Bibliography
Course Hero. "The Bell Jar Study Guide." Course Hero. 28 July 2016. Web. 3 June 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Bell-Jar/>.
In text
(Course Hero)
Bibliography
Course Hero. (2016, July 28). The Bell Jar Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved June 3, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Bell-Jar/
In text
(Course Hero, 2016)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "The Bell Jar Study Guide." July 28, 2016. Accessed June 3, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Bell-Jar/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "The Bell Jar Study Guide," July 28, 2016, accessed June 3, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Bell-Jar/.
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| Esther Greenwood | Esther is a brilliant college student who undergoes a prolonged mental breakdown and gradual recovery. Read More |
| Buddy Willard | Buddy is Esther's on-again, off-again boyfriend, although the pair have little in common besides the fact that their mothers are friends. Read More |
| Mrs. Greenwood | Mrs. Greenwood is Esther's passive-aggressive but well-intentioned mother. Read More |
| Joan Giling | Joan Giling acts as Esther's double in many ways: they attend the same schools, date the same boy, and experience mental breakdowns and suicide attempts. Read More |
| Doreen | Doreen, one of Esther's fellow guest editors, is an irreverent young woman who often tries to distract Esther from her responsibilities. Read More |
| Jay Cee | Jay Cee is Esther's boss during her magazine internship. Read More |
| Doctor Nolan | Dr. Nolan successfully treats Esther and becomes a mother figure for her. Read More |
| Betsy | Betsy is another of Esther's fellow guest editors, a perky midwesterner who contrasts with Doreen and for whom Esther feels some disdain. |
| Cal | Esther spends a day at the beach with Cal, a friend of Jody's, and they have a discussion about the best way to commit suicide. |
| Constantin | Constantin is a United Nations translator with whom Esther has one date. |
| Dee Dee | Dee Dee is a married patient who is a close friend of Joan Giling's. |
| Doctor Gordon | Doctor Gordon is a handsome but incompetent psychiatrist who gives Esther poorly administered shock therapy. |
| Dodo Conway | Dodo Conway is Esther's neighbor, the pregnant mother of six children, and a great source of anxiety for Esther. |
| Eric | Esther meets Eric in college when he is stood up by a date. They discuss love and sex. |
| Frankie | Frankie is the friend of Doreen's Manhattan boyfriend Lenny. |
| George Bakewell | George Bakewell is houseman (intern) at the first hospital Esther is taken to after her overdose. |
| Hilda | Hilda is a talented hatmaker who is apprenticed to the fashion editor at Esther's magazine. |
| Irwin | Irwin is a respectable Harvard math professor to whom Esther loses her virginity. |
| Jody | Jody, a friend of Esther's, is accepted to the same writing class from which Esther is rejected. |
| Lenny Shepherd | Lenny is a deejay whom Doreen and Esther meet in a bar. |
| Marco | Marco is a rich Peruvian who sexually assaults Esther during a blind date. |
| Miss Norris | Miss Norris is a silent, elderly patient at Esther's private hospital. |
| Mrs. Savage | Mrs. Savage is a society woman and patient at Esther's private hospital. |
| Mrs. Tomolillo | Mrs. Tomolillo is a woman at Buddy's hospital whom Esther watches deliver a baby. A version of her appears again as Esther's hospital roommate after a suicide attempt. |
| Mrs. Willard | Buddy's mother is the voice in the novel that advocates traditional gender roles for women. |
| Mr. Willard | Mr. Willard, Buddy's father, tells Esther that he and his wife would welcome her as a daughter-in-law. |
| Philomena Guinea | A novelist and alumna of Esther's college, Philomena Guinea pays Esther's tuition and, later, her hospital fees. |
| Teresa | Teresa, the family doctor, is Esther's aunt's sister-in-law. |
| The sailor | The very young sailor tries to pick Esther up on the Boston Common. |
| Valerie | Valerie, a woman about Esther's age at the private hospital, shows Esther her lobotomy scars. |
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