"If the neurotic wants two mutually exclusive things at the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll fly between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days” (Plath was in fact a schizophrenic, never truly cured and only receiving temporary relief from her own mind through electroshock therapy. Her novel, The Bell Jar, is almost an autobiography. with the veil of fiction over Plath's own life story so thin that her mother fought its publication (McCann 1631). Nevertheless, Plath's immense hard work paid off and the work was published. Writing was Plath's passion and when she wrote, her life became an exciting story Sylvia Plath's late teens, time right after college, and time spent in the mental hospital all. had an influence on the writing of The Bell Jar Being recognized early as gifted at writing, Plath put all her energy into this subject by becoming editor of her school's book. journal and submitting over forty-five articles to Seventeen Magazine before finally being published. Plath was a perfectionist when it came to writing. In college, the intense pressure of maintaining her scholarship and perfect grades began to take a toll on her. She even wrote to her mother saying, “I practically considered killing myself to get out of it [a science class] (qtd. in Malmsheimer 530). She also felt pressured about what she would do with her life after college. “Her genius and achievements have no power to lead her to a place in the world. Instead, they kick her out of there” (Allen 400). As Novels for Students noted, part of Plath's frustration lay in what she perceived as a choice between becoming a free-spirited poet or choosing woman/...... middle of paper .. ....lmsheimer, Lonna M "Sylvia Plath." American Writers. Ed. Leonard Unger, A. Walton. Litz, Molly Weigel and Jay Parini. Supplement 1, part 2. New York: Scribner, 1974. 526-49. Print. McCann, Janet. “Sylvia Plath.” Magill Survey of American Literature. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Flight. 5. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1991. 1626-39. Print.Perloff, Marjorie G. ““A Ritual for Being Born Twice”: Sylvia Path’s “The Bell Jar.” Contemporary literature. 13.4, 1972. 507-22. Rpt in contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz. Vol 62. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 390-95. Print.Plath, Sylvia. The bell. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Print. Allen, Mary. “The Challenge of Sylvia Plath: “The Bell Jar””, The Necessary Void: Women in Great American Fiction of the Sixties. 1976. 160-78. Rpt in contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz. Vol 62. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 395-400. Print.