The first time I saw a fingerbowl was at the home of my benefactress. {...} The water had a few cherry blossoms in it, and I thought it must be some clear sort of Japanese after-dinner soup and ate every bit of it, including the crisp little blossoms.
In Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar," the narrator recounts her initial experience with a fingerbowl at the home of a benefactor. The bowl contained water with cherry blossoms floating on the surface, which she innocently mistook for a type of Japanese soup served after a meal.
In her naivety, she ended up consuming all of the water and the blossoms, not realizing the true purpose of the fingerbowl was for cleaning one's fingers rather than as a dish for eating. This moment highlights her innocence and disconnection from social customs, illustrating her struggles with identity and belonging.
