The Bell Jar critic quotes

Motherhood

Linda Wagner Martin argues: it is amongst women that Esther finds ardent defenders of marriage, chastity and domesticity e.g. the “doormat” (p.80) Mrs Willard, the spokesperson for the dominant 1950s gender ideology”

Adrienne Rich argues that the institutionalised concept of the maternal in this era was based on ‘instinct’ rather than intelligence, selflessness rather than self-realisation, in relation to others rather than the creation of the self

Mrs Greenwood

Mrs Greenwood is an admirable and likeable character, “a dutiful, hardworking woman whose beastly daughter is ungrateful" to her” (Letter from Sylvia Plath to the editor at Heinemann 1961)

Mrs Greenwood is “a cold, unsympathetic character” who “provides the conflict necessary to win sympathy fro the heroine” (letter from Aurelia Plath 1974)

Consumerism

Critic Renee Dowbnia argues that Esther’s trajectory in The bell jar is one in which includes the rejection of consumerism:

• In the New York section, Esther is attracted to the luxury consumer lifestyle of the wealthy girls at the Amazon. But at the sane time, she sees its superficiality and critics it

• Various expressions of her appetite (food, alcohol, clothing) are harmful to her, but she cannot break out the cycle. Dowbnia argues that it is her encounter with Marco which allows her to fully reject the lure of consumerism

Mental illness

Ali Smith (2013): “Mental illness is the enemy of writing which silkences the writer rather than allowing them to explore and examine”

Elaine Showalter argues: Plath and her contemporaries explore mental hospitals as “environments in which deviants from conventional feminine roles were forced to conform”

Joan

Tracy Brain argues that:

• “Joan embodies Esther’s sexual and social transgressions and resist the feminine stereotype”

• She suggest’s that Joan “is symbolic and never literal. Plath cues this idea that Joan should not be taken literally but symbolically when Esther says “sometimes I wondered if I had made Joan up”

• Brain also argues that in 1950s America, the reaction of sickness to homosexuality indicates ‘health’

Critic Steven Axerrod (1990): Argues that Esther severs her connection with Joan by asserting her heterosexuality and sleeping with Irwin. Esther thus ‘cuts away’ or ‘bruises’ (bonds) and ‘unacceptable’ part of herself