Plath

As I read The Bell Jar, I couldn’t  help but think, despite the tragedy in Plath’s demise, that her problems were not that peculure to her, but rather problems that many people experience growing up.  Many of the issues which Esther/Plath finds troublesome (I’m assuming that while this is not autobiographical, Plath reflects a lot of her own experiences and feelings in Esther), such as feeling Buddy was leading a double life, feelings of inadequacy that she didn’t know as much as her peers, feelings of indecision as to a suitable person to marry, questions about which career path to pursue, and a general sense of hopelessness.  Today, these are common feelings that doctor’s can more readily identify and treat.  However, I believe Plath was a woman slightly before her time.  She had already broken gender role barriers in her mind, when in the 1950′s women were forced to take a back seat with both her ambitions as well as their feelings.  This time didn’t embrace mental illness, or self actualization, and consequently lead to Plaths death.