Dr. Seuss once asked: “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”, a question still relevant today. Why should we conform to society’s expectations when we were born to escape them? In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Esther Greenwood suffered from depression but suppressed how she really felt in hopes of fitting in, which caused her to sink into a further depression. Only when Esther grew out of her desire to fit in was she able to find a way out of her depression. This brought on a valuable lesson: we should not attempt to conform to society’s expectations.
Specifically, trying to conform to society 's expectations prevents us from voicing our needs and causes us to suppress our problems. In the book, Esther’s family and friends noticed her depression, and instead of confessing how she truly felt, Esther put on a mask and pretended her depression was just a phase: “‘I knew you’d decide to be all right again’” (Plath 146). Esther did not vocalize the fact that she needed help because it had been ingrained in her through her schooling and family teachings that women should be happy and carefree, which caused Esther to fear being labeled …show more content…
In The Bell Jar, Esther received the opportunity to go to New York but her depression made it hard for her to get excited about being there: “everybody would think I must be having a real whirl” (Plath 2). People around Esther expected her to be enjoying New York, so she put on a mask and pretended to be. However, she was trying to feign happiness as it was what others expected her to feel but she couldn’t get herself to truly feel happy, which made her discontent. She was annoyed at herself about her lack of enthusiasm In addition, Esther had pined after a boy called Buddy for many years, so people figured Esther and Buddy ought to be compatible considering they had known each other for years and still were in a
Specifically, trying to conform to society 's expectations prevents us from voicing our needs and causes us to suppress our problems. In the book, Esther’s family and friends noticed her depression, and instead of confessing how she truly felt, Esther put on a mask and pretended her depression was just a phase: “‘I knew you’d decide to be all right again’” (Plath 146). Esther did not vocalize the fact that she needed help because it had been ingrained in her through her schooling and family teachings that women should be happy and carefree, which caused Esther to fear being labeled …show more content…
In The Bell Jar, Esther received the opportunity to go to New York but her depression made it hard for her to get excited about being there: “everybody would think I must be having a real whirl” (Plath 2). People around Esther expected her to be enjoying New York, so she put on a mask and pretended to be. However, she was trying to feign happiness as it was what others expected her to feel but she couldn’t get herself to truly feel happy, which made her discontent. She was annoyed at herself about her lack of enthusiasm In addition, Esther had pined after a boy called Buddy for many years, so people figured Esther and Buddy ought to be compatible considering they had known each other for years and still were in a