Date of Award
Spring 2018
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department/Major
English
First Advisor
Dr. Heather Love
Second Advisor
Dr. Shane Semmler
Third Advisor
Dr. Prentiss Clark
Keywords
Sylvia Plath, Entertainment Education, Identification, Mental Health, Gender
Abstract
Sylvia Plath’s semiautobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, has continued to engage audiences since its initial publication in 1963. Combining the disciplines of communication studies and literary studies, I argue that this popularity is in part due to readers’ identification with the novel’s protagonist, Esther. The Bell Jar serves as a piece of entertainment education—media that relays prosocial messages to consumers—and encourages readers to lose their sense of self in exchange for Esther’s identity. By emphasizing the novel’s prosocial messages, I suggest that Plath utilizes readers’ vicarious involvement in the narrative to provide education about mental health and gender roles. My close reading of the text and application of communication theory ultimately serve to bridge two disciplines and reveal the space they share; reflecting my journey navigating interest in two departments, this thesis highlights the benefits of interdisciplinary work in which literature serves as a laboratory for applying evidencebased theory.
Recommended Citation
Quanbeck, Bailey, "Identification and Entertainment Education in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar: Bridging Communication Studies and Literary Analysis" (2018). Honors Thesis. 26.
https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/26