SparkNotes: The Bell Jar: Quiz

1. To what does the title of The Bell Jar refer?

(A) The jars containing fetuses at Buddy Willard’s medical school

(B) The jar containing the sleeping pills with which Esther tries to kill herself

(C) Esther’s feeling that her madness distorts and separates her from the outside world

(D) The private mental hospital where Esther resides

2. Which of the following is not a method of suicide tried by Esther?

(A) Hanging

(B) Shooting

(C) Drowning

(D) Overdosing on pills

3. What is the subject of the article that Esther’s mother sends her?

(A) A defense of chastity

(B) How to be a good wife

(C) How to use birth control

(D) How to maintain a positive attitude

4. During the magazine photo shoot, what occupation does Esther claim to desire?

(A) Editor at a publishing house

(B) Poet

(C) College professor

(D) Cape Cod waitress

5. How does Esther know Joan before they meet again at the mental hospital?

(A) Joan was one of Esther’s friends in New York

(B) Esther was supposed to live with Joan while taking a writing course

(C) Joan was Esther’s lover

(D) Joan was from Esther’s hometown and a year ahead of her in college

6. Who pays for Esther’s treatment at the private mental hospital?

(A) Jay Cee

(B) Philomena Guinea

(C) Her mother

(D) Mrs. Willard

7. To whom does Esther lose her virginity?

(A) Buddy

(B) Irwin

(C) Marco

(D) Constantin

8. Why does Esther become violently ill after the magazine banquet?

(A) She suffers from food poisoning

(B) She ate too much caviar

(C) She is disgusted at the life she is living

(D) She is upset by the Rosenbergs’ execution

9. During what era does The Bell Jar take place?

(A) The late 1940s

(B) The early 1970s

(C) The early 1950s

(D) The early 1960s

10. What disappointment greets Esther when she returns to suburban Boston?

(A) Buddy Willard is engaged to a nurse

(B) She has been rejected from a summer writing course

(C) Her brother has not come back home, as she had hoped

(D) Her room has been rented to a boarder

11. What does the fig tree symbolize for Esther?

(A) The tree of knowledge

(B) All of life’s bewildering choices

(C) Her desire to become a nun

(D) A fantasy wedding with Buddy

12. Why does Esther fail to drown herself?

(A) Her friends come to her rescue

(B) She climbs out and rests on the rock

(C) The water is too shallow

(D) Her body keeps floating to the surface

13. Whose grave does Esther visit?

(A) Joan’s

(B) Her grandmother’s

(C) Her father’s

(D) Her grandfather’s

14. Which family member does Esther claim to hate?

(A) Her father

(B) Her mother

(C) Her brother

(D) Her grandmother

15. What is in Esther’s suitcase when she returns home from New York?

(A) Avocados and a book of short stories

(B) Her clothing

(C) Nectarines and Marco’s diamond

(D) Doreen’s clothing

16. What is Esther’s attitude toward the Rosenbergs’ execution?

(A) She is glad that they will die

(B) She is indifferent

(C) She thinks their death will be horrible

(D) She supports the U.S. government

17. Why is Buddy in a sanitarium?

(A) He is a ski instructor

(B) He has tuberculosis

(C) He is going insane

(D) He has pneumonia

18. What is Esther’s mother’s attitude toward Esther’s mental illness?

(A) Her mother is furious and unresponsive

(B) Her mother finds Esther’s illness understandable

(C) Her mother cannot bear to visit her

(D) Her mother is worried and tries to help

19. What happens to Esther at the end of the novel?

(A) She successfully kills herself

(B) She plans to leave the institution

(C) She marries Buddy

(D) She goes home to live with her mother

20. Which treatment does Esther not undergo?

(A) Shock therapy

(B) Group therapy

(C) Insulin treatment

(D) Psychotherapy

21. Who visits Esther just before the end of the novel?

(A) Jay Cee

(B) Irwin

(C) Her mother

(D) Buddy

22. How does Joan kill herself?

(A) She hangs herself

(B) She jumps from a window

(C) She overdoses on pills

(D) She slits her wrists

23. How does Esther behave at the city hospital?

(A) She is sleepy and unresponsive

(B) She is trusting and cooperative

(C) She is paranoid and difficult

(D) She tries to escape

24. What form of birth control does Esther use?

(A) A diaphragm

(B) The pill

(C) An IUD

(D) Condoms

25. What happens to Esther after she loses her virginity?

(A) She runs away from the mental hospital

(B) She realizes she has felt sexual pleasure for the first time

(C) She bleeds uncontrollably

(D) She confides in Joan