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Chapters
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Chapters
Chapters at a glance
The Bell Jar has 20 chapters.
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Chapters20 items
Chapter 1
Esther Greenwood is spending the summer in New York City as a guest editor at a women's magazine, but she feels detached from the glamour around her.
Chapter 2
Esther goes out with Doreen and meets Lenny Shepherd, a disc jockey. Doreen and Lenny hit it off immediately, and Esther ends up stranded in his apartment feeling invisible.
Chapter 3
Esther attends a Ladies' Day luncheon and eats an enormous amount of food, then gets violently ill along with the other guest editors.
Chapter 4
Esther continues reflecting on Buddy Willard while recovering from the food poisoning. She thinks about visiting him at medical school and watching a birth, which disturbed her de…
Chapter 5
Esther meets Constantin, a simultaneous interpreter at the UN, on a date arranged by Mrs. Willard.
Chapter 6
Esther's time in New York is winding down, and she's starting to feel the gap between what she thought her life would look like and what it actually is.
Chapter 7
Esther learns she didn't get into the summer writing course she was counting on, and the news hits her harder than expected.
Chapter 8
Esther's depression deepens and she starts to lose basic functions. She stops sleeping, stops eating normally, and stops bathing.
Chapter 9
Esther's mental state continues to deteriorate and she begins thinking seriously about suicide. She researches methods and tries several, none of which work.
Chapter 10
Esther attempts suicide by taking a large number of sleeping pills and hiding in a crawl space under her house. She is found days later and survives.
Chapter 11
Esther's mental state collapses further after her return home. She stops sleeping, stops reading, and can barely function.
Chapter 12
After the failed ECT, Esther's condition worsens rapidly. She becomes obsessed with suicide and begins making concrete attempts.
Chapter 13
Esther wakes up in a hospital after the overdose. She is confused, in pain, and not yet fully aware of what happened.
Chapter 14
Esther is transferred to a better private psychiatric facility, paid for by her benefactor Philomena Guinea. The new hospital, Belsize, is a different world from the state ward.
Chapter 15
Esther continues treatment at the private hospital and begins to stabilize. She forms a friendship with a fellow patient named Joan Gilling, a woman from her past who has her own…
Chapter 16
Esther is transferred to a better psychiatric ward, thanks to Philomena Guinea's financial support. The new facility is a clear upgrade from the grim state hospital, and Esther be…
Chapter 17
Esther's relationship with Dr. Nolan deepens, and she begins to open up in ways she has not managed before.
Chapter 18
Esther undergoes electroconvulsive therapy again, but this time it is administered properly and with Dr. Nolan present.
Chapter 19
Esther is granted more freedom and begins leaving the hospital grounds. She loses her virginity to a math professor named Irwin, a deliberate and self-directed choice.
Chapter 20
Joan dies by suicide. Esther attends the funeral and tries to understand what she feels.
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