"Checking the Brownies"

I'm a little embarrassed after today's comments on Sylvia Plath and lets call them her "eccentricities," but before today's class I had the full intention of talking about The Bell Jar and my thoughts on the idea of a "secular scripture."  

When I think of a sacred text, I think of something a person can carry with them as an artifact, a little piece of an idea that they can turn to for guidance.   They can see parts of themselves in its contents, and therefore  take from it a sense of comfort from the advice and solace they find in the words.  Other than the Bible, I suppose my sacred text is The Bell Jar.    Just as Job teaches me to be patient and Esther teaches me to be strong, Esther Greenwood teaches me to not let the anxiety of having to be everything to everyone at once overwhelm me.  Although I won't be "checking the brownies" anytime soon, I am genuinely aware of the feeling of being in a bell jar. 

"If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell."

What does this have to do with Shakespeare, you ask? I'm not sure.  Perhaps people look to Shakespeare as a narrative compass or an outline to which they can compare their own ideas.   Maybe secular scripture is something that can be read over and over and never get old. Longevity.  That's how I feel about The Bell Jar, as morbid as that sounds.