The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar is a sobering look at the author’s (semi-autobiographical) descent into mental illness in their early 20s, told their various literary devices such as absurdism, psychodelic imagery, and metaphor. The book is firmly rooted in its chosen setting, 1950s America, a time in which mental health (for women, in particular) was often stigmatized and lacked adequate treatment resources. With television adaptations on the horizon, this story is seeing renewed public interest, though it may very well continue to have broad literary impacts on book format.