“So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read: “Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head.””

- Richard Cory, Simon and Garfunkel

The song that I feel represents The Bell Jar is Richard Cory by Simon and Garfunkel. It is a song about a wealthy and respected factory owner who, despite seemingly having an excellent life, is unhappy and kills himself. Both the song and the book feature characters- Cory and Esther- who have supposedly good lives, but are unhappy. The line “Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he’s got.” shows that people generally assume Cory must be happy because he is a wealthy factory owner. Esther in the The Bell Jar also has a supposedly good life: She is smart and is getting an excellent education, she loves and is allegedly good at writing, and she has a boyfriend who loves her and wants to marry her. However, neither Esther nor Richard Cory are happy with their lives. Richard Cory’s unhappiness is illustrated by some of the final lines of the song: “So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read: “Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head.”” Similarly to Cory, Esther attempts suicide multiple times because she feels her life is meaningless. Eventually, these feelings drive her insane, although she eventually recovers, unlike Cory.