Hamna Sajjad2025-11-222025-11-222023https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/11698This research aims to explore The Bell Jar (1963) and selected pages of The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (1982) through the lens of Gynocriticism. Gynocriticism is a feminist literary theory, proposed by Elaine Showalter in the article Towards a Feminist Poetics (1986). It is the analysis of female writers’ texts, including the traditions, and societal conditions that influence their writing. Showalter proposed four models in this theory, linguistic, biological, cultural, and psychoanalytic. These models aid in the analysis of the texts. However, this research is only concerned with biological and psychoanalytic models. The biological model focuses on how a female body marks itself upon the text. Moreover, the psychoanalytic model focuses on the female psyche. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath manifests the life of Sylvia Plath, who wrote about herself as an illustration of all those women of 1950s America, who were struggling for their individuality. Secondly, in The Bell Jar, she speaks her heart out by using the character of Esther, a young student struggling with her career which leads her toward mental illness. By looking at all these aspects, the researcher will try to compare and contrast Sylvia Plath with the character of Esther. In what manner do both these texts offer an understanding of the world of women writers, their writing style, and the central themes they explore? Overall, this research is a portrayal of how the expectations of society and the human mind create chaos in women's lives and lead to the stages of alienation, anxiety, and self-hatred.enThesis