Blood is can be connection, pain, and death to most people. Esther however, thinks of blood the complete opposite. The symbolism of blood in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar reinforces the fact that Esther gains accomplishment when blood is shed. In chapter 9 and 10, Esther gets into a messy fight with Marco. Esther balls up her fist and punches Marco in the nose (Plath 109). Marco marks Esther with the blood that ran from his nose. Esther says, “Then, deliberately, he wiped his finger under his bloody nose and with two strokes stained my cheeks” (110). After the fight in chapter 9 she returns home in chapter 10 and on her way she begins to talk about it as she says, “I hadn't, at the last moment, felt like washing off the two diagonal lines of dried blood that marked my cheeks. They seemed touching, and rather spectacular, and I thought I would carry them with me, like a relic of a dead lover, till they wore off on their own accord” (112-113). She uses diction such as, spectacular and touching to describe the smudges of blood on her face. You can infer, Esther thinks of the blood on her face like a medal or trophy of a sort as she doesn't want to take it off as she is proud of it. Esther also explains that she wants the blood on her face when she says, “...if I smiled or …show more content…
Esther is quite worried about all the blood, but comes to a thought as she says, “Then the stories of blood-stained bridal sheets and capsules of red ink bestowed on already deflowered brides floated back to me. I wondered how much I would bleed, and lay down, nursing the towel. It occurred to me that the blood was my answer. I couldn't possibly be a virgin any more. I smiled into the dark. I felt part of a great tradition.” (229) Esther think that because she has bled after having sex for the first time that she has made an accomplishment, due to the fact that it happens to others to after a wedding night which is to most people a big
While discussing the slaves Berry says, “ I see them go in the bonds of my blood,”(31). This shows that blood signifies the bloodline to his ancestry, by using the word blood the author provides a powerful message of how close he is to his ancestors. The next use of the word blood is in the most powerful stanza of the poem. Berry concluded the poem with, “ I am owned by the blood of all of them/who ever were owned by my blood.”(39-40). This quote uses blood as the connection between the blood spilled by his ancestors, and the blood of his ancestors existing within him. Berry’s use of blood as a motif provides a strong statement about the speaker’s connection to his ancestors and their
In All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy uses blood as a unifying concept allowing it to flow within the body of the text; the reader gets a sense that the novel is giving life to someone while simultaneously bringing upon its death. The reality of John Grady exists within the use of blood, connecting his life to the natural beauty and animals through which his character emerges. Blood is essential for the human race; we need it to live, once having bled we learn and if we lose it all, we die. Nonetheless, blood associates us to the world around us; its flow so similar to the flowing waters, its color so alive and “nothing can be proven except that it is made bleed.” (p.230)
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.
In the end of the novel, Esther at last, comes to terms with reality. She has got to stop living her life according to what others expect of her. She needs to start living her life for “her”. After Joan commits suicide, Esther believes that unless she turns her life around, she will also commit suicide. Esther saw so much of herself in Joan, that when Joan ended her life she was frightened that she would follow in her footsteps, due to the fact that she had throughout the entire novel. Once Joan was gone, Esther was truly free. The part of Joan that was reflected in Esther vanished. The “bell jar” that had been suffocating her was finally lifted.
Symbolism, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities,” is one of the major literary devices used throughout “The Bell Jar”. Symbolism is used to create different layers and present new aspects by expanding upon a single idea throughout the book. Sylvia Plath uses the symbol of the bell jar to show how Esther’s perspective is skewed due to the fact that she feels “trapped” under a bell jar. For Esther, the bell jar does nothing but terrify her. She knows that she has become separate and cast off from the rest of the world. The bell jar forces her to become someone she is not.
... because Mina believes that she is to fulfill a duty to her husband, rather than living life for herself. Throughout the novel, Mina’s physical appearance is observed upon by the standards of a patriarchal system of beliefs. After Mina had lived in Dr. Seward’s asylum for a while, Mina, like Lucy, is attacked by Dracula and starts to transform into a vampire (Stoker 283). While trying to bless Mina, Van Helsing burns a mark into her forehead which caused chaos of emotion from the characters (Stoker 296). Van Helsing responds to this occurrence by saying “And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see when that red scar, the sign of God’s knowledge of what has been, shall pass away and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know” (Stoker 296). Similar to Lucy’s case, Mina is seen as being pure before she was changed into a vampire.
...only known as a funeral flower. This again foreshadows the young bride’s death before her allowance of corruption. The mark on her forehead is a symbol of her mistake, a mistake she is never allowed to forget, this can be linked to the view that women are never allowed to forget a mistake made by them. Angela Carter again shows the position of women in society; once a mistake is made you are an outcast in society. This can also be linked to the biblical reference of Cane, ‘him who became an outcast’.
Blood is an important symbol that is used continuously in the play. In the beginning of the play, blood is something which represents courage and bravery. Those who fought and created blood were thought to be heroic. However, towards the end of the play, blood has become something which everyone fears, it is evil, and symbolises guilt and murder. An example of this can be found in act three, scene four, starting at line one hundred and twenty-three:
In the short story “Just Lather, That’s All” by Hernando Tellez, the word blood symbolizes: the protagonist’s pride, dark imagination, and his inner voice. Our actions when presented with a crisis can change our whole life. “I don’t want blood on my hands.” (Tellez 195) Is a quote that represents that the barber does not want to take the blame for the death of Captain Torres. He loves and takes pride in his job, and is not a murderer, even if he has once had the thought to carry out a murder. This connects to the imagery in the quote “Out of his neck a gush of blood would spout onto the sheet . . . like a little scarlett stream.” (Tellez 194) The quote shows that the main character has a dark place of mind and also has a very vivid imagination.
She claims that she has `always wanted to learn German` although `the very sight of those dense, black, barbed-wire letters made my mind shut like a clam`. Esther associates the language with her `German-speaking father`, who `cane from some manic-depressive hamlet in the black heart of Prussia'. I think that Esther`s stunt in progress is directly linked to the death of her father, and the little that she knows about him, and that a major factor contributing to her eventual suicide attempt is the fact that she used to be the best and no longer can be.
At the end of the novel, Esther finally see’s a light at the end of the tunnel. She finally realizes that there is hope for her to become healthy again. Once Esther realizes that she will not always feel as bad as she does, she also comes to the conclusion that all the negativity and questioning in her life have made her into the person she has become. Esther finally realizes what her true identity is and she is okay with who she has become.
Symbols are present in every person’s daily life. Symbols are seen everywhere, whether it is through art, religion, culture, or road signs, they are all around. Blood is a symbol that is seen in art, religion, literature and many other visual forms. Its direct connection to the human body is a significant aspect of its symbolism. People in the medieval period, which was right before Shakespeare’s time, thought that the blood was a person’s life force, and to some extent they were right. Literature uses blood to represent a variety of things such as a character’s desires, emotions and conscience. In the play “Macbeth,” by William Shakespeare, blood symbolizes many things, however, the most significant
Daddy was written on October 12, 1962 by Sylvia Plath, shortly before her death, and published posthumously in Ariel in 1963. Throughout the poem it could be viewed from a feminist perspective, drawing attention to the misogynistic opinions and behaviours of the time it was written. Misonogy is A person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women. It can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification of women.
“Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.” ( http://thinkexist.com/quotes/sylvia_plath/)
I will be investigating Human Blood as my specific tissue and giving an overview on the location, characteristics, and the benefits it has to the human body. Blood is extracellular matrix that is consists of plasma, red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells. Blood is located within the capillaries/veins/arteries of the human body, which are blood vessels that run through the entire body. These blood vessels allow the blood to flow smoothly and quickly from the heart to distinct parts of the human body. The unique parts of human blood all work together for a purpose: the Red Blood Cells(erythrocytes) transports oxygen throughout the body, White Blood Cells(leukocytes) play a part in the bodies immune system, Platelets(thrombocytes) assist in creating scabs,