Analysis of The Bell Jar The ultraconservative air of the 1950's breeds the Betty Crocker kind of woman, satisfied with her limited role in a male-dominated society, one who simply submits to the desires and expectations of the opposite sex. The Bell Jar, by Syliva Plath explores the effects of society's traditional standards on a young woman coming of age. The main character, Esther Greenwood, a nineteen year-old college student, receives messages about a woman's place in society throughout her life. Esther's aspirations of becoming a writer, specifically, a poet, are obvious. Carrying out these aspirations in the 1950's is not so clear-cut, though. Esther's environment presses her to marry, settle down, have children; to be the happy housewife. For nineteen years she puts on a facade, pretending to be the woman everyone wants her to be, trying to please her family and peers, until she mentally breaks down and attempts suicide. Her mother serves as the first of her teachers in conveying this message. For example, Mrs. Greenwood wants her daughter to learn shorthand because it will get her a living until she can marry, because it can even get her a husband. She consistently emphasizes the importance of Esther staying "pure," so she can get the best of possible husbands. So early on Esther realizes that, for most women, marriage and family comprise the main substance of their lives. Esther receives more lessons from her medical student boyfriend, Buddy Willard. He often spits out remarks like one day Esther will "stop rocking the boat and start rocking a cradle." He also says that once she has children she will "feel differently," and not want to write poems anymore, that she will be "brainwashed and numb as a slave in some private, totalitarian state." This was what happened to Buddy's mother, who, after marriage, let her husband walk all over her like a "kitchen doormat." It is his mother Buddy quotes when he says, "What a man wants is a mate and what a woman wants is infinite security" and "What a man is is an arrow into the future and what a woman is is the place the arrow shoots off from." Even the editors of Ladies Day, the magazine which awarded Esther and 11 other girls a free trip to New York due to winning their fashion magazine contest, accentuate the girls' femininity. On their arrival in New York, the editors drive the girls around from fashion shows to beauty parlors to gala lunches to publicity parties. Then, after dressing them up like Cinderellas, the editors pose them in front of a camera with a dozen other "anonymous young men with all-American bone structures." The magazine is clearly not interesting in promoting the girls' intellect that won them the contest in the first place. It is no wonder Esther becomes weary of this stale, unprofitable environment which only stifles her personal growth. Before Esther went to New York, her life was safely circumscribed. She was always "running after good marks and prizes and grants of one sort an another" for as long as she could remember. During that fateful summer in the city questions suddenly confronted her: What does being a woman mean? What female role should she play? The book presents a variety of female roles: Dodo Conway, a perpetually pregnant woman whose face glows with a "serene, almost religious smile"; Buddy Willard's mother, a professor's wife and leading citizen who constantly quotes words of wisdom; Doreen, the Southern blonde bimbo who always snags the men she wants; Betsy, the blithe, innocent, and simple Midwestern fashion model; Philomena Guinea, the best-selling novelist who endows Esther with a college scholarship; and Jay Cee, the successful fashion magazine editor. But despite Dodo's placid contentment, Jay's cleverness, Mrs. Willard's womanly wisdom, Doreen's attractiveness, and Betsy's innocence, all are essentially flawed as humans, and as women. Besides good looks, Doreen also possesses an innate vulgarity and frivolity. Dodo, though maternally content, represents no more than a flabby, misshapen animal. Mrs. Willard, though seemingly refined and cultured, actually lets her husband walk all over her like a doormat. Philomena Guinea's novels are not literary masterpieces, but endless, gossipy soap operas, while Betsy represents the empty-headed "nice girl." For all of these women, it is impossible for them to assert their independence, to stand alone on solid ground, to be their own person. These male-dependent, bubble-headed, flawed women constantly bombard Esther's mind; their world and way of life do not satisfy her needs or desires. One of the novel's key passages best describes the conflicting emotions running through Esther's mind, and shows a vision of her life branching out like a green fig tree: 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. . . 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. This passage of Esther's symbolic tree shows the amazing complexity and confusion characteristic of the choices women have to make. One common root emerges into thousands of different branches, and she faces the dilemma of choosing one and only one path. Negative images of childbirth and babies are also prominent throughout the book. In a gynecologist's office, watching a mother lovingly caressing her baby, Esther wonders why she does not feel these same maternal sensations, as biological and social roles suggest. To her, babies represent a trap, and sex as the bait. She realizes they represent life, but not the life she wants to live. She does not want fulfillment though childbirth, as many women would; she wants to fulfill herself, by herself, with no help from anybody. Between the enormous fetuses on display at Buddy's hospital ward and her neighbor, Dodo Conway, as a permanent slave to her seven children, Esther feels overwhelmed, even sickened. Babies lure Esther toward suicide by presenting to her only two options: either giving oneself completely to the child or dying. The choice to live looms so visibly and painfully that she takes matters into her own hands by attempting to kill herself later on. She also witnesses childbirth in the hospital where Buddy, works. The woman's stomach stuck up so high I couldn't see her face or the upper part of her body at all. She seemed to have nothing but an enormous spider-fat stomach and two little ugly spindly legs propped in the high stirrups, and all the time the baby was being born she never stopped making this inhuman whooing noise. The head doctor. . . kept saying to the woman, "Push down, Mrs. Tomolillo, push down, that's a good girl, push down," and finally through the split, shaven place between her legs, lurid with disinfectant, I saw a dark fuzzy thing appear. In this scene childbirth seems like a frightening ordeal, in which the "dark fuzzy thing" emerges from between the woman's legs. The pain of Mrs. Tomolillo is quite apparent with her "spider-fat stomach," "ugly, spindly legs," and "inhuman whooing noise." The child itself is streaked with blood and "blue as a plumb." It is like a foreign object that violates the mother's body. After observing the "sewing up of the woman's cut with a needle and long thread," Esther wonders "if there were any other ways to have babies." All of these conservative messages about the roles of women in society take their toll on Esther's personality. On the outside, people see Esther as the fashionable college girl with her patent leather bag and matching pumps; the brainy English major, who is equally comfortable on the party scene or behind the books. These images confirm the fact that Esther has always played the roles others wanted her to play. For her mother is "the perfect good girl." For Mr. Manzi, her physics professor, she is the model student, though secretly she loathes physics. For Buddy, she is only sweet and agreeable. For Doreen, Esther seems tough and sophisticated. For Betsy, she is the fun girl who enjoys sappy movies. Finally, Esther breaks down when she attempts to paste a forced smile on her face while modeling in front of the Ladies' Day photographers. Dissolving into tears, the whole artificial facade of the past 19 years crashes down on her. Before leaving New York, Esther abandons all of her fashionable clothes provided by the magazine, letting each item float down over the city from the top of her hotel. This action represents the renouncing of the feminine standards, and obliteration of the self. After her distressful month in New York, Esther returns to Massachusetts, where she attempts suicide in the basement of her house by swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills. The years of gender inequality messages, false identities, and artificial contentment weigh her down, as she finally takes matters into her own hands.
...es these primitive standards, she becomes melancholy because she does not attune into the gender roles of women, which particularly focus on marriage, maternity, and domesticity. Like other nineteen year old women, Esther has many goals and ambitions in her life. Nevertheless, Esther is disparaged by society’s blunt roles created for women. Although she experiences a tremendous psychological journey, she is able to liberate herself from society’s suffocating constraints. Esther is an excellent inspiration for women who are also currently battling with society’s degrading stereotypes. She is a persistent woman who perseveres to accomplish more than being a stay at home mother. Thus, Esther is a voice for women who are trying to abolish the airless conformism that is prevalent in 1950’s society.
Esther losing her virginity leads to her being “half black with blood” (p.219), a symbol of blood to indicate a new her: “I felt a part of a great tradition” (p.219). Furthermore, blood symbolism is used when Marco, “a woman-hater” (p.102), attempts to rape Esther and when she resists, leaves her “with two strokes stained on my cheeks” (p.105). Plath uses the symbol to represent major defining milestones in Esther’s life, similarly to other situations, such as the suicide attempts. The blood symbolism also represents the violence that can attach itself to sex in a society where women are seen as lower, especially for younger women. In these situations, Esther believes she is reaching “a new condition in peace” (p.219), but often she is putting herself in dangerous situations. This is too similar to Holden, who hires a prostitute to lose his virginity as he has “never got around it yet” (p.83). Her young and nervous demeanour begins to make him feel “more depressed than sexy” (p.86), and this leads to a violent standoff between him and Sunny’s pimp. Both authors use characterisation and Plath uses symbolism to make a point about the confused mindset adolescents have; both males and females believe that it should change their identity drastically, however, the transition for each has a different purpose. The authors are attempting to convince the reader that adolescents are often misinformed about sex and this leads to the idolisation of losing their virginity; a negative belief that often leads to mistakes and hurt. Idolising this concept leads them to adopting it as a part of their
The character of Esther is widely criticized for her perfection as a character, both receiving positive acclaims and negative feedback. Esther’s reserved, quiet character illustrates the role of women during the Victorian period and what little impact on society women played. Critics of Bleak House generally praise the narration and Dickens’s use of Esther’s character, which gives direction to the novel.
The narrator states, “To his surprise, his father began very carefully to direct the needle into the top of the new child's forehead, puncturing the place where the fragile skin pulsed”(149). The narrator also quotes, “As he continued to watch, the new child, no longer crying, moved his arms and legs in a jerking motion. Then he went limp. His head fell to the side, his eyes half open. Then he was still”(149). This innocent baby is murdered because he is a twin and he weighs less than the other twin. The society is brainwashed into believing that they release babies, but this really means that they kill them. In addition to killing babies, they also beat the
Sylvia Plath wrote the semi autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, in which the main character, Esther, struggles with depression as she attempts to make herself known as a writer in the 1950’s. She is getting the opportunity to apprentice under a well-known fashion magazine editor, but still cannot find true happiness. She crumbles under her depression due to feeling that she doesn’t fit in, and eventually ends up being put into a mental hospital undergoing electroshock therapy. Still, she describes the depth of her depression as “Wherever I sat - on the deck of a ship or at a street a cafe in Paris or Bangkok - I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air” (Plath 178). The pressure to assimilate to society’s standards from her mother, friends, and romantic interests, almost pushes her over the edge and causes her to attempt suicide multiple times throughout her life. Buddy Willard, Esther’s boyfriend at a time, asks her to marry him repeatedly in which she declines. Her mother tries to get her to marry and makes her go to therapy eventually, which leads to the mental hospital. Esther resents the way of settling down and making a family, as well as going out and partying all night. She just wants to work to become a journalist or publisher. Though, part of her longs for these other lives that she imagines livings, if she were a different person or if different things happened in her life. That’s how Elly Higgenbottom came about. Elly is Esther when Esther doesn’t want to be herself to new people. Esther’s story portrays the role of women in society in the 1950’s through Esther’s family and friends pushing her to conform to the gender roles of the time.
Through the gothic writing of Stoker, there was a huge intimidation of Dracula coming forth from it. “Stoker spared no effort to present his demonic vampire as dramatically as possible” (Leatherdale 105-17). With this sinister presence of death, people start to panic. As a vampire hunter, it was Helsing’s job to help notify people on how to rid themselves of this demon. Stoker portrays survival in the form of teamwork between the men and women of the novel. These characters soon take survival into their own hands. “‘We must trace each of those boxes; and when we are ready, we must either capture or kill this monster in his lair; or we must, so to speak, sterilize the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it’” (Stoker 373). At this point in the novel, the characters know about the existence of vampires. The consequences are also put on top priority. The men know of the consequences, yet still want to go after this demon. “By chasing Dracula, the men risk being sentenced to an immortal life as a vampire. This immortality is endless time lived in physical form” (Poquette 35). Knowing the risks of hunting a vampire, the characters ignore them to protect their loved ones. A vampire hunter is an important factor in the novel because without one, the other characters wouldn’t know what to do. Stoker chose right in including
All throughout the Dracula, a feeling of failure and doom prevails because of his supernatural powers. Dracula ...
Hoskisson, Paul A. “The Allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob.” The Allegory of the
On a bumpy train ride to the quiet, picturesque landscape of Transylvania, a man named Jonathan Harker is set to visit one of his boss’s clients, a man named Count Dracula. Upon arrival, Jonathan is on pledge to “Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness …” (Stoker 23). But slowly, Jonathan realizes that he is becoming a prisoner in the Count’s castle, and that his host is a vampire! Finally, after surviving three months in the castle, Jonathan escapes with his dear life. He comes back to London and assembles a band to defeat the “devil”--ridding the world of evil. The killing of Count Dracula greatly diminishes the evil of the world, but not completely. The reason is that Satan (or a Satanic figure) can never completely die out. He will come back to haunt us with his dark power. Which is an interesting perspective, if one thinks about the actual “Devil”. When Bram Stoker writes Dracula, he is “basing his vampire on an actual historical figure. Stoker’s model was Vlad IV Dracula” (“Vlad Dracula”). The name Dracula is Romanian for “Devil”. Vlad was a terrible person, who was known as the “Impaler” (“Vlad Dracula”). This is a nifty name for a terrible tyrant. In the vampire novel Dracula...
On the eve of her freedom from the asylum, Esther laments, “I had hoped, at my departure, I would feel sure and knowledgeable about everything that lay ahead- after all, I had been ‘analyzed.’ Instead, all I could see were question marks” (243). The novel is left open-ended, with a slightly optimistic tone but no details to help the reader fully understand the final step of her healing process. Esther desired to be free of social conventions and double standards, but consistently imposed them upon herself and on the people around her. Her evolution in understanding never reaches a satisfying conclusion, and the reader is also left with nothing but question marks.
The book of Esther tells of a courageous young woman who uses her mind to please God. She becomes the wife of a great king and allows for protection of her own people, the Jews. Esther is a great role model for women of modern day times because of her strength, nobility, and honesty. She portrays a woman with power that most women of that day did not have. The story of Esther has empowered women of all backgrounds and will continue to do so well into the future.
However, Esther begins to think negatively of Buddy when she finds out that he has slept with another woman and is no longer a virgin. Esther claims that “he had been pretending… to be so innocent,” and that Buddy’s illness was “a punishment for living… [a] double life.” Esther is understandable angry because she as a female is expected to be pure and innocent whereas men can sleep with many other women without consequences. According to Kirsty Grocott of The Telegraph, Plath creates a double standard between men and women “by littering the book with brutal, ignorant or ineffectual males, men that enjoy freedoms that women can only dream of.”# Plath may have included this to demonstrate how damaging this double standard can have on young women.
The beginning of the novel introduces the reader to Esther O'Malley Robertson as the last of a family of extreme women. She is sitting in her home, remembering a story that her grandmother told her a long time ago. Esther is the first character that the reader is introduced to, but we do not really understand who she is until the end of the story. Esther's main struggle is dealing with her home on Loughbreeze Beach being torn down, and trying to figure out the mysteries of her family's past.
The Bell Jar is an autobiography of a female sophomore. The girl-Esther, who is 19 years old, came from suburban area of Boston. As she had talent writing skills, she was invited to New York to serve as guest editor in a national fashion magazine office. In her one-month stay in New York, on one hand, Esther was cautious and conscientious to learn from an able and efficient female editor-Jay Cee, and she dreamt to follow Jay Cee’s successful step. On the other hand, she met various men and women in her colorful social life. These experiences reminded her of her life in women’s university, especially her relationship with her boyfriend- Buddy Willard. As the recollection often interweaved with reality, they brought Esther perplexity, discouragement and lost. Esther could not even more figure out the significance of reality as well as the goal of her own life. When her life in New York came to an end, Esther came back her hometown to spend the summer vacation with her mother. However, a new incident hard hit Esther- she was rejected by the writing course that she was given high expectation by professors in her university. The conservative atmosphere in the town made Esther feel days wear on like years. Esther denied completely that all achievements she got in past 19 years, and she even felt doubtful and terrified toward the future. Facing such heavy pressure, she was broken down totally. Since she was lost at that time, she tried to put an end to her life. After she was saved, she received psychological consultation in a psychiatric hospital. In this period, she rethought and relocated her position, and she rebuilt confidence step by step. At the end of the novel, Esther waited to leave hospital and she looked forward to starting a...
Esther Greenwood struggles with perfectionism and society lead to a downward spiral and suicide attempt. Her inability to choose a path for her life and her social interactions with those around her makes her feel trapped inside herself. Esther feels that she has been rejected from both social and intellectual worlds, causing her world to totally change. Her lack of identity produces the irony found in The Bell Jar and it is only when she learns to stand outside of the world of the bell jar, does she truly begin to see her innerself. Jay Cee’s comments about her inatequacy and her rejection from writing school have a detramental impact on Esther’s self-esteem that she feels she cannot overcome. She feels she is not good enough or perfect enough to achieve the happiness she desires.