The Bell Jar

In The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood battles against the typical stereotype of women in the 1950s. According to the double standard of women, they should become wives, care for their husbands, have numerous children, maintain the household, and be creative through the “only socially acceptable outlet of fashion” (Annas 133). Unlike the social norms, Esther wants a successful literary career and independence domestically and sexually, but cannot because of her gender. Through the struggle of the double standard of women and social obligations, Esther Greenwood becomes insane due to the pressure in choosing a role.

As Esther reminisces about her relationship with Buddy Willard, she recalls her experience with childbirth. Visiting her boyfriend at medical school, Esther and Buddy Willard watch a woman giving birth. While watching the birth, Esther notices the sight of the table the woman laid on as an “awful torture table, with metal stirrups…and all sorts of instruments and wires” (Plath, The Bell Jar 64). Unlike the typical sense of childbirth, Esther views the delivery room as a torture chamber. In particular, the doctors are all male and they are entirely responsible for the woman’s situation. To Esther “they have deprived the woman of her consciousness of both the pain and pleasure of birth and used her body for their own purposes,” and made “[her] mindless with drugs invented by men” (Bundtzen 128). Esther hates that men, using drugs, manipulate women into having children repeatedly without recollection of their experiences with childbirth. The men drug the women, they forget the pain, and are expected to “go straight home and start another baby” (Plath, The Bell Jar 64). Esther dislikes childbirth because it is a sign that she has given up her life and a successful literary career. Moreover, Esther assumes her life over because of marriage and how holds the woman back from pursuing her own dreams. She figures that her poetic aspirations and literary goals are over, because she cannot be a both mother and a poet.

Buddy Willard’s affair does not bother Esther, because Esther is not concerned that Buddy had an affair, but rather how he presents himself as “virginal and innocent” (Kroll 116). In fact, Esther has no problem with pre-marital sex. Buddy’s affair proves the double standard, because it is a socially acceptable occurrence for a man as long as he is not “pinned or engaged to be married” (Plath, The Bell Jar 69). Moreover, the distinction between sex and marriage applies itself, because Buddy’s affair is typical. In contrast, Esther’s duties are motherly duties to Buddy as a woman to comfort him and be “the place the [man] shoots off from” (Plath, The Bell Jar 70). Evidentially, Esther views catering to men repulsive, “the trouble was I hated the idea of serving men in any way,” bringing about the conflict of marriage and a career, because she wants a career, but that is not what society expects her to do. Moreover, Esther says, “I couldn’t stand the idea of a woman having to have a single pure life and a man able to have a double life, one pure and one not” (Plath, The Bell Jar 79). Women must support their husbands as a social obligation, but Esther does not feel the need when she can be independent and successful without a man beside her.

American culture of the 1950s expected Esther Greenwood to suffice to the virginal, marriage-bound role of a woman. Conversely, Esther feels no need to conform, wanting more than what she is expected to be. Moreover, the pressure of “a husband and a happy home and children” or “a famous poet and…a brilliant professor, and Ee Gee, the amazing editor,” (Plath, The Bell Jar 75) eventually leads to her insanity due to her trying to please both ends. Metaphorically, Esther’s two friends Doreen and Betsy are “the stereotypical ‘bad’ girl and ‘nice’ girl,” who act as “doubles for Esther” (Bundtzen 122). Both girls are metaphors that Esther wants to be herself. Betsy, is a “pure, corny, all-American girl,” “[wanting] marriage, a big farm, and lots of children” (Bundtzen 122). In contrast, Doreen is “sophisticated…sexy and representative of a “marvelous, elaborate decadence” (Bundtzen 122). Ideologically, Doreen and Betsy are the identities Esther laments. Esther constantly battles which role to choose: Doreen, the “bad” girl�"the poet and brilliant professor�"or Betsy, the “good” girl�"the husband and a home and children. Ultimately, Doreen’s identity fails Esther because of her “Negress” comparison, as a sexual possession, rather than sexually liberated as Esther wants. However, Betsy’s innocence proves to Esther “dirtied” too. At the Ladies’ Day, she notices the world of a homemaker: cleaning and cooking, recipes, and the overall domesticity. Though pleasant, the Ladies’ Day banquet ended with poisoning. As a metaphor itself, Esther wonders if holding a domestic life like Betsy would end up the same way the banquet did, poisoned. Both instances are metaphors, reinforcing the torn decision Esther has between what society wants of her and what she wants for herself.

            Furthermore, these two ideologies conflict when Jay Cee calls Esther into her office, inquiring her commitment to her job. Jay Cee adds the final pressure that ultimately snaps Esther, because she has been the model student, working hard, and earning scholarships and praise from professors, but now, Esther does not know what to do since it is about to end when she graduates from college. Esther has always wanted to be either a professor that writes or a writer who teaches, but, because of Jay Cee’s questioning, she finds herself unfit for the independence and success. Similarly, Esther needs to choose between “a husband and a happy home and children” or “a famous poet and…a brilliant professor, and Ee Gee, the amazing editor” (Plath, The Bell Jar 75). She contemplates becoming a submissive homemaker who knows shorthand and takes care of children, as her mother would like. Esther considers her life at a standstill, “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree…sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind of which fig I would choose” (Plath, The Bell Jar 75). Esther wanted each fig, but is caught in an ultimatum, pulled by her life goals and the social norms, watching the “figs [begin] to wrinkle and go black, and… [fall] to the floor” (Plath, The Bell Jar 75). In addition, Esther receives a letter from Buddy, the man that proposed to her, saying that he had fallen in love with his nurse, unable to write a novel, and finds no satisfaction in learning shorthand. Unable to sleep, she attempts writing her college thesis, but cannot. Schoolwork, her career plans, and even her relationship with Buddy Willard are simple to Esther, but now she cannot focus, leading to her insanity due to her lack of control over her own life.

            Esther Greenwood battled against the domestic dream of the 1950s. Throughout the novel, she juggles between the possible outcomes of sufficing to the domesticated lifestyle or a successful literary career. Set as metaphors to these possible outcomes, Doreen and Betsy helped, in a way, Esther’s decision between the two, understanding the dangers in both. Nonetheless, Esther’s examination of the two did not help, because of her mental breakdown. Because of her breakdown, Esther ended up in an asylum, eventually released after she conformed the 1950s domesticated lifestyle. Ultimately, Esther did not hold the choice of her own future, but chosen for her, similar to the restricted freedom of women in the 1950s.

 

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Great Britain: International Copyright Union, 1963. Print.

Kroll, Judith. Chapters in a Mythology: The Poetry of Sylvia Plath/ Judith Kroll. Harper & Row, New York: 1976

Annas, Pamela. “The Self in the World: The Social Context of Sylvia Plath’s Late Poems.” In Critical Essays on Sylvia Plath. Broadway, New York, N.Y.: G.K. Hall & CO., 1984. 131-33. Print.

Bundtzen, Lynda. “Women in The Bell Jar: Two Allegories.” Harold Bloom. Modern Critical Views: Sylvia Plath. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. 122-128. Print.