Bell Jar Figurative Language

In both The Bell Jar and A Brief History of Time, the authors utilize figurative language. In The Bell Jar, Esther is overcome with a sense of helplessness when she is checked into a mental asylum. In her demented mental state she says, “It wouldn't have made once scrap of a difference to me, because wherever I sat... I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air" (Plath 185). Esther uses a metaphor to compare herself to an object “sitting under a glass bell jar.” The metaphor of the bell jar is present throughout the course of the novel. A bell jar is a bell-shaped glass cover used to protect and display delicate objects. Esther uses the bell jar as a symbol to convey her feelings of being cut off from the normal
As a result, her views became distorted because she believes that “wherever [she] sat” she could never escape her depression. Through the use of this metaphor, it is revealed that Esther feels bound by her depression and does not believe she can recover. At the time, mental illness was not commonly spoken of so Esther did not know how to handle her depression. Rejecting attitudes toward people with mental illnesses was common in the 1950’s, where the novel takes place, and these attitudes influence Esther’s own perspective of mental illness. Society’s views suppressed individualistic perspectives as a means of maintaining order. Later in the story, Esther references the bell jar once again and states, "All the heat and fear had purged itself. I felt surprisingly at peace. The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above my head. I was open to the circulating air" (Plath 215). Esther uses another metaphor to compare herself to from the bell jar and finally being released from it. The Bell Jar acts as a metaphor for her depression because she feels restricted by her
He describes the law as having “many more disordered states than ordered ones.” The comparison to jigsaw pieces simplifies the concept because many people have experience with jigsaw puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles are made to have one “ordered state” or one way that the picture becomes clear, but there are many more ways to have the pieces arranged that do not form the desired picture. Through the use of this metaphor, Hawking indicates that the second law of thermodynamics is complex and was developed from the fact that there are many more “disordered states than there are ordered ones.” As a result, Hawking reveals that there are many ways to understand a concept or perceive things. Many people find the concept of thermodynamics confusing, but by employing this metaphor, Hawking was able to teach others the concept easily. By using this metaphor to explain the concept of thermodynamics in simple terms, Hawking reveals that humanity is always in pursuit of answers to gain knowledge we do not have. The drive for answers is innate and based off of uncertainty. Uncertainty is the main factor that guides our search for knowledge because humans find comfort in certainty and spend their lifetime in answers that can provide that certainty. Here, Hawking works to answer