Motherhood In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath clearly embeds the story of Esther Greenwood into the political situation of the time. The Bell Jar introduces its setting by referring to the execution of the Rosenbergs. In the summer of 1953 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were accused of and electrocuted for espionage. It was believed that they had passed secret US military information on nuclear weapons on to Soviet Intelligence. The fear of the so-called “red scare” was omnipresent, and it was believed that more and more people sympathetic with Russia and the communist regime would infiltrate American labor unions and government agencies. 81 As such, the novel is not only placed temporally, but also regarding the contents of McCarthyism, the fear of communism, and the demand for conformity. One of …show more content…
The more a woman dedicated herself to bearing and bringing up children, the more respect society granted her. In The Bell Jar, the theme motherhood is more relevant within the context of the protagonist’s relationship to her mother than within the context of her own experience of being a mother. Even though The Bell Jar is written in the first person, the reader knows little about the protagonist’s situation. The narrator’s descriptions focus on her condition at the time, and the reader learns little about her life afterwards. One page three, there is a subtle hint at the protagonist’s motherhood. Looking back on her depression, Esther says that she still owns some of the gifts, which she received during her internship at the magazine. “I use the lipstick now and then, and last week I cut the plastic starfish off the sunglasses for the baby to play with.” 95 This en passant referral to motherhood can be interpreted more as a sign that the protagonist has moved on after her illness rather than a genuine clue to motherhood. During her illness and recovery, Esther all but despises 93 Norton, Mary Beth. A People and A Nation. A History of the United States. Boston, MA: Houghton