TheBellJarBigQ's

Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" is an excellent story in which a young lady attempts to find herself through her young adult life. Similar to "Perks of Being a Wallflower," the main character struggles to pinpoint who and what they want out of life. Because the story is told from the perspective of a girl living in the 1950's readers experience a jolt back in time. The character (which imitates Sylvia Plath in many ways,) takes into consideration what young educated woman at the time are meant to become. Yet, Esther Greenwood has plans outside of the norm. The book explores many "unspoken" themes at the time including: growth through pain and rebirth, the emptiness of conventional expectations, and the restricted role of educated women in the 1950's. Insecurity, mental illness and suicidal tendencies appear quite often throughout the book, which intrigues and persuades the reader to consider whether or not these issues are worth talking about.

With the students in mind, the lessons will be centered around writing exercises such as journal entries, "stop, think, and write" entries, and discussion questions. In writing and discussing the novel, the classroom will be given the opportunity to piece together the book, relate to the main character, and reflect on their own thoughts. It would also be an interesting idea to dissect the stereotypes of mentally ill people and compare them to that of Esther Greenwood. Students will learn the value of empathy, reflection, and how to approach serious issues such as mental illness and suicide.

Although Esther Greenwood isn't represented as mad or depressed at the start of the novel, her descent into both is something that can be carefully observed by readers. As students read more and more, they will have moments where they discover differences in Esther's personality and mental stability. The main goal of this unit plan is for students to discover the meaning of mental illness, break down barriers of stereotypes behind mental illness, and to acknowledge the importance of growth through pain and rebirth (as mentioned above.)


 * Big Question(s):**

How does the mental stability or instability of a character affect a novel?
 * Why or why not does the mental state of a character affect a novel?
 * What aspects of the novel are affected?
 * What aspects of the novel are not affected?
 * Is there an apparent downfall of the main character?
 * Does this downfall affect the surrounding characters within the book?
 * How does the downfall of the main character affect her environment and life goals?
 * ======Does the rebirth of the character provide a negative or a positive outcome? ======
 * Is this kind of rebirth necessary in a novel centered around mental illness?
 * How does rebirth affect this given character (Esther Greenwood?)
 * Is the rebirth as apparent as the downfall of the character?
 * Why does the author (Sylvia Plath) focus on mental illness within this given novel?
 * Does this strategy provide the opportunity to reflect?
 * Does mental illness destroy or recreate a person?

Standards guiding and/or relating to the unit plan:

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