Gender Roles In The Bell Jar

Words: 870
Pages: 4
Open Document
In both The Bell Jar and The Catcher in the Rye, the authors exhibit the main characters breaking traditional gender roles with their opinions and actions that shape who they truly are.
In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath the leading protagonist, Esther challenges the norms of a woman by disagreeing with and neglecting the conventional standards of virginity .
Esther explains the magazine clipping her mother mailed to her: “It gave all the reasons a girl shouldn't sleep with anybody but her husband and then only after they were married”(Plath 81).
Esther’s mother mails her an article clipping that states girls should only have sex with their husbands, and that is only after marriage.
Esther has a difficult time grasping that concept, she finds it unjust that men get to sleep …show more content…
Esther feels more empowered now that she more freedom and birth control, she took her future into her own hands when she decided to seduce a stranger.
Earlier in the novel, Esther was torn between being who society expects her to be and who she sincerely wants to be; now she is self-assured in herself and her choices.
Most women during the 50’s are preserving their virginities in fear that they may not be pure enough for their husbands; but Esther who used to struggle with that idea recognized losing her virginity was a relief instead of a shame.
Esther rejects the role of a conventional housewife by constantly criticizing and disagreeing with that lifestyle.
Esther throughout the novel states, “[She] never intended to get married” (Plath 26) and “Children make [her] sick” (Plath 117).
Esther makes it known repeatedly in the novel that she does not have any intentions of having children or getting married.
A married woman’s role during the 50’s were to be a stay-at-home mother that tidied up the house, cooked and cared for the
Show More

Related Documents: Gender Roles In The Bell Jar

Compare the Ways Plath and Kesey Present Psychological Disorders and ‘Minds Under Stress’ in the Bell Jar and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Essay

‘One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘The Bell Jar’ can be linked considerably. Both the novels in question are products of the author’s own experiences and the specific culture in which they were written. They both draw upon similar events throughout, yet the philosophy and reason behind them is often significantly contrasting. However, it cannot be argued that their presentation of psychological disorder and the pressure that it forces on the mind are intrinsically linked due to the circumstances…

Words 3257 - Pages 14

Examples Of Conformity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

life where one has a lack of identity and is constantly in an internal struggle with their minds. Esther, from Plath’s The Bell Jar, is characterized largely by her experiences with severe depression, something she represents with the motif of a bell jar. Esther uses the bell jar largely as a metaphor for feelings of confinement and entrapment and for society at large. This bell jar initially descends upon Esther as a young woman as she struggles with the conflict between what she wants to become and…

Words 1584 - Pages 7

The Bell Jar Semester Paper

April 2014 THE MYSTERIOUS DARKNESS: THE REASON WHY ESTHER GREENWOOD CAN’T “BE NORMAL” Normalcy is defined in the dictionary as the condition of being normal; the state of being usual, typical, or expected. The character of Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath penetrates the boundaries of being normal. Esther’s story is more than the pursuit for sexual freedom that many claim it to be. Her story is a silent call for help. But why does Esther need help? There is evidence to support the theory…

Words 3632 - Pages 15

Sylvia Plath Personification

an example of a simile, and it means that Plath is closing herself from the world because of the oppression that she has experienced. The first thing that Plath expresses in her poem says “The woman is perfected” (Plath n.p.). Plath thinks the her gender is where she wants it to be at she thinks her work as a feminist poet is complete, but as the poem goes on she realizes there is a lot of unfinished work. One final quote from Plath’s poem best describes her purpose of writing what she wrote, it says…

Words 1204 - Pages 5

103 American Literature Final Exam Essay example

Final Exam I. Multiple choice: 1% x 30 = 30% 1865-1914 1. The novels and short stories of Henry James and Edith Wharton tended to focus on (A) the tragic outcomes of impoverished characters living in industrialized urban wastelands. (B) the ordeals of isolated characters living as survivalists in the sparsely populated hinterlands of the United States. (C) the inner psychological lives of privileged upper-class characters. (D) the exploits of characters with startling accomplishments and impressive…

Words 5468 - Pages 22