First of all, I have not read The Bell Jar as I have heard that Sylvia Plath was racist and I just don't really wanna read a book written by someone like that. However, there's an analogy used in the book that is quite well known, which is the fig tree analogy. For those unfamiliar with it, it is the main character in The Bell Jar's life branching out before her like a green fig tree. At the tip of every branch sits a "fat purple fig," representing a completely different future. One fig is a traditional family life (a husband, home, and children), another fig is a career as a famous poet or brilliant professor, and other figs represent traveling the world, finding unique lovers, etc. My fig tree is the one you see right there →→→
