Ella's Coming-of-Age Novel Blog

  Unpacking Alison’s Obsession with Bruce’s Death From the beginning of the novel, Alison makes it clear to the reader that her father’s death was no accident (Bechdel 27). She specifies that he killed himself, citing the various novels he was reading from authors such as Camus or Proust, claiming them as hints of his decision. Most importantly, however, she theorizes on the cause of his “suicide.” At first, she believed she was the cause of his death, through her coming-out to her parents a few weeks prior (Bechdel 87). Next, she attributes it to the divorce that her mother had asked her father for also not long before the accident. It is not the theories themselves that are revealing of the “truth”, but the fact that Alison is theorizing at all. Her mother and brothers believe Bruce’s death was truly an accident, yet after all these years, Alison refuses to agree with them. Perhaps it is a matter of sustained grief: a common way of dealing with unforeseen circumstances is try...

  Unraveling Esther's Disdain for Physics     Throughout Esther’s tumultuous journey in The Bell Jar, and through the lens of her worsening mental condition, there are many things she finds unappealing. New York and its “fake, country-wet, freshness”, the gifts she receives from the Ladies’ Day magazine, and Buddy Willard’s unabashed hypocrisy are few of the culprits (Plath, 1). However, nothing seemingly comes close to her brief yet emotionally charged story of her Physics class.     She introduces the story with a remark telling of the rest of her experience: “The day I went into physics class it was death,” (Plath, 34). She then continues, describing by distorting reality into a grotesque version of itself. “I may have made a straight A in physics,” she says, “but I was panic-struck. Physics made me sick the whole time I learned it. What I couldn’t stand was this shrinking everything into letters and numbers. Instead of leaf shapes and enlarged diagrams of th...