The Jar and the Haven

Will Landschulz
Am Lit Per. 2
Mrs. LaMagdeleine

Esther brings up the metaphor of the bell jar for the first time in the book.  It makes perfect sense, as everything seems stale to her, only things that can seep underneath, like the ball of mercury in the last chapter, can reach her.  Furthermore, she sees through the walls of her glass prison, but writing is distorted as if seen through an old glass window, rippling, forming shapes unrelated to their actual meaning.  Her writing reflects this change from clean letters conveying beautiful ideas such as the shapes in her botany class to ragged, sloppy letters unintelligible to anyone.  However, she is now in a place where she can recover.  She has a woman psychiatrist to see to her condition, who actually (gasp!) makes an effort to understand Esther's problem.  We also learn that Dr. Gordon has been doing the procedure for shocks incorrectly, which begs the question of when he will be fired.  None too soon, in my opinion, but the story casts him aside in favor of Dr. Nolan, the woman psychiatrist.  The "gardens" of the asylum are mentioned, which by itself creates a strong contrast to the asylum used by Dr. Gordon.  Esther grows plumper, so much so that she comments on how she would be mistaken for pregnancy.  They move her to a room with "more sun", and move a more serious case to "Wymark," presumably a sister asylum.  I believe that here is the place where they can finally smash the bell jar to pieces or crack it so that she lapses into total madness.