The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath And Girl, Interrupted By...

A comparative literary study of the effect of mental illness on the central characters is the semi-autobiographical novels The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. Comparing two women trying to deal with mental illness and are trying to cope with the mental pressures they put on themselves and by other people. Although the differences between these two novels are The Bell Jar shows Esther’s life before she descends into mental illness whereas Susanna’s story is about her time in a mental institution and experiencing other patients who are in similar situations. The title Girl, Interrupted â€Å"Interrupted at her music: as my life had been, interrupted in the music of being seventeen... What life could recover from that?† refers to the painting as she sees it as a distillation of her own experience. Just like the girl in the painting was interrupted so was Susanna and for two years she was unable to live the life that she wanted to. The Bell Jar is a metaphor used by Sylvia Plath to show that Esther is trapped inside her own head and is unable to escape the doubtful and insecure thoughts she has. It is also used as a metaphor for society as people are unable to escape from the expectation which society puts upon them. Girl, Interrupted and The Bell Jar both on different levels reflect the authors Susanna Kaysen and Sylvia Plath’s life story. The Bell Jar especially becomes very similar to an autobiography to Sylvia Plath’s life because the eventsShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of `` The Yellow Wallpaper `` And The Memoir Girl, Interrupted By Susanna Kaysen1515 Words   |  7 PagesSylvia Plath s novel The Bell Jar, the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and the memoir Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen all tell the story of three women slowly descending into mental illness. Esther, the main character of The Bell Jar falls into a deep depression and attempts suicide despite appearances of being successful. The unnamed narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper becomes insane under the care of her physicist husband, John. And Susanna, the autobiographical