Envisioning a New Identity in The Bell Jar by Syvia Plath

1628 Words4 Pages

The Bell Jar is occupied with several female characters that all represent an assortment of female stereotypes. There are college students who wish to fully experience the city of New York, patients in a mental institution, and psychiatrists who could potentially serve as role models throughout the novel. Esther often finds herself lacking self-confidence due to the fact that she is constantly comparing herself to these individuals. Esther is shown as being stubborn because she rejects the womanhood that is presented to her. Instead, she spends her time worrying about what she thinks it is to be a woman. Sylvia Plath’s novel, The Bell Jar, diagrams the repressed role women endured due to the restrictions and expectations of societal norms. During the 1950s the American Dream for women was to not fall short in the male-dominant society. Women wanted to enter the paid work force to help support their family and no longer rely on their husbands for their every need. Even though the overall American Dream was to be wealthy, to support a family, and to have a job; people wanted to be really wealthy without doing work. Families during this time period were materialistic and just wanted what everyone else had. The 1950s were when “…over 6 million women went to work for the first time in their lives… women were afterward criticized for destroying the American family” (Gillespie 3). In previous years, up until 1945, women stayed at home caring for their families while the men fought in World War II. More jobs were needed in the United States labor force, so the responsibility fell largely on the shoulders of female citizens. In the novel Esther relates to these women in the sense that she wants to live for herself and not her husband,... ... middle of paper ... ...lanahan, Thomas. "Sylvia Plath." American Poets Since World War II. Ed. Donald J. Greiner. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 5. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1200001843&v=2.1&u=mlin_s_stoughs&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=503fe2df27780eb697cd2b3ffa2edced 5. Perloff, Marjorie G. "'A Ritual for Being Born Twice': Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar." Contemporary Literature 13.4 (Autumn 1972): 507-522. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk. Vol. 62. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1100000662&v=2.1&u=mlin_s_stoughs&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=8258c94257f7d3b451c44f0e1d06f619 6. Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Print

Show More
Related

  • Theme Analysis of Killings by Andre Dubus

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.

    Read More

  • The Bell Jar Rhetorical Analysis

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plath uses metaphors to describe the protagonists entrapment, suffocation and torture. Bill Gibson (2000) clearly defines the purpose of the metaphorical bell jar, stating that the “bell jar is a entrapment, and a way of placing one on a display of sorts, behind a glass”. Hence, Plath uses the bell jar to describe how she feels- an object, to be stared and looked upon. - mom low ideas of mental illness- So plath uses the imagery of the bell jar to convey the suffocation and isolation that is felt by all women. Also, the unlimited expectations that society creates for women and esther’s failure to achieve the expectations leads to her sorrow and disillusionment. Hence, esther

    Read More

  • Dishonesty in The Great Gatsby

    1501 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol.

    Read More

  • The Role of Storytelling in The Things They Carried

    2570 Words  | 6 Pages

    Heberle, Mark. "Contemporary Literary Criticism." O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Vol. 74. New York, 2001. 312.

    Read More

  • Did Esther Trap Herself in "The Bell Jar"?

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath and the Bell Jar

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    "The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above my head…” For most people, when the name Sylvia Plath comes to mind, the word “psychotic” is the word that follows; however, there was more to Plath than her demented works. Throughout her shortened life, Plath had a variety of titles bestowed upon her: daughter, sister, student, wife, mother, teacher, author, and poetess However, Sylvia Plath was a haunted soul, as she also had the labels of “manic depressive” and “bipolar.” Her constant struggles with her mental illnesses are evident in her writing, especially her semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar.

    Read More

  • Symbolism Within the Bell Jar Novel

    1662 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sylvia Plath’s novel, “The Bell Jar”, tells a story of a young woman’s descent into mental illness. Esther Greenwood, a 19 year old girl, struggles to find meaning within her life as she sees a distorted version of the world. In Plath’s novel, different elements and themes of symbolism are used to explain the mental downfall of the book’s main character and narrator such as cutting her off from others, forcing her to delve further into her own mind, and casting an air of negativity around her. Plath uses images of rotting fig trees and veils of mist to convey the desperation she feels when confronted with issues of her future. Esther Greenwood feels that she is trapped under a bell jar, which distorts her view of the world around her.

    Read More

  • The Doppelgänger in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Research, 1987. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    The theme to this book is identity, all Esther really wanted to do was fit in. She figured that there was something wrong with her, with others, with society, that she didn’t want what other’s wanted. She didn’t want to get married unlike every other girl that got married because it was the norm. Esther didn’t find it fun nor got the reason why she would have to. The quote connect to identity because Esther wanted to be the same as everyone but she wasn’t she worked hard throughout school and work in order to succeed in life with or without a man. Ester’s identity was being a hard worker, an overachiever, someone who has high ambitions. So when she started to slowly distance from that identity she pretty much ended up in the unknown for her. With the pressures to fit in and be like everyone else with the fact that she was somewhat losing her identity she panicked and tried to go everywhere which eventually took a toll on her mind and body.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Depression In The Bell Jar

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    Life is full of endless amounts of beautiful encounters for every character in the novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, except for Esther. She suffers from a severe and complex mental illness that impacts her life greatly. Although it is clear that Esther suffers strongly from depression in the novel, Sylvia Plath chooses to tell her life abstractly through countless symbols and ironies to prove that Esther depression completely consumes her. Everything that Esther sees is through a lens of depression, which scews her outlook on life.

    Read More

  • The Bell Jar: Analyzing Ridiculous Expectations for Woman

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    A bell jar is an environment where something is protected or cut off from the outside world. In The Bell Jar, a novel by Sylvia Plath, Esther feels trapped by societal expectations and finds her cut off from the world. She is caught between what she wants and what people expect of her. This conflict proves to be even more difficult when important people surround Esther with their own set of expectations. Only when she fully relinquishes herself from outside pressures is she able to return to a healthy mental state and continue with her life. Esther’s insanity is the natural result of her living in a culture that has ridiculous expectations—about school, marriage, and career—for women.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1971) is a thinly veiled autobiography. Having been riddled by depression herself, Plath has us follow her protagonist Esther’s journey of self-discovery in order to assert her views on the intersection of mental illness and traditional femininity. In the novel, blood serves to mark transitions in Esther’s life. Time after time, blood intersects with largely feminine milestones and the shifts in her mental health as she witnesses births, is sexually exploited, and must confront her own sexuality. Esther struggles to fit in to the narrow feminine role and views the world through a predisposition for depressive thoughts. The “traditional” era in which she exists enforces very binary gender roles and places her purity

    Read More

  • Women's Rights In The 1960s

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    Countless women worked in place of the men during the war and were not too pleased when their husbands, fathers, and sons came home and took their jobs away again. In fact, divorce rates skyrocketed after World War II due this this as well as other issues (Allport). Women were starting to realize their unhappiness with their current role in society. This discontent was only heightened when more and more wives were becoming pregnant after their husbands returned from war. This led to even more women being placed back into their traditional role of housewife and mother. Women in general were growing weary of this traditional life. They wanted a change, but didn’t really have much to complain about from an outsider’s perspective. Many of these situations occurred in seemingly well-to-do American families; the white families living in the new suburbs of America. They had money, they were well educated, had multiple children, and seemed to have all of the things they needed to live a happy life. So why were the women so

    Read More

  • Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sylvia Plath’s writing is often associated with dark, violent, and almost disturbing imagery and themes, and her first and only novel, The Bell Jar, is no exception to this. The Bell Jar follows the story of Esther Greenwood, a young woman living in New York City, and her struggles with mental illness throughout her life. Esther is more than a fictional character; her story so closely mimics Plath’s own life – so much so that The Bell Jar is considered to be semi-autobiographical by most. Everything from Esther’s childhood to her college experiences to her own mental illness are nearly identical to Plath’s own ordeals.

    Read More

  • The Bell Jar Research Paper

    204 Words  | 1 Pages

    Identity, a difficult and unfavorable fact for those who struggle living up to the impractical standard of society. Existence defined as a mere aspect of living. For those who lack self-confidence, societal expectation and the presumption of gender role can lead to the eventual downfall of mental capability. In The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath, Esther Greenwood, a young educated, middle-class woman, strives to fulfill the expectation of living as a woman in the 1950s. Esther complicates pursuing her dreams and pursuing the already set dream for women and attempts to discover the role she plays. Plath aims to contemplate the theme differentiating the social role each character is expected to perform, in which most

    Read More

More about Envisioning a New Identity in The Bell Jar by Syvia Plath

Open Document