Searching For The Authentic Existence:An Existentialist Analysis Of The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath(1932-1963)is one of the most popular and influential writers in contemporary American literature and she was posthumously awarded the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.The Bell Jar is her only published novel and it recounts the protagonist Esther Greenwood’s one-month internship in New York in June,1953,following mental breakdown,suicide attempts,and hospitalization.Based on Plath’s real-life experience,the book is semi-autobiographical.The previous scholarship on The Bell Jar adopts four approaches mainly:mythological readings,feminist readings,psychoanalytical readings and the readings from the perspective of history,politics and culture.This thesis analyzes the novel from an existentialist perspective since very few studies have adopted this approach.The existing scholarship from the existentialist point of view mainly focuses on the concepts of absurdity and alienation,and some articles confuse existentialism with nihilism,regarding suicide as a martyr’s act against the meaninglessness of life and ignoring the core idea of existentialism:freedom,which leads to genuine acts of self-assertion.This thesis applies the concept of freedom to Esther’s search for her authentic existence as an artist,arguing that her battle to control her body and fate reflects the essence of existentialism:every one of us is endowed with the inalienable right to choose,direct our own life,and achieve our authenticity.In mid-20th-century America,the middle-class white women are told that the only way to become happy is to become a dutiful,loving,and sacrificing housewife.However,these preconceptions of women’s fulfillment betray Esther’s fullness as a human being and imperil her success as a poet.She is alienated from her true feelings and aspirations,feeling trapped in an airless bell jar that inhibits her development as an artist.She finally manages to reject the good/bad girl dichotomy with her bold sexual acts.The thesis concludes that as the story ends,despite Esther’s ambivalence over total autonomy,she has found her voice as a daring artist and liberated her authentic self into independence,challenging the essentialist notion that women are naturally maternal and intellectually inferior to men.