Esther

procedures as described in the novel. For Esther Greenwood, the therapy “took hold of [her] and shook [her] like the end of the world,” and ultimately did not relieve her distress (143). As a new wave of feminism was encroaching, Plath took this opportunity to discuss double standards and sexist issues. Plath also makes several…

trapping them in the vortex of madness which is their mind. In the beginning of the book Esther contemplates what it would be like to be “burned alive” through electrocution (1). This thought essentially comes back to haunt Esther when she talks to Hilda who is “glad [the Rosenbergs are] going to die (99),” which contributes to the accumulation of erratic thoughts in Esther’s mind. The entire summer Esther talks about how she couldn’t stop thinking about the Rosenbergs, “all [she] could think…

Aunt Esther, is his closest family member. After Michael's mom and dad passed away, Esther was the only one that would take the teenager known as her nephew in. Esther and Michael bond over Michael's mom but Esther's sister. They don’t know each other at the start, but finally learn to cooperate. But soon they can’t stop yelling at each other and fighting. but Esther and Michael’s relationship changes. Firstly, Michael is adjusting to living with his Aunt Esther. In paragraph 8, Aunt Esther was…

standards effectually dismantle an individual’s psyche. For one, Esther strongly disagrees with the societal double standard on sex. Esther opines, “I couldn’t stand the idea of a woman having to have a single pure life and a man being able to have a double life, one pure and one not” (Plath, 81). Esther experiences the extent to which masculine exceptionalism — the male gaze — has influenced women’s roles in society. However, Esther resists appeasing the societal notion of an ideal woman — “a…

lost and his Aunt Esther doesn’t quite understood why she feels punished because she’s really trying her best with Michael and besides, she promised her sister that she’d take care of him if anything ever was to happen to her. But Michael didn’t understand he wasn’t the only one dealing with the pain of losing his parents, that was Aunt Esther’s sister too. Michael was very lonely being that teachers didn’t notice him and he had a hard time making friends. He felt like Aunt Esther was more…

interesting because society’s opinions can also be deemed unstable. Sylvia Plath comments on this relationship in her novel, The Bell Jar. By telling the relatable story of a protagonist, Esther, who faces society-induced depression, the author highlights the idea that words tend to make an impression on people. Esther cares what people think, being a breath of fresh air compared to many novels in which the hero is already very confident in his or her own skin. Plath manages to create a…

Esther and Holden’s Thoughts on Protection of Innocence, Mental Illness and Death Holden is the boy that just flunked out of his 4th or 5th school and hates everything. On the other hand, Ester is a college girl has everything that a girl her age would have ever wanted; the opportunity to spend a month in NYC editing a national magazine. One might ask what in the world possibly be the same about them? The main characters in the novels The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Catcher in the Rye by J…

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…

Bell Jar, the text takes the reader through the struggles of a young woman Esther, Sylvia Plath’s alter ego, who faces unruly patriarchal oppression which limits her ability to succeed within her community. This drives Esther to attempt suicide in a multitude of ways. Esther is aware of a female 's oppression within the 1950’s and relates imbalance between men and women to the battle between nature and technology. Esther is subject to patriarchal oppression throughout the novel and relates a…

main character Esther Greenwood uses objects and metaphors as representations of her depression. The story follows Esther from the onset of her illness all the way to her recovery. In The Bell Jar the struggle of mind vs body is shown through Esther's inability to complete daily life tasks, control her emotions, and her hatred of mirrors. During the most prevalent time of Esther's depression the gap between her mind and body is the strongest. The divide starts to occur because Esther wasn't…