While reading The Bell Jar, I was reminded of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper (a very good book, by the way). The Yellow Wallpaper depicts a woman suffering from postpartum psychosis as she descends into madness. Her husband, a physician, suggests she go on a rest cure to relieve her suffering. Deprived of any stimulation, the woman slowly goes mad as she becomes fixated on the yellow wallpaper of the bedroom. The novel ends with her walking in circles around her room, tearing down the wallpaper, which she believes is trapping a woman on the other side.
The rest cure was commonly used in the 19th century, having been created by Silas Weir Mitchell. It was mostly prescribed to women suffering from depression or hysteria. It involved keeping the patient in bed and denying them any mental or physical stimuli. Unfortunately, the cure was not very effective and caused many patients' conditions to worsen, leading to insanity or death. Gilman herself, suffering from postpartum depression, was prescribed the rest cure by Silas Mitchell, who told her to live "as domestic a life as possible." Gilman depression worsened, and she eventually took herself off the treatment, noting immediate improvement. She soon wrote The Yellow Wallpaper.
Both novels contain elements of feminism and share many characteristics. I would say that the unnamed protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper is the person who Esther is afraid she might become if she ends up in a traditional marriage. Similar to the scene of the birth in The Bell Jar, The Yellow Wallpaper criticizes the male-dominated medical profession and their methods. Gilman felt that the rest cure reflected men's beliefs on how a woman should be. She even sent a copy of her novel to Silas Mitchell, hoping to convince him of the error of his ways. The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper also looks negatively upon marriage, similar to Esther. Both protagonists suffer from mental illnesses aggravated by outside factors, which the respective author criticizes. These similarities between the books are not surprising. Gilman was one of the first feminist writers, and probably served as a model for later writers like Plath. Whether Plath will end her novel like Gilman did, I look forward to finding out.
Wow--Gilman's story came up recently in fourth period, as well. I think there are definitely some interesting parallels here, as both stories present an eerily "first-hand" experience of a talented young woman (writers, in both cases) who are slowly losing their minds. Esther hasn't been expressly forbidden to write, as with the "rest cure" in Gilman's story, but she has been discouraged from thinking of writing as a career or vocation. One of the scariest moments, for me, in _The Bell Jar_ is when Esther realizes she can no longer write--when her own handwriting is illegible to her. The rational narrative voice in both--as the character slips further and further from rationality--creates a very similar effect.
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