Ester Greenwood was scared of Chemistry!

So, now I realize that The Bell Jar wasn't the wisest choice for post employment depression! However, it was a great book that really got me thinking about mental illness.  I have also been thinking of my own experiences with depression.  Obviously I have experienced depression and my mother struggled with depression her entire life.  But, I will start the book discussion with when Ester Greenwood was in college.

Even though Ester was an English major and a writer she was required to take science classes.  In The Bell Jar, Ester was required to take Physics and Chemistry.  Just like the college students now  Ester was required to take two semesters of a science with a lab!  Some things never change.  College is all about getting outside your comfort zone and stretching your mind in a new direction.

Plath's main character somehow beat Physics.  She sat right down with that Physics book and beat it.  She memorized formulas, graphs and did all the required work to get an A.  Awesome Ester Greenwood.  I personally never beat Physics.  So Kudos to Sylvia writing a character of a girl getting Physics!


Ester Greenwood was terrified of Chemistry.  I find that humorous after defeating Physics.  However, I am sure many, many, people can relate to Chemistry Terror.  There is probably a phobia named for the fear of chemistry.  Chemophobia is fear of chemicals which is totally different.  Chemistry was a terrifying subject to Ester.  "What I couldn't stand was this shrinking everything into letters and numbers (1)."  How ironic.  We are all concentrated down to nothing but letters and numbers.  We are college ID numbers.  We are social security numbers.  We are passwords with one letter, one number and one symbol.  We are our license number and insurance number.  We are our title, (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.). We are our degree (J.D., B.S., B.A., PhD., MD, etc).  We are our grades, (A,A-,B+,C+).  We are our age, weight, height, and blood sugar.  We are letters, symbols, and numbers.



1. Plath, S. (1996) The Bell Jar.  New York, NY: Harper-Collins Publishers. pg 35.