- Single Ladies (Beyoncé): Esther was never able to find someone to have a complete relationship with.
- Sail (AWOLNATION): Contains lyrics with the possibility of suicide in order to make things better.
- Born This Way (Lady Gaga): Esther cannot change herself from what she is.
- Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra): Esther cannot let other people bring her down even though she seems to let herself be brought down.
- Lean on Me (Bill Withers): Throughout the book, Esther needed a full-time friend to be there when she need him/her.
- Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson): This song's lyric talks about breaking free which is what Esther needed to do when things when south.
- Rehab (Amy Winehouse): Esther was forced to see doctors about her mental abilities, like rehab.
- Fix You (Coldplay): Has lyrics saying to change yourself for the better
- How to Save a Life (The Fray): Discusses trying to save someone which pertains to trying to help Esther after she attempted suicide.
- Bad Day (Daniel Powter): Esther had numerous "bad days" throughout the entire book.
I believe the combination of these ten songs would be a proper soundtrack for The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. The songs address all the main topics in the book such as Esther being single, suicide and her needing help.
Practically any song on the album "One-X" by Three Days Grace could be used effectively for this soundtrack. In short, the album is filled with anger, sadness, and hardships; however, the obstacles are mainly tackled through rash acts of rage. In fact, majority of society would most likely consider the contents of this album to be disturbing. With that being said, however, The Bell Jar is eerily similar, connecting in more ways than one. For example, the song "Animal I Have Become" tells the story of an individual who is trapped by the harsh living conditions of society. People can connect with this in many ways, taking into consideration the unfortunate truth that everybody has their demons, as well as their struggles. We see how difficult it is for some people to deal with the pain, in the lyrics "I can't escape this Hell/ So many times I've tried." Here, we can connect to the variety of instances where Esther pondered over whether or not to kill herself. Throughout the book, it seems as though she can never catch a break. She is repeatedly mistreated by men, rejected by her writing course, and dealing with the horrible process of shock treatment. These are only a few examples of what ultimately ended up unleashing "the animal" that Esther has become. Other songs from the album have titles that are pretty self explanatory, such as "Pain." Each track in one way or another is driven by the same hatred and anger. Esther shows vast amounts of disappointment following the news of how Buddy had lost his virginity. With this disappointment comes agonizing heartache and rage. She never looked at Buddy as being that type of man, and, as a result of his actions, never really looked at men the same again. In the song "Pain," it is said that we ought to be angry rather than miserable when heartache occurs. Although Esther ultimately falls into depression, her initial response to the news is much more frustration than it is sadness. From these few examples, there is no question that the album "One-X" relates to The Bell Jar, pertaining to sadness, anger, suicide, and disturbing nature.
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