Examples Of Confinement In The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath

A long time ago during the middle ages Europe and Japan both developed a class of warriors. These warriors were called Samurai and Knights all though these two warriors had different names and they knew nothing about each other. They both had a lot of Similarities for example there social position, their training, and their honor. They also had a lot of differences but their similarities were greater than their differences. This can be show by looking at three areas document A, B, and C.

Due to this Esther is surprised when she sees Dr. Nolan as a psychiatrist as she did not think that a woman could be at a high position like the one Dr. Nolan was at. Although Esther is living the life every girl wishes to live she feels unhappy. Esther holds poetry and literature close to her heart but due to gender double standards, Esther’s mother discourages her to follow her dreams and learn shorthand instead in order to become a good housewife. Men were allowed to pursue their dreams and were encouraged to study and become successful. Esther feels that although she is a well educated woman, her future will not be bright. Upon returning from her internship, Esther finds out that she has not been accepted to the summer writing school, this confuses her about her future and she begins to lose control over her life. Double roles in the area of education and careers caused a lot of grief for Esther thus resulting in the beginning of an identity crisis which eventually becomes so severe that it leads to depression.

Esther thought about the sexual double standards she faced in society quite often. Particularly, she had constant thoughts about her sexual stage. She is a virgin throughout the majority of the novel and the fact weighs in her mind incessantly. Esther’s mother sends her an article that was written by a married woman. What she happened to get out of the article was that “a man’s world is different from a woman’s world…”

Esther may have gotten a generous scholarship to live in New York interning as a fashion magazine editor for a month, but everything only gets worse afterwards. According to Janet McCann, “Repeatedly, Plath uses the imagery of enclosure to show unhealthy patriarchal social systems that are harmful to Esther, the other female characters, and also the landscape/natural world” (38). Esther’s self-esteem first starts to goes down when she frequently compares herself to the other sophisticated, elegant women of New York. When Esther throws all of her high-end clothes away from the top of the Amazon Hotel, it gives the reader the first glimpse of how disillusioned and despaired she is about herself. Continuing down Esther’s path to eventual insanity, Esther comments that “every time I picked up a German dictionary or a German book, the very sight of those dense, black, barbed-wire letters made my mind shut like a clam” (Plath 33). Esther’s mind is starting to shut down, literally, and becomes unable to comprehend even the simplest things, which will only get worse as other stress factors will start to negatively affect her mental state. Furthermore, the relationship between Esther and her boss Jay Cee displays another example where “Esther embraces relations with most of the women in the novel only to cast them off” (Bonds, “The Separative Self in Sylvia Plath's The

One of the major symbols Esther’s story is the namesake of the novel -- the bell jar. As a real life object, a bell jar is a scientific tool often used to create a vacuum by removing air from within the jar. Along with being used for scientific purposes, it can also be used for decorative purposes to act as a display case. As a symbol in the book, on the other hand, Plath uses the bell jar as a danger to Esther’s sanity; it threatens to send her into a hellish mental state. All throughout the novel, it is looming over Esther’s mind, threatening to trap her inside of hell and disconnect her from everything she knows and loves. At one point in the novel, the bell jar

Esther Greenwood suffered through multiple difficult times that wore down on her mental state. She fell sick from food poisoning, was electrocuted through shock therapy, and underwent dangerous suicidal thoughts. Each time when she persevered through the pain, she emerged a stronger, newly-born person. In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath uses plot development and characterization to illustrate that often times, painful experiences are necessary for a person to progress in life.

The events in New York introduce us to the beginning of Esther’s psychological transformation. The story first inaugurates with the

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.

To Esther, the world seems quite unfriendly, and the novel documents her desperate search for identity and reassurance. Nevertheless, Esther is intrigued by the world around her, and at the start of the book she is seen with a wondrous outlook on life that is reflected in the metaphors throughout the novel (Coyle). In the first half of the book, Esther is fascinated by the medical practices of her boyfriend, Buddy, as well as by current events in the newspapers and the thought of her own future family. As the story progresses, however, Esther becomes indifferent about life, and she develops bitterness toward everything that appears to prevent her from achieving things she wants (Huf). As Esther’s mental state worsens, the metaphors and similes presented to the reader begin to have negative connotations

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

During The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath used similes to highlight Esther's characteristic of a wallflower during her trip to New York. After Frankie, one of Lenny's friend abandones Esther, he is forced to take her and Doreen to his apartment. Lenny obviously wanting privacy with Doreen he asks her to go but Doreen defends Esther and says she will only go with the do any of her friend. From there on, Esther feels unwanted and ignored while she spends time at Lenny's place. Plath describes Esther's abandonment while Lenny and Doreen dance, “I felt myself shrinking to a small black dot against all those red and white rugs and that pine paneling. I felt like a hole in the ground” (Plath 16). Esther feels left out while her best friend and a stranger dance. The simile expresses how she felt invisible and ignored. The author tries to relate to the reader who once in their life may have felt outcastes or left out. Esther has a tendency to feel terrible about herself. From the beginning of the story, she explains how she feels different and not in the right place. The author wrote, “The city had faded my tan, though. I looked yellow as a Chinaman. Ordinarily, I would have been nervous a about my dress and my odd color, but being with Doreen made me forget my

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

In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, protagonist Esther Greenwood is greatly affected by societal morays which placed enormous pressure on conforming to social standards. This pressure to conform resulted in the suppression of her individuality. People who did not conform were often portrayed as unfeeling, and the distinction between the mentally ill and “normal” people was often artificial. Esther's feelings of being confined under a bell jar not only describes her depression, but also serves as a general metaphor for a society muffled by its own

Sylvia Plath uses many literary devices to convey her purpose in The Bell Jar such as symbolism. The Bell Jar itself is used as symbolic representation of the emotional state Esther is in. The glass jar distorts her image of the world as she feels trapped under the glass. It represents mental illness; a confining jar that descends over her mind and doesn’t allow her to live and think freely. Symbols of life and death pervade The Bell Jar. Esther experiences psychological distress which is a major motif in the novel. The death of Esther’s father and the relationship with her mother is a possible reason for her illness. Sylvia Plath expresses the difficulties Esther faces and parallels her struggle with depression and illustrates it using various symbols such as a fig tree, mirrors, beating heart and a bell jar throughout the novel.