The Bell Jar

Esther is moved to Belsize, the ward for women slated for release. Esther is confused because she doesn’t feel she has improved, but relieved to leave the threat of shock treatments behind. Joan is at Belsize. Esther thinks of Joan as “the beaming double of [her] old best self, specially designed to follow and torment [her]” (205).

The women at Belsize are stylish and chatty. Esther watches them quietly, feeling insecure. Joan fits in with the sociable women, treating Esther with slight condescension. In the living room, Joan shows the other women a picture of Esther in a fashion magazine, but Esther denies that it’s her. The night nurse joins them in the living room and tells them that during the day, she works at a state hospital that is understaffed and overpopulated. Esther feels as if the nurse is warning her that she only has two options: get better or fall back down the rungs of the system all the way to the state hospital.

The next day the nurse on shift doesn’t bring Esther breakfast. Esther assumes she’s made a mistake, but the nurse tells her that she will be getting her breakfast later. Esther knows what this means: the only patients ever denied breakfast are the women receiving shock treatments later in the day. She feels betrayed by Dr. Nolan, who didn’t warn her about the treatment like she promised. Dr. Nolan tells her that she didn’t want Esther to be awake all night worrying. She promises she will be by Esther’s side the whole time to ensure that the treatment is done correctly. She accompanies Esther to the electrotherapy room, where a tall nurse named Miss Huey talks to her soothingly as she sets up the treatment. When the first shock hits her, Esther immediately passes out.

Esther wakes to find Dr. Nolan waiting for her. Dr. Nolan brings her back to Belsize and tells her she will receive treatments three times a week until she feels better. The bell jar has lifted and hangs suspended above her head, letting in fresh air.

Esther cracks her breakfast egg with a knife. She thinks that she used to love knives, but when she tries to remember why her mind unmoors and “[swings], like a bird, in the center of empty air” (216). She watches Joan and another patient named DeeDee sitting at the piano and feels sorry for both of them because they can’t keep men interested in them.

Buddy Willard writes to both Esther and Joan. Joan tells Esther that she never liked Buddy much but loved his family. She used to visit them all the time but had to stop once Esther started dating Buddy. Esther recalls that that morning, she’d caught Joan and DeeDee in bed together. She is both fascinated and repulsed by Joan, who is similar enough to herself that she seems like “a wry, black image” of Esther (219). In her therapy session that afternoon, she asks Dr. Nolan what women see in other women that they can’t see in men. Dr. Nolan replies, “tenderness” (219).

Joan tells Esther that she likes her more than Buddy. Esther thinks of all the eccentric women, like Philomena Guinea and Jay Cee, who want to care for her and mold her into their image. She retorts that Joan makes her want to vomit and leaves the room.

With Dr. Nolan’s permission, Esther gets fitted for a diaphragm. She hates the thought of being forced under a man’s control by having his baby but feels guilty for her lack of maternal instincts. With the diaphragm in place, she feels free, and decides to find a man to sleep with.