It's not just these tired insults though. Gross-and not very feminist, if you ask me. In one part, Esther Greenwood describes her reflection as 'a big, smudgy-eyed Chinese woman staring idiotically into my face,' in another she calls indigenous Mexicans ugly and says things like 'dusky as a bleached-blonde negress'. It's an interesting enough piece of fiction, but in the online discussions I've read, very little has been said about Plath's use of some seriously racist stereotypes that occurs throughout the novel, and there's more than a few examples. There are many parallels between Esther Greenwood and Sylvia Plath, and the book draws on a number of Plath's own experiences with a struggling writing career and mental health issues. It ends with Esther on her way to an interview where she'll find out if she's fit to return to school. After not sleeping for a few weeks and a failed suicide attempt, Esther is admitted to a private mental health hospital, which is paid for by a rich, eccentric woman who is funding Esther's education and writing career.

She returns home to discover she was rejected from a writing program she had been anticipating, and is forced to spend the summer at home with her mother. In spite of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, complete with room and board, Esther is unable to enjoy herself and she ends the program in disappointment. If you liked Norwegian Wood, these books might hook you.By focusing on their own plight, rather than using their economic and racial advantage to center women of color, white feminists perpetuate racism through fetishization, erasure and outright mockery, three issues that spring up more than once in Plath's famous novel.įor those unfamiliar with The Bell Jar, it was published in 1963 and is a story about a young writer named Esther Greenwood who spends a month in New York City working as a paid intern for a women's magazine. However, The novel unfolds all the hidden feelings and complexities of all the characters, producing a touching story of love, emotion and coming-of-age.

Watanabe gets confused about his feelings towards Naoko and attraction towards Midori. Midori is his drama classmate and an extrovert girl. Image from and enraged by the end of the student protest, Watanabe finds joy in Midori’s company.

Books like the bell jar