The 'Belle' Jar

With the titular bell jar and scattered mentions of flowers, I was frequently reminded of this image of the enchanted rose from Beauty and the Beast which I think perfectly encompasses the way Esther Greenwood views herself. 

Sylvia Plath incorporates tons of metaphors in The Bell Jar, including Esther's comparison of dying flowers to dead bodies when she's volunteering at the hospital. When Esther throws the dying flowers away, it's due to her belief that giving them to patients would only depress them. This seemingly insignificant moment revealed Esther's mindset to me; like a withered flower, Esther would rather not be there at all than be present but visibly unhappy in the eyes of those around her.  

Why does Esther feel this way? In class, we discussed how Esther's metaphorical bell jar left her feeling vulnerable to prying eyes. In New York, Esther felt she was being constantly surveilled for her next career move or academic achievement. This paranoia was exacerbated in the suburbs, where Esther realized that society's expectations of her would put her role as a wife/mother on display. While the bell jar isolated Esther, it also distorted her perception of the world around her. The bell jar's toll on Esther was evident, as Esther eventually began to base her self worth on superficial accomplishments (her scholarships) and other societal appearances of success. 

Just as society views fresh flowers as meaningful/beautiful but worthless/disposable once dried out, when Esther's mental health began to deteriorate, she subscribed to the idea that death was her best option when she realizes that she couldn't/didn't want to adhere to what society expected of her.   

Comments

  1. Eliza D. TerzievMarch 15, 2021 at 9:20 PM

    This is such an interesting idea! I completely agree that the rose case from Beauty and the Beast is the best and most recognizable example of a bell jar, and it came to mind for me too. I really like that you took this a step further with Esther herself being the rose, especially the point of contrasting fresh flowers with withered ones is powerful and drives home the idea. Great Job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JakeMarch 18, 2021 at 8:10 AM

    I think that you're absolutely right, flowers serve as a very good metaphor for societies view of mental health. Esther not only brings herself down with these ideas, but is faced with lots of skepticism of her future as she is now seen as a withered rose.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aryan LalwaniMarch 21, 2021 at 2:58 PM

    I really like the idea of comparing Esther and her mental health to a flower. It highlights that the expectation of perfection - with all the petals arranged perfectly and full of color while in reality any sort of perfection in a flower is either impossible to maintain or completely artificial.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adit's BolgMarch 21, 2021 at 8:56 PM

    This is a great metaphor for Esther's situation. Using the Beauty and the Beast rose was a great way of expressing the jar which encases our protagonist. Much like how this rose withers away due to its restriction by the jar, Esther also seems to wither because of her depression.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LaraMarch 21, 2021 at 11:33 PM

    What a perfect metaphor for Esther's mindset and situation! I really like your analysis and the line where you say how Esther would rather be completely invisible to everyone around her versus visibly miserable to them. She feels like she doesn't fit in with all the people around her so she stays in her bell jar, just like the rose, with a fake prettiness and happiness, while inside she is slowly withering away.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Literature with LexyMarch 25, 2021 at 11:16 AM

    I love this metaphor! She feels like all of her worth is gone once her mental health gets bad, and she wants to wither away, which is just like how the worth of the rose is gone once it begins to deteriorate and wither away. Perfection is impossible for flowers and nature, so why do we expect ourselves to be perfect?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Perks of Coming of Age

Similar to many other coming-of-age narratives, in The Perks of Being a Wallflower , Charlie struggles to conform with his peers. In the opening scenes, we learn that Charlie often writes to a nameless Friend, including on his first day of high school when he’s ultimately unsuccessful at making any in the flesh. In his letters, Charlie constantly talks about the other kids at school, clinging onto any seedling of connection he has to their lives; in the cafeteria, he talks about a girl who he knew in middle school and a boy that played football with his older brother. Despite being the central protagonist of the movie, Charlie’s words bring everyone’s existences to life but his own. Charlie is eventually drawn to Patrick, a carefree and outspoken senior in his woodworking class-- in other words, the polar opposite of his own self. Patrick introduces Charlie to the rest of his friend group including Sam, his equally easy going stepsister (who Charlie develops a crush on), and Mary Eliza...
Read more

"I was the Harry Potter to my father's Voldemort"

Throughout Fun Home , Alison Bechdel references many prominent myths and works and literature that compare to her experiences and relationships.  I was organizing my bookshelves this past week when I stumbled upon my Harry Potter books. As I painfully relived my elementary school obsession, I came to realize that Alison and Bruce's relationship actually kind of reminded me of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort's.  Throughout  Fun Home , Alison Bechdel characterizes her father, Bruce, as her polar opposite; "I was the Spartan to my father's Athenian, modern to his victorian, butch to his Nelly, utilitarian to his aesthete." However, as the story progresses, it's clear that the two are as similar as they are different. Alison and Bruce both have struggled to conform with their respective genders, and they share a mutual love for literature. In the same way, although Harry Potter and Voldemort epitomize the fight between good and evil, Harry Potter and Voldemort sha...
Read more

F for Effort

In The Catcher in the Rye , Holden Caulfield frequents the habit of bringing a topic up, perhaps even expressing an interest in it, but explaining to the reader that he is deliberately choosing not to engage because he 'doesn't feel like it.'  This attitude is most notable in Holden's school work. The story opens at Pencey Prep, where Holden has just been kicked out of after failing four of his five classes. It's also revealed that Pencey is not the first school he's been kicked out of; presumably, it won't be the last. Why is this? Holden doesn't seem particularly unintelligent and even informs the reader of the initiative he takes when he writes extra-curricular essays.  There could be many explanations.  At first, I assumed that Holden was protecting himself from failure or disappointment. Maybe Holden uses his actively-maintained passivity to convince himself that he only does badly because it's him who refuses to break a sweat. This self-sabotag...
Read more