Essay Comparing The Bell Jar Plath And Hawking

In both The Bell Jar and A Brief History of Time, Plath and Hawking utilize tone. In A Brief History of Time, Hawking describes his conversation with a woman who believes the universe is held together by tortoises and states, “At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said:’What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.’ The scientist gave a superior smile before replying...’” (Hawking 1). Within this passage, the woman along with Hawking utilizes demeaning diction. The words “rubbish” and “superior” have a cynical connotation in the passage. Rubbish has a negative connotation that generally is used to describe something as worthless. Superior,

The use of the word “superior” shames the woman because it implies that she is a lesser being than the scientist mentioned in the quote. Through their actions and words, both the woman and the scientist show that they think highly of themselves and their knowledge. The demeaning diction in this excerpt develops a very proud tone and reveals that both the scientist and the women are motivated by self-interest and the want to be higher in status. Even though the woman has very far out notions of how the universe works, she still remains prideful and states her position strongly and confidently in hopes of portraying herself as being more knowledgeable. Uncertainty is the main factor that guides our search for knowledge, and consequently a false sense of certainty the woman has keeps her from realizing that her concept of tortoises holding the universe is inaccurate. Humans are always in pursuit of answers to gain knowledge we do not have, so when one falsely believes their position is correct when it really is not, they are not willing to continue on in that pursuit. Later in the novel, Hawking looks back on the women’s theory of the universe and