Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (entry 2)

                In the second half of the novel, Esther begins to spiral into a deeper depression when she returns home. She begins to not be able to sleep, eat, read, or write. Her signs of hollowness and beginning of insanity release her to a psychiatrist, Dr. Gordon. However, Dr. Gordon acts as if nothing is wrong with Esther and performs improper shock treatments. After devastating her mother on her depression Esther refused to return. Days following Esther feels the same and realizes she is spiraling down due to not being able to sleep, eat, read, or write. This causes her to try to commit suicide through cutting, hanging, drowning, and her final attempt pills. Esther hides and takes pills and is not found until days later. After which she is sent to a hospital asylum, where she is kicked out. However, the famous novelist Philomena Guinea takes Esther to a private facility after seeing her in the news. Within the private facility many events occur. Esther begins to trust her new psychiatrist Doctor Nolan because she receives injections instead of shock treatments. Joan, a person from her past, even end up coming to the facility as a patient herself. Throughout her stay, Esther begins to improve and is moved to a better house, Belsize. However, Esther then must receive shock treatments but this time they end up working. Following the treatments Esther seems to improve. She finds an opportunity to receive her freedom by going to get birth control. She feels even more free when she loses her virginity to a man she randomly meets, Irwin. She has an incident afterwards and asks for Joan’s help. This event scares Joan and she must return to the asylum along with Esther’s return. After only a day or so of being back, Joan commits suicide by hanging herself in the woods. The suicide of Joan causes Buddy to return and asks if he causes women to go mad because he dated both Joan and Esther. Buddy’s visit causes Esther to realize she will never be married because she has been in an asylum. In the end, Esther enters to be interviewed to be released from the asylum.