I will be traveling back in time a little bit in this blog post and looking at The Bell Jar again. I don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but I had a huge moment of inspiration during class on Thursday while we were discussing the upcoming semester project. The Bell Jar was most definitely my favorite book of the semester. The topic, the writing style, and the plot line was interesting and remarkably relatable. One of my favorite scenes comes from the end of the novel when Esther is speaking to Dr. Nolan. Actually, just the character of Dr. Nolan and the ideas she stands by adds a beautiful and satisfying end to the novel. So while we were discussing the semester project I instantly thought of writing in the point of view of Dr. Nolan. Her impact on Esther was so profound and her opinions were so unconventional for the time that think it would be worthwhile to explore what Dr. Nolan really thinks about her patients, society, and the hospital.
The first idea that came to mind was to write Dr. Nolan's point of view during a session with Esther. Not only would this offer a look into Dr. Nolan's mind, but it would also paint a picture of Esther from an outside perspective. As my imagination continued to wonder, I realized that Dr. Nolan would be interesting to explore both as a psychotherapist and as a woman living in the society of the 1950's. Her career, outlook on life, and perhaps just her day to day life could be explored in the style of journals. I once saw, probably on a TV show or something, that psychotherapist often keep journals or audio recordings of their sessions with patients. For my semester project, I think I'd like to write a series of Dr. Nolan's professional and personal journal entries. I'm just hoping that my limited fiction writing skills will be able to do justice to the masterful work of Sylvia Plath.
This is a really interesting idea with a lot of potential. And if it serves as inspiration at all, it's also a topic that no one has ever attempted for this assignment. Nolan seems to confident and self-assured on the surface, and she seems to immediately "get" and identify with what Esther is going through--her understanding seems more personal than strictly clinical, and yet (maybe not coincidentally) she proves to be pretty effective clinically. This sense of a personal interest in Esther's case could definitely be a good starting point for a fictional exploration.
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