Gender Double Role In The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath

Throughout the story â€Å"The Bell Jar† by Sylvia Plath, Esther’s mental health deteriorates overtime due to various factors in her social environment such as double standards. The novel begins with Esther’s internship at the Ladies’ Day magazine in New York City. Despite living the life every girl wishes to live, Esther is dejected and feels disengaged with the environment around her; thus resulting in the beginning of an identity crisis. Through the events of the story, gender double roles in the areas of education, careers, virginity and marriage affect Esther’s life significantly and it consequently leading to Esther’s confusion with her identity within the society. During the 50s, women were seen to be inferior to and dependent on men as†¦show more content†¦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. Altho ugh 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. A woman’s virginity was considered to be precious as pureness was really important for a girl. Women were only allowed to have sex after marriage; whereas men could have sex before marriage. According to Esther, her virginity is a big factor that is weighing her down. The conflict between losing her virginity before marriage or after marriage causes her to become confused about what wouldShow MoreRelatedThe Allegory Of The Double Standard1531 Words   |  7 Pages The allegory of the Double Standard Gender roles/ role playing Abuse of feminine creative powers The domestic ideal and symbolism of the bell jar The ironic coming of age and rebirth Color symbolism Manipulation between â€Å"personal experience† and variety forms of â€Å"artifice† Introduction Controversy over women s place in society and feminism has long been lurking as early as the 14th century. American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath is the author of collections of highly acclaimedRead MoreSylvia Plath’s Life1219 Words   |  5 PagesElizabeth Winder’s Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 illuminates different aspects of Sylvia Plath’s life. However, Winder depicts Plath not as the mythologized martyr of a collapsed marriage or the tragic woman poet with a debilitating illness but rather as a young girl wanting to immerse herself in the rich, material culture of her time. Winder’s biography gives insight to the life of an intelligent young woman amidst the gender constraints of mid-century America, a themeRead MoreSylvia Plath s The Bell Jar960 Words   |  4 PagesIn Sylvia Plath’s novel, The Bell Jar, Plath expresses her opposition to the idea of men having complete control over every aspect of women’ s lives by utilizing the narrator Esther; a radical feminist, to speak out against conformity in a society run by men. 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SimilarlyRead MoreEssay on The Feminine Ideal in The Bell Jar1403 Words   |  6 Pages 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 onlyRead MoreIn Both Sylvia Plath’S The Bell Jar And Kate Chopin’S The1879 Words   |  8 PagesIn both Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the female protagonist is portrayed as an artist who suffers from mental instability. Although the works were written over 60 years apart, The Awakening in 1889 and The Bell Jar in 1963, both novels were revolutionary for their times in terms of feminism, extramarital sex, and suicide. Both works explore the ways that females may temporarily escape, or attempt to escape, the confines of their own minds: the chains that lead themRead MoreCompare the Ways Plath and Kesey Present Psychological Disorders and ‘Minds Under Stress’ in the Bell Jar and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest?3284 Words   |  14 Pages‘One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘The Bell Jar’ can be linked considerably. Both the novels in question are products of the author’s own experiences and th e specific culture in which they were written. They both draw upon similar events throughout, yet the philosophy and reason behind them is often significantly contrasting. However, it cannot be argued that their presentation of psychological disorder and the pressure that it forces on the mind are intrinsically linked due to the circumstancesRead MoreJohn Kesey s One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest3682 Words   |  15 PagesIn Ian McEwan’s ‘Enduring Love’, Ken Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ and Sylvia Plath’s ‘Ariel’ Collection, the themes of gender and identity are clearly linked. Kesey and McEwan explore gender and identity through the male perspective and consequently present themselves as misogynists through their texts in their deleterious portrayal of women who do not adhere to what tradition dictates is ‘ideal’. Plath, on the other hand, presents the female perspective, providing readers w ith an alternativeRead MoreAnalysis Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest 3755 Words   |  16 PagesClerambault’s syndrome which habitually affects women. While Plath struggled with the â€Å"ardent feminist within her’’, she sought to â€Å"embrace the ideology of feminineness that had been indoctrinated into the women of her generation’’ leading to a â€Å"schizophrenic split within herself’’, a struggle not shared by McEwan and Kesey. Kesey described himself as ‘’comfortable with {his} identity and masculinity’’ as he understood he was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a hippie’’ and so his