Gender Roles In The Bell Jar

Throughout The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath explores a number of themes, particularly regarding the gender roles, and subsequently, the mental health care system for women. Her 19-year-old protagonist, Esther Greenwood, is the vessel through which Plath poses many probing questions about these topics to the reader. In the 1950s when the novel was set, women were held to a high standard: to be attractive but pure, intelligent but submissive, and to generally accept the notion of bettering oneself only in order to make life more comfortable for the significant male in her life. Esther not only deals with the typical problems faced by women in her time, but she has to experience those things through the lens of mental illness though it is up for

The woman’s role in society had many changes during the era of WWII to the baby boom era. It went from the strong independent woman that can work in a factory to a house wife that takes care of the family to the final slightly dominant, but still dependent female. All of these different feminine mystiques were changed because of society and through indirect propaganda in TV shows and

In Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood seems incapable of healthy relationships with other women. She is trapped in a patriarchal society with rigid expectations of womanhood. The cost of transgressing social norms is isolation, institutionalization and a lost identity as woman. The struggle for an individual identity under this regime is enough to drive a person to the verge of suicide. Given the oppressive system under which she must operate, Esther Greenwood's problems with women stem from her conflict between individuality and conformity.

The pain and trauma that stem from Esther’s illness have warped her view of the world around her. However, this symbol also represents the pressures put on women in the 1950s to be what was considered ideal for women during this era. The bell jar “suggests more than Esther’s inner alienated world”, it also “signifies society which destroys Esther” and “symbolizes ‘scientific punishment’ for non-conformists” (Evans 105). She “must combat the additional alienation of being an aspiring woman in an era of strict limitations for women” which only hinders her further from her goals in life (Axelrod). While many women at the time planned on marrying and settling down, Esther does not view these expectations for women in the same way and instead wishes to be her own independent person. While working as the guest editor of Mademoiselle, a fashion magazine, Esther “suffocates under the bell jar forced on her by a competitive, male-oriented society”(Evans 105). During the fifties women were not expected to have successful careers in general and the male dominant world held a high level of competition; while trying to come out on top in this society Esther ends up cracking under the intense pressure. Representing both the stifling social limits set on women and the protagonist’s dismal mental state, the bell jar is a robust symbol in this novel.

The Bell Jar, a coming of age, semi-autobiographical novel, by Sylvia Plath follows the life of a troubled young girl named Esther Greenwood, her slow descent into mental illness and then her subsequent recovery. The second half of the book details Esther's mental breakdown, her incarceration and stumbling recovery whilst the first half uncovers the protagonists, narrators day to day struggles which go on to contribute to her eventual breakdown . Throughout the novel, the reader comes to understand that Esther feels there are few choices; in character a woman must be either the virgin or the whore, both of which are demonstrated by Esther's friends, Betsy and Doreen. This presents one of the key internal conflicts the protagonist, Esther battles.

In The Bell Jar, Esther finds it extremely difficult to put her thoughts into words. She loses friends as she is unable to communicate with them. She lacks relationships due to her silent behaviour. “The silence depresses me. It isn’t the silence of silence. It’s my own silence,” (Plath 18) she says. Although at first Esther feels upset by the lack of connections she has, she loses motivation to even try and explain herself to others. Unlike Mr. Chance in The Cloud Chamber, and Deborah in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Esther’s mental state does not improve, and she is unable to resolve lost connections. Esther’s mother tells her, “the cure for thinking too much about yourself is helping somebody who is worse off than you” (Plath 161). However, in her case, she’s so disconnected from the people who were once a big part of her life, that she doesn’t know who to reach out to. She doesn’t see herself being capable of maintaining stable and happy relationships with others when she can’t even maintain her own happiness.

“were forced out of their wartime occupations and into the domesticity of the new American nuclear family, many women felt disenfranchised. Furthermore, the 1950s are often identified as the pinnacle of gender inequality as women were denigrated and portrayed as ‘stupid, submissive, purely domestic creatures’” (George, 2013).

The great Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women were created equal.” Thus, the significance behind this quote by Mrs. Stanton reveals that not only has the society upon planet Earth have establish a cruel history of suppressing the female gender, but it has also manufactured many stigmas and notions that are pinned to perception of how a woman must conduct herself. Nonetheless, several examples of society’s shortcomings are presented throughout O’Connor’s short story. Specifically, the story’s representation of Red Sammy’s wife and her subsequent actions allow the reader to make the strong connection that society in the 1950’s was an era in time where males obtained significant social

Life in the 1960’s consisted of many deep cultural changes; especially when it came to a change in gender roles and stereotypes. For woman, society was set on a believing that a their overall goal in life was to be married, have lots of children, and devote their life to be 100% dependant on their husbands. On the other hand, men had to be the provider and the rock of the family. This all changed when The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ensured that people of all colors, races, and gender could not be discriminated against in employment thus females were entering the paid workforce head on. Men also started to learn more about being a caregiver and became stay at home dads. Both Walter Mosley and Raymond Chandler help convey this representation of gender roles, gender as a category and gender stereotypes in the 1960s through their written works.

People's lives are shaped through their success and failure in their personal relationships with each other. The author Sylvia Plath demonstrates this in the novel, The Bell Jar. This is the direct result of the loss of support from a loved one, the lack of support and encouragement, and lack of self confidence and insecurity in Esther's life in the The Bell Jar. It was shaped through her success and failures in her personal relationships between others and herself.

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.

Esther’s mother and society’s expectation as a woman, which is to be a good wife and a mother, suffocate and demoralize Esther’s dream as a professional writer. Esther’s mother wants her to “...learn shorthand after college, so I’d have a practical skill as well as a college degree” (Plath 40). Her mother believes that Esther cannot further advance her education as a writer and simply wants her to be a secretary since professional career for women was uncommon and discouraged because it disturbs the role as a married woman. These pressures often obliged her to fall into the societal expectations, to give up her higher education, and to marry somebody. However, she knew that the marriage and the babies were not for her, “because cook and clean and wash were just about

In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Alice Munro’s Lives of Girls and Women, Esther and Del try to take control of their sexuality and their sexual lives. These two female protagonists attempt to gain sexual confidence by quietly rejecting the societal images of women. They are able to seduce men and pilot their own sexual lives. These women are also able to ignore the popular beliefs about marriage and motherhood, thus freeing them from the traditional, restrictive female sexual roles. By rejecting the popular notions of womanhood, sexuality, and marriage, Esther and Del become the mistresses of their sexuality and sexual

The Bell Jar teaches us that every opportunity a woman had received in the 1950’s was a gift and should be taken immediately. Women had certain expectations they must meet and ways they must look in order to be accepted by society. Women were compared to the look of models, they were expected to look just as good as they still are nowadays. For example, “ A model named Bettina was known for her tall, slim figure, youthful movements, short bobbed hair, shapely eyebrows and bright red lipstick” ( Sherrow, Modeling and Models). This shows how women were expected to be slim, with youthful energy and have short hair. Esther was one of those women who were expected to look like this. She used to have youthful energy, but events over her life started to take away that energy. Women in the 1950’s had to compete with the model’s image, women were especially compared during beauty competitions. “Women in Beauty Pageants were judged basis of physical appearance and named best looking or most beautiful” (Sherrow, Beauty Pageants). The idea that people would be considered

The Bell Jar is the story about a young woman named Esther Greenwood. Esther is a college student who is working as an intern at Ladies Day magazine in New York City in the summer of 1953. Although she knows she should be excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity, she finds herself feeling restless, isolated, and hopeless about her future. While living in New York, Esther goes on a few dates and on the last date before returning home to Massachusetts she is sexually assaulted.