The exile of the masked in the bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Abstract

This article analyzes Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar, focusing on protagonist Esther Greenwood’s subjectivation processes. Understanding that Esther begins her journey identifying herself with the place of a foreigner, it illustrates how her experience shifts to one of exile. It explores how the political economy of desire conditions women to self-alienation and how this leads them to exile. The concepts of foreigner and exile are elaborated in dialogue with a schizoanalytic concept of territory. Finally, the article shows how Plath creates an imaginary that works with different parameters than those imposed by male desire.