In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘The Bell Jar’ emotional distress is exemplified through tears and exclamations over liquid. Within both literary texts the authors utilises liquid in relation to emotional exclamations in regard to personal self-awareness. Blanche DuBois, throughout the play, is intensely worried about her appearance and self-perception. This often manifest itself as a fear of bright and harsh light. However, Blanche also relies on liquid during her moments of self-awareness: [Looking down at her glass, which shakes in her hand.] “You’re all I’ve got in the world, and you’re not glad to see me!”. Blanche becomes aware of her sisters reaction to her presence and as it does not meet her expectations she reaches to alcohol in
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As a result she hears her heart beat for the second time during the novel. The first time this occurred it frustrated Esther. However at this point she relaxes into the rhythm: “As I paddled on, my heartbeat boomed like a dull motor in my ears. I am I am I am”. Esther wishes to push herself to her physical limits so that the water, and her depression, will immerse her and end her life. This emotional exclamation regarding Esther’s mental health is intensified by the use of water as it enables her to assimilate with her heartbeat and her thoughts. Both texts also depict suicidal ideation in relation to bodies of water in their central female characters. In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Blanche idealises her death: “I can smell the sea air. The rest of my time I’m going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I’m going to die on the sea”. By the end of the play Blanche has very few lucid moments, and this is evidence of her escape into the fantastical during her revelation regarding death. Esther Greenwood, in ‘The Bell Jar’, similarly relies on a body of water during her lapses into depression and suicidal ideation: “The silence drew off, baring the pebbles and shells and all the tatty wreckage of my
As a result she hears her heart beat for the second time during the novel. The first time this occurred it frustrated Esther. However at this point she relaxes into the rhythm: “As I paddled on, my heartbeat boomed like a dull motor in my ears. I am I am I am”. Esther wishes to push herself to her physical limits so that the water, and her depression, will immerse her and end her life. This emotional exclamation regarding Esther’s mental health is intensified by the use of water as it enables her to assimilate with her heartbeat and her thoughts. Both texts also depict suicidal ideation in relation to bodies of water in their central female characters. In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Blanche idealises her death: “I can smell the sea air. The rest of my time I’m going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I’m going to die on the sea”. By the end of the play Blanche has very few lucid moments, and this is evidence of her escape into the fantastical during her revelation regarding death. Esther Greenwood, in ‘The Bell Jar’, similarly relies on a body of water during her lapses into depression and suicidal ideation: “The silence drew off, baring the pebbles and shells and all the tatty wreckage of my