, excelling in English. She was offered an internship in New York City for a magazine editing position. However, she was unhappy with what the turnout was of working there. Around the time of the internship was done, her mental health started going downhill. Her first somewhat of a suicide attempt was seeing if she could go through with cutting her legs open, which she did and survived. The cutting of her legs was not included in The Bell Jar, however. Once she had returned home, she attempted her first real suicide attempt by overdosing and crawling under the cellar of her mother’s house. She was found three days later and admitted to a mental hospital. After staying there for six months, Sylvia Plath and Esther Greenwood were released. The book ends the day Esther is released, but Sylvia went back to college. Later in life at t the age of 30, Plath had already been married and had two kids. At this time, she was living in London, where she successfully killed herself.