The Burden of Choice: Sylvia Plath’s Haunting Fig Tree Metaphor

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor. Another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America. Another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions. Another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar 

(Quoted via GoodReads)

The anxiety of choice can be simply understood by the fact that several options can confuse individuals and overwhelm their decision making. In William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, the character Pistol says- "Why, then the world’s mine oyster, which I with sword will open." In this context, Pistol is saying that he will use force (his sword) to seize opportunities, much like one would pry open an oyster to find a pearl. But how does one choose the right oyster, with the perfect pearl, in the vast ocean, among countless corals without being paralyzed by the fear of choosing wrong?

The burden of choice, as illustrated in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, mirrors Swiss Psychotherapist, Carl Jung’s concept of individuation and the struggle between the Persona and the true self. In the Bell Jar’s famous fig tree analogy, the protagonist sees her life branching into infinite possibilities each fig representing a different path, a different version of herself. Yet, instead of confidently choosing, she becomes paralyzed by the fear of choosing the wrong option in haste. In Jungian terms, this paralysis stems from the tension between the Persona which is the identity shaped by societal expectations, and the Self, the deeper, authentic core of one’s being that seeks true fulfillment.

The Persona, which exists in the realm of consciousness, tells us which figs we should pick based on external validation: the “respectable” career, the socially approved relationship, the life that aligns with the expectations of family, culture, or friends. However, the deeper unconscious stews beneath this mask, sensing that the choice is not merely about external success but about something far greater- the realization of the true self. The fear of choosing wrong, then, is not just a fear of missing out but a deeper, it is moreover, existential anxiety: What if the life I choose is not aligned with who I truly am?

This inner turmoil, the battle between the Persona and the Self can lead to what Jung calls unconscious turbulence, where the individual experiences increasing dissatisfaction, anxiety, and existential dread. Just as the protagonist in The Bell Jar watches the figs wither and fall, many people remain stuck in indecision and become stagnant while trying to avoid choice altogether rather than risking the dark unknown. But from a Jungian perspective, this suffering is not meaningless, it is the unconscious urging the individual toward individuation. The discomfort signals that one must move beyond the Persona, beyond the fear of external judgment, and begin to explore their deeper desires.

The true tragedy, then, is not choosing the wrong fig, but failing to choose at all, allowing life’s possibilities to rot away out of fear. In the end, the process of individuation teaches that no single choice defines us permanently but rather, it is through action, reflection, and courage that we come closer to the Self, the wholeness that exists beyond the illusions of the Persona or in other words, the mask that conceals us.