Comfortably Numb

"When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye / I turned to look but it was gone, I cannot put my finger on it now / the child is grown, the dream is gone / I have become comfortably numb."

         -Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, "Comfortably Numb" (The Wall, 1979)

This quote, from the 1979 Pink Floyd song "Comfortably Numb", directly relates to the situation of Esther Greenwood. As she struggles with chronic depression and attempts suicide throughout The Bell Jar, she is confronted and challenged by a feeling that her childhood is entirely gone, and she does not know how to deal with that. She compensates with self harm, which is eventually what lands her in the mental hospital. Also, Roger Waters uses the phrase "Comfortably Numb" to describe a state of being reached by the protagonist of the album "The Wall", Pink. Pink has shut himself off from the world in such a way that he is beyond aid from any person, and he is always entirely isolated in his mind, no matter if he is surrounded by other people. I think this matches Esther's feelings about the bell jar that hangs over her, threatening to trap her into darkness and isolation and depression. Another few lines from the song also verbalize Esther's situation: "Hello, is there anybody in there / just nod if you can hear me.....I can ease your pain and get you on your feet again.......Can you show me where it hurts". These lines pinpoint the doctors' attempts to help Esther and her inability to cooperate. The doctors can never truly get rid of the bell jar, and she has accepted that as a reality, therefore becoming comfortable in her state of numbness.