"Panic Attack"

"Panic Attack"- Dream Theater

The song "Panic Attack" by Dream Theater describes the thoughts and emotions of a person experiencing a panic attack. The lyrics are written in first person, which mirrors the point of view in which Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar was written. Both the song and the novel take us inside the mind of a mentally unstable person, and both are, at times, chilling to the bone. Esther has a few panic attacks throughout The Bell Jar, which in the end send her down into a deep, suicidal depression. In the seventh verse of "Panic Attack," the lyrics are "Tension strikes, Choking me, Worries grow." Tension strikes when Esther suddenly finds out that she has not been accepted to the writing course. Although she claims that she was expecting the worst, it is clear that she really thought she would make it. She starts to get very nervous and has a panic attack, falling into a depression. She constantly worries about her future, making one insane plan after another. She is just grasping since her plan in  life came crashing down on her in a matter of seconds. "Panic Attack" goes on to say, "Rapid heartbeat pounding through my chest./Agitated body in distress . . . Daily life is strangled by my stress." As soon as Esther's mother tells her the news about her rejection by the instructors of the writing course, Esther says, "The air punched out of my stomach" (Plath 114). After taking such a blow, she and her body become agitated and remain that way for quite some time. While Esther stays at her mother's house, she is never the same. Every day, she is so stressed and depressed that she thinks about ending her life. In a way, a part of her already died with the rejection: her happiness and hope. "Panic Attack" says later on, "Lost all hope for redemption. A grave situation desperate at best." While Esther does make a plethora of plans in the days after her rejection from the writing course, she knows in her heart that she will not follow through with any of them. She sees a one-way path in her depression, and it ends in death. In her mind, there is no hope of recovery. Therefore, she decides to try to kill herself, which is a very grave situation that is clearly a desperate cry for help.