The lack of self-care came as an unfortunate response to Esther’s depression. She no longer cared about herself. Esther showed this by terminating her effort in tending her hygiene. At one point in the story, Esther decided to not wash her clothing, that she currently wore, or take a shower for at least three weeks. As disclaimed in the text, “I was still wearing [the] white blouse and dirndl skirt...I hadn’t washed them in my three weeks at home...I hadn’t washed my hair for three weeks, either,” (Plath 127). The reason she had not completed these hygienic tasks would be because she was drained. Esther felt that ”it seemed so silly...It seemed silly to wash one day when [she]would only have to wash again the next. It made [her] tired just
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A person who is not battling with a mental condition would know exactly how important having good hygiene is. They would never go weeks on end without bathing themselves. Another nonsensical decision that Esther made would be not sleeping for an entire month. What caused this involuntary decision to be made would be her concentration deficiency, and insomnia. Esther had a hard time focusing on everything, most importantly her writing. Her mind overflowed with negative thoughts about herself and the world around her. As a result of her mind never shut down after a long day. In turn, she lied awake at night, listening to her bedside clock ticking away, watching the seconds turn to minutes and the minutes into hours. Esther demonstrates this struggle through her thoughts, which occurred during the first nights of this challenge. During this point in the story, she says,” I feigned sleep until my mother left for school, but even my eyelids didn’t shut out the light...I crawled between the mattress and the padded bedstead...It felt dark and safe under there, but the mattress was not heavy enough...It needed about a ton more weight to make me sleep...If I slept, it was with my eyes wide open, for I had followed the...course of the second hand, and the minute hand and the hour hand of the bedside clock...every night...without missing a second, or a minute, or an hour,”
A person who is not battling with a mental condition would know exactly how important having good hygiene is. They would never go weeks on end without bathing themselves. Another nonsensical decision that Esther made would be not sleeping for an entire month. What caused this involuntary decision to be made would be her concentration deficiency, and insomnia. Esther had a hard time focusing on everything, most importantly her writing. Her mind overflowed with negative thoughts about herself and the world around her. As a result of her mind never shut down after a long day. In turn, she lied awake at night, listening to her bedside clock ticking away, watching the seconds turn to minutes and the minutes into hours. Esther demonstrates this struggle through her thoughts, which occurred during the first nights of this challenge. During this point in the story, she says,” I feigned sleep until my mother left for school, but even my eyelids didn’t shut out the light...I crawled between the mattress and the padded bedstead...It felt dark and safe under there, but the mattress was not heavy enough...It needed about a ton more weight to make me sleep...If I slept, it was with my eyes wide open, for I had followed the...course of the second hand, and the minute hand and the hour hand of the bedside clock...every night...without missing a second, or a minute, or an hour,”