The Bell Jar Essay

Writing was Esther’s passion, yet she stopped completely when she thought that she did not have the proper life experience to be able to write well. This becomes evident when she says, “I needed experience. How could I write about a life when I’d never had a love affair or a baby or even seen anybody die?” (Plath 109). Esther feels guilty and unqualified to write about anything that she has not previously experienced.

Esther wants to feel in control of her own life and future. She spends all of her school years working her way to the top, so that she would be able to support herself later on. Yet, Esther continuously feels pressure about how she should aspire to marry and find the right man.

While having a daily check-up with Dr. Nolan Esther tells her that she hates her mother and she blames her for her sickness and her depression. Esther does not cope with the ideal thought of her trying to kill herself all those many times what pain she would be putting her mother through. She fails to realize how much of her father death affected her mother. Esther doesn’t see how Ms. Greenwood clearly loves her and helplessly worries about her. This is why her mother is trying so hard to be there for her by paying for Esther’s stay in the hospital to help her. She even brings Esther flowers on her

Once she finds this purpose Esther is determined to act and willing to risk her life for the cause. In response, her people loyally follow directions to fast and later to fight. In order to obtain the position of queen Esther raises the bar through her prudence and chooses to show her natural beauty. The king is captivated by her in comparison to the many dolled up women of the harem. She wins the crown and gains favor with the King.

The motivation of the Book of Esther is to prove to Jews living in prison that it is possible to gain success in the country of one’s imprisonment without giving up one’s character as a Jew. In this, the Book of Esther is very similar to books in the bible such as Daniel or actually to the historical character Nehemiah. The Book of Esther is unique in two important higher opinions. First, “the protagonist of the book, and the one with who the viewers should identify, is the woman.”(jwa.org). this selection of a women hero serves an important attribute in the story. Women were, in the world of the Persian culture, essentially defenseless members of society. Even if they resided to the governing culture. They could not simply reach out and gain power, as a man could. Whatever power they could get was gained through the manipulation of the community holders of power. In this perception the imprisoned Jew could identify with the woman. He or she was pretty much powerless, and power could be gained only through one’s wits and talents. As the undertaking of Esther demonstrates, this can definitely be done. By using her beauty, charm, and intelligence, and by taking one risk, Esther saves the Jewish people, brings downfall on her enemy, and raises Mordecai to the highest position in the palace. Esther becomes the mold for the Jewish women living in exile.

In the novel, The Bell Jar, the main character, Esther goes through some deep depression that leads to attempts of suicide, and eventually lands her in several different private hospitals. In Esther’s life, there are many factors, internal and external, that lead to the collapse of her life. The majority of these factors come from her surroundings. A main part of Esther’s life is her writing and her future as an English major in college. Once she begins to lose her ability to read and write, it takes a big toll on her character, creating one of the main reasons she becomes depressed. Even the thought of being sent back home to live with her mother all summer with nothing to do is a big element in her descent to depression. On top of her

Esther refuses to allow society to control her life. Esther has a completely different approach to life than the rest of her peers do. The average woman during this time is supposed to be happy and full of joy. Esther, on the other hand, attempts to repress her natural gloom, cynicism, and dark humor. This eventually becomes too hard for her and causes her emotions to go crazy. She begins to have ideas

When Esther first arrives in New York, she doesn't have the same reaction that most of the other girls around her have. She enforces this reaction when she says “I guess I should have been excited the way most of the other girls were, but I couldn't get myself to react.” From a psychological perspective we could tell that something is deeply wrong with her. She is isolating herself from others. According to Saul McLeod, the author of the article called “Psycho dynamic Approach” states that “our behaviors and feelings as adults are powerfully affected by the unconscious thoughts” . This means that unconscious are a product of behaviors and feelings. She is unable to think in a rational way because of her inability to control the balance between her conscious and unconscious thoughts.

Esther allows people to influence her and how she feels about motherhood. One of the main characters that influences Esther is Buddy Willard, her boyfriend. If Esther were to choose, she would be both a poet and a mother, but Buddy continues to remind her that once she does have children, she will not want to write poems anymore (Dunkle 70). Buddy saying this concludes that Esther’s literary passion is something that can be easily forgotten and it also suggests that woman are only good for having children (Plath 85). As stated: “...she [Esther] struggles with the cultural conventions of the 1950s as she attempts to pursue a course that is considered ‘un-American’ and ‘unfeminine’ at the time: her commitment to becoming intellectual, her resistance to marriage and motherhood, and her desire to become a poet” (Dunkle 60).

Throughout the novel, Esther struggled with what she felt how a woman in her society should act. At times, she feels as if there is no point to college because most women only become secretaries anyway. She feels as if she should be learning short hand and other techniques she should be learning for the secretary roll, however she does not want to. Esther wants to be a writer, however, during the time of the novel, society gave women the role as housewife. Esther felt pressure to settle down and start a family. No matter what accomplishments Esther achieves in her life, it doesn’t matter too much because they will not do her much in her later life. Everyone expects Esther to marry buddy and start a family. Once she becomes a mother, it would be assumed that she would give up her passion for writing. This discourages Esther because she is not sure that is what she wants with her life.

In the Book of Esther, Esther’s role and power in the saving of the Jews is undervalued.

One example of this is in the quote, “ “I hate her”, I said, and waited for the blow to fall.”. That moment where Esther confided in her doctor this was a symbol of Sylvia Plath’s hatred of her mother, Aurelia Plath. Esther had a horrible relationship with her mom, as did the troubled author in real life. Therefore, she included it in her novel. When young Sylvia was only eight, her father, Otto, tragically passed away. Enraged, she believed her father left her on purpose, and stopped believing God shortly after. It turned her whole life upside down, and it is thought that being stuck with her strict mother all those years fueled the fire in their rocky relationship. Eventually, she became obsessed with the hatred of Aurelia Plath, and based many books on her. More than often, she portrayed her mother as the evil protagonist in them.

Esther evidently feels as if she is constantly being judged and tested, although in fact she is not. Her magnified sense of distrust is illustrated repeatedly throughout the course of the book, at once involving the reader and developing her own characteristic response to unique situations. Finally, one who views occurrences which can only be categorized as coincidental as being planned often experiences a suspicious response. When she finds out that an acquaintance from high school is at the same hospital, her first reaction is wariness: "It occurred to me that Joan, hearing where I was, had engaged the room at the asylum on pretence, simply as a joke." (Plath 207). Although the reader is incredulous of the protagonist's manner of thought, it is also possible to feel a connection to the situation. Such a

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

It is very presumable that Plath based them on her real-life relationships, and also possibly another reason why she published the first edition under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas”, with the other reason being that she questioned its literary value. First, one of the most significant characters in Esther’s boyfriend named Buddy Willard; a self-congratulating medical student who comes off as shallow. He’s the boy who her parents are in favor of, but isn’t a great match with Esther. Not to mention, he mainly sees her as the woman who will bear his children. With the character of Buddy, Plath addresses the male superiority of men which is quite hypocritical. Another important character in this novel is Mrs. Greenwood; the sensible and traditional mother of Esther. She teaches shorthand, and presses Esther to learn the practical skill. She and Esther are not on good terms, especially after the death of her father, and is a relationship that is based on Plath’s to her own mother. Perhaps Esther despises her because of her being so conventional and showing little understanding to Esther’s literary aspirations; wanting her to be the replica of the 1950s housewife. This is probably also the reason why Esther/Plath looks for other sensitive mother figures like Dr. Nolan, her psychiatric doctor who understands her uneasiness on electric shock