Disappointment and Identity Crisis †the Reasons of Esther’s Insanity in the Bell Jar free essay sample

The Bell Jar The Bell Jar is the autobiographical book of Sylvia Plath and it follows the real story of the author’s experience of adolescent depression and suicide attempts (Wang, 2006). Esther Greenwood is the protagonist and narrator of  The Bell Jar. She is a girl from Boston who is swept up into a fast-paced New York City life and cannot take it. The novel follows her descent into madness and her struggle to escape from it. She experiences a lot and suffers a lot in this novel. From the very beginning, its title, the bell jar, is a metaphorical explanation for what her insanity feels like. It is suffocating and it closes her off from the world (Shao, 2008). She can’t understand lot of matters happening around her and she can’t find an entrance for herself which directly results in her insanity. My focus is on what makes Esther confused and behaves insanely. Esther feels confused throughout the novel and I firmly believed Esthers confusion and desperation from her disappointment and her identity crisis. This directly leads her confusion and insanity. And I will elaborate it in detail. Esther does not really understand her surroundings and the nature of her problems. On the one hand, she actually can’t understand the thoughts and behavior of the people around her. She tries to communicate with them but fails. She supposes that Valerie is normal, only to find out that she has had a lobotomy. She attaches herself to Mrs. Norris and waits for her to talk, but she never does. When she is moved to a better part of the house, she doesnt understand it because she doesnt see herself getting more positive (Sylvia Plath, 1971). On the other hand, she can’t blame on the society or the people around her, after all, everyone treats her well and she cannot change the whole environment of the society. In the past 19 years, to her mother, she is a motivated and obedient girl, high academic achievers; to her boy friend, she is a tender and nice girl friend; to the magazine, she is a promising internship. But Esther is confused about why she can’t have a bright future and she blames it on her capability, so she keeps on denying herself and her past achievement. In the book, she tries to hang and choke herself. When she goes swimming with her friends, she tries to drown on purpose. These things do not work. Esther is not completely insane. She knows she needs help, but she also knows that the kind of help she needs is too expensive. She has given up life. She finally decides to kill herself by overdosing on sleeping pills and hiding herself in the basement wall. The strong struggle between being a successful female or being an obedient housewife has a much influence on her self-identity. Esther is growing up in 1950s in US when it is still very conservative. The whole society is in praise of the women who donates all of her talent and energy to family, children and husband. In forming the initial stage of self-consciousness, Esther benefits a lot from the liberal education and she is encouraged to pursue the higher education, develop her interests, and explores the vast world (Yang Jing, 2003). However, they are kept on reminding that the maximum value and the only task of woman is to perfect their feminism which means female should pay fully attention to family. Therefore, as a young, talented woman in  1950s America, she is encouraged to be independent and self-sufficient, but also expected to become a submissive wife and mother. Along with identifying marriage and motherhood as signs of achievement, society also defines female success by physical attractiveness and a home filled with lovely possessions, but Esther feels the emptiness of the fashion magazine world she inhabits in New York (Shao, 2008). In New York, Esther has a chance to achieve herself and develop her first step towards the career. Maybe, her ideal life like Jay Cee is at hand she seems to have achieved her ambition. In stead of being happy, Esther feels confused and disappointed with the situation. However, Esther is not as strong as Jay Cee, she cannot accept the challenge and adapt to the cruel reality; she is only 19 and easy to be influenced by others. She is curious, sensitive and fragile when she confronts the mutually exclusive  things she is confused and has nothing to do about it. Both personal difficulties and the problems of being an intelligent, sensitive woman plague Esther and fan the flames of her mental illness. At the end of this novel, after Esther has experienced all the painful torture then she perks up looking forward to a new life. However, what is waiting for her? The social contradiction is still sharp and the value of woman is still can’t demonstrate completely. Without doubt, Esther is still disappointed deeply and it’s likely that she would be involved in the identity crisis again or lose the courage to live a normal life. To Plath herself, it is not strange that she chooses to commit suicide. Because Esther does not really understand her surroundings and the nature of her problems and the strong struggle between being a successful female or being an obedient housewife has a much influence on her self-identity, Esther feels confused and gets insanity. This is all my understanding of this novel. (919 words) References Wang Yan. (2006). The Repressed Growth-The Analysis of Sylvia Plath’s Autobiographical Novel The Bell Jar. Retrieved December 25, 2011, from . from Beijing Foreign Studies University Library. Shao Yan. (2008). -. Retrieved December 25, 2011, from . from Beijing Foreign Studies University Library. Sylvia Plath. (1971). The Bell Jar. Retrieved December 25, 2011, from www. en8848. com. cn Yang Jing. (2003). . Pressed by . Retrieved December 25, 2011