Praachi's Blog

  Esther’s Attempts at Suicide in The Bell Jar Esther is at an intense and confusing turning point in her life in The Bell Jar , and this is especially evident when she becomes deeply depressed after her trip to New York. Already burnt out from years of trying to stay ahead and still confused about her future, she comes home to the suburbs to stay with her mother. She then finds out she must stay there for the remainder of the summer because she did not get into a writing program she applied to, facing maybe the first rejection in her life. Suddenly, faced with an entire summer in the suburbs she hates, Esther becomes deeply suicidal, trying in many different ways to kill herself. However, each time she tries, no matter what method she uses, life prevails. I think it is incredibly interesting to read this book knowing that the author went through some of these exact events in her own life and is writing from direct experience. The description of failed suicides are especially tell...

Holden Caulfield’s Internal Monologue and External Persona in Catcher in the Rye In Catcher in the Rye we are shown a main character whose external world and internal monologue show two vastly different perceptions and understandings of the world around him. He often says one thing out loud or experiences one thing in real life, while understanding these things completely differently in his head. Oftentimes, this also shows his deep rooted insecurity about himself and his place in the world, which could both point to mental problems. Not only are his outlooks on life bleak, his past is not exactly pleasant either. He misses his childhood, and now has to try to understand his place in a world he doesn’t feel he is accepted in—and without his favorite person, Allie, immortalized in the past he so desperately clings to.  One example of the disconnect is when he goes to his parents’ house at night to talk to his sister Phoebe. Throughout the book he has talked her character up, saying...