The Bell Jar is during a six-month period in the life Esther Greenwood. The year is 1953. It is first set in New York, in a hotel for women with the fictional title of Amazon, and in the offices of a women's fashion magazine. Later, the protagonist returns to her home in the suburbs of Boston. She receives outpatient shock treatment in Walton, Massachusetts. Then she spends a short time in a city psychiatric hospital. Esther then is moved to a private hospital in New England.
Esther Greenwood is a nineteen year old writer who has yet to receive serious encouragement for her writing.…