The Color White In The Bell Jar

The postwar 1950s launched the modernist period in English Literature, which suggested a more pessimistic perception of society through societal nonconformity, decay, and alienation.Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, a parallel to her life, embodies Esther Greenwood’s character in a pursuit of morality in the reality she faces in the modernistic society. Esther discovers that the society is not as pure as it seems and has underlying truths behind its deceptive appearance. Although the color white often symbolizes purity, goodness, and innocence, Esther gives white a negative connotation in the novel. Esther depicts the reality of the society as fabricated through the recurring motif of the color white, which symbolizes hopelessness and a stigma in

She completely trusts Buddy Willard and imagines a prospective marriage with him when she perceives him as an honest and truthful individual. Esther’s stay in New York alters her assessment of society since she is unable to see through reality having been raised in a restricted environment. Her perspective changes when she realizes the truth behind his facade of being pure. Esther describes Buddy Willard by the color white: “And he looked so proud of having thought of this that I just stared at his blond hair and his blue eyes and his white teeth—he had very long, strong white teeth” (176). Esther emphasizes that Buddy has “white teeth” and does so twice. She points out that Buddy has “long, strong white teeth,” which targets to suggest his purity. However, these white teeth form a rather unpleasant image of Buddy in the reader’s mind.

Esther portrays Doreen’s character as a misfit in the society’s patriarchal roles since her actions display her as a nonconformist individual. Doreen often does things she wants to do and does not take into accord society’s thoughts. Esther describes Doreen with the color white: “With her white hair and white dress she was so white, she looked silver” (55). Even though Doreen’s character demonstrates a rejection of what is thought to be moral, Sylvia Plath links her with the color white. Doreen does wear white, but she does not contain the purity, innocence, and goodness the color symbolizes. Esther is disgusted by the intensity she observes among Doreen and Lenny leading her to classify them as impure individuals. She goes to take a bath to become pure after the incident: “Doreen is dissolving…I don’t know them, I have never known them and I am very pure” (Ch. 2). This demonstrates that Doreen is the epitome of the bad women in society, which is evident through her impurity and unruly actions. Esther tends to wear black when Doreen wears white, signaling the white as the unattainable in her life. Although white is a negative motif, it is also Esther’s hope that she does not have the ability to