ipl-logo

Gender Roles In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

442 Words2 Pages

Sylvia Plath had a very tragic and short life. She was born in Boston on October 27, 1932 (Hall xi). Her father died when she was young which made her depressed. She becomes an English teacher in 1957. She was secretly writing an autobiographical novel called The Bell Jar. In 1963, she published the book and commits suicide (Hall 35). Her novel was based on issues such as culture clash and gender roles during her time period.
Sylvia Plath’s novel is fictionalized and records seven months in the life of Esther Greenwood, which is the main character of the novel (Telgen 34). She went on several dates and all of them failed. Esther met a rich guy who nearly raped her which made her go insane and visits psychiatrist, Dr. Gordon. She tries to commit …show more content…

Most women in the 1950s did not attend college (Telgan 40). She did not come from a wealthy family. In positive ways, Esther is fairly typical of other students such as white, education, and studious. Unfortunately, she is socially cut off from women with whom she has so much in common is one of the ironies in The Bell Jar (Telgan 42). Gender roles in The Bell Jar were really important to the character in the novel. Esther Greenwood thought women should have a husband that would help support their family in many ways (Telgan 25). Most women in the 1950s did not attend college to ultimately support themselves. Around that time women were expected to marry. As the novel continues, Esther did not want to feel left out because most women lost their virginity (Wagner 36). Esther soon did not care about getting married. She started caring more about losing her virginity (Wagner 38). Sylvia Plath did not have a happy life. She did not fit in with her culture clash and gender roles. It led her to become clairvoyant (Wagner 40). Plath wanted to fit in with everyone else but she never got the opportunity. She ended up killing herself for many reasons some were explained and some were not. Her final quote in The Bell Jar was, “I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.” (Telgan 22) The significance of the quote is this is the last thing Plath also said when she had

Show More
Related

Comparing Catcher In The Rye And The Bell Jar

1120 Words | 5 Pages

In America, we grow up in a society that grooms us to become a successful and happy adult. A society in which people are able to say and do what they want. This freedom that comes with growing up can be too much to handle. As we grow up we start to realize the flaws in our society and the flaws within ourselves. This pressure to remain happy can have various effects.

Read More

Character Analysis: Their Eyes Were Watching God

844 Words | 4 Pages

Janie’s gender had a great impact on her from a young age. Her Nanny expected her to get married as soon as possible. She did not believe that Janie could make a life for herself alone. Nanny thought she needed the protection and stability of a man.

Read More

Gender Roles In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

633 Words | 3 Pages

The United States Constitution states that the country values liberty, life, and happiness for all of its citizens. These three values shape the ideal American experience. Most view it as living freely, where all men, women, and races are created equal, and where oppression of genders and races does not exist. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, however, Zora Neale Hurston challenges the traditional view of this experience by illustrating how gender roles and racism change it, manifesting that it is not close to what the average citizen goes through, especially if he or she is black.

Read More

Misogyny In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

1703 Words | 7 Pages

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a culmination of many sides of society fit into a small hospital. Fighting each other to escape or be fixed, each character brings a history with them that influences their emotions and actions. Some fall into the same category, but others—the outliers—have a unique aura that quickly makes them the main players of the game of the “combine”. The protagonist and the antagonist of the work, share only one thing in common, they assert themselves to be the leader of the cult inside the hospital. But why?

Read More

Rhetorical Devices In The Bell Jar

2037 Words | 9 Pages

1. Introduction Published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, The Bell Jar has aroused the interest of scholars all over the world. One of the most often discussed characteristics of The Bell Jar is its use of similes, metaphors, and symbols. Throughout The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath employs rhetorical devices to paint a vivid picture of its protagonist Esther. This essay will discuss how Sylvia Plath uses figurative language to represent Esther’s feelings of insanity, anxiety, and freedom.

Read More

Jane Addams: A Progressive Hero

410 Words | 2 Pages

Jane Addams was born September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois. She was the eighth of nine children, and her father was a rich industrialist. In her lifetime she was a pioneer and social worker in America, and received her Bachelor's degree from Rockford College for women. She was also a progressive hero because she helped the community become a better place by helping people in need. Addams enjoyed helping people, and her visit to the Toynbee Hall inspired her to create something similar to it.

Read More

Gender Roles In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

1288 Words | 6 Pages

Written by the great Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon is where the song of African- Americans is sung with the most genuine and sincere voice in utmost entirety. In this essay, the masterpiece will be examined with gender studies approach and cultural studies approach, the function of Pilate and Ruth would be examined in depth, the suggestion that the protagonist should be more loving and caring for others would be fully explained, and the value of this book will be carefully examined. Part One: Critical Approach A significant character in Song of Solomon, Corinthians the First, can be analyzed through the gender studies approach and the cultural studies approach.

Read More

Lack Of Control In The Secret Life Of Esther

1085 Words | 5 Pages

Esther does not allow for Dr. Gordon to have any control over interpreting her own personal narrative. She insists on not sharing her own story or narrative, but is able to decode the doctor’s easily through his objects in his office and the questions he asks

Read More

Influence On Langston Hughes

697 Words | 3 Pages

American novelist, poet, and playwright Langston Hughes was born in Joplin Missouri in February 1902. Soon after he was born, his parents separated, and his father moved away to Mexico. He was raised by his maternal grandmother, until her death. After she died, he began to write poetry and Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg were major early influences in his work. After he graduated from high school in 1920 Hughes spent the next year with his father in Mexico.

Read More

How Do Gender Roles In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises?

1523 Words | 7 Pages

In The Sun Also Rises there is great exploration into the aspects of post war ideals and the effect these shifts had on society, a big theme throughout the book is gender roles. While some may read Brett as a radical representation of women 's right and all the newly gained freedoms, she only represents a small part of the huge shift in gender expectations of women. This is due to her social class and her lifestyle and because of this we do not get to see deeper into the independence that was gained by women in this post war world. Hemmingway uses Brett to demonstrate how the effects of the shift in gender roles and how they affected the lives of upper class women with regards to social liberties but does not go deeper to show the gained independence

Read More

Analysis Of The Bell Jar

1021 Words | 5 Pages

(Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar). She sees death as a beautiful thing therefore, she is blinded by the beauty of death, to see the beauty of life. She had failed in life, because she stopped trying, or she never tried at

Read More

Women's Dislocated Relations To Speech By Sylvia Plath

617 Words | 3 Pages

The article written by Steven Gould Axelrod; regarding most of Sylvia Plath’s stories or poems, is mainly an analysis of how Plath writes and how her works develop through out everything she writes. My main view about this article written by Gould, is that he does have very strong argumentative point about how Plath’s works grow and are related to each other. The critic Gould has a views points to make about the writing, the first one that he mentions is that Plath’s writing is a “ woman’s dislocated relations to speech”. The second point I feel he had a strong support on was when he claims that Plath uses her stories and poems to create what can be understood as a series. I agree with most, probably all of the points that Gould has made regarding Plaths writing.

Read More

Critical Analysis Of The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath

1755 Words | 8 Pages

After spending time at two separate privately-run facilities for mentally ill women, on the morning of her departure interview, the novel comes to an abrupt end. In a “biographical note” included at the end of the novel, we learn that Sylvia Plath committed suicide rather abruptly in her own life, at a similar moment in time when everything seemed to be looking up. This novel was published shortly before Plath’s own

Read More

Essay On Gender Roles In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

584 Words | 3 Pages

William Faulkner is a complex writer who knows how to set a great pace in his stories. He is also a very flexible writer which allows the openness of many topics to write on because of his unconventional style. In his short story, "A Rose for Emily", you can interpret how times are so different from today. Although it was not during slavery times, things were not much more advance than that. The dominance of gender or social roles shown on women, particularly Miss Emily, may be seen as harsh or unfair.

Read More

Loneliness In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

586 Words | 3 Pages

Prior to Esther’s conversation with Hilda she recently broke her leg in two places while skiing with Buddy, a man who does not make her happy, or make her feel less lonely. While Buddy is at the bottom of the mountain and Esther is at the top, he motions for her to come down. After the accident, he mentions how Esther was doing well, “until that man stepped into your path” (98). When she returns home she is called into Hilda’s office and discusses upcoming events.

Read More

More about Gender Roles In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

Related Topics

Open Document