#i have an English degree i can write faster and better than I can strangle useable text out of an AI please be serious

[raziraphale]

work is trying to force us to return to office full-time 5 days a week despite there literally being more employees than there are desks + chairs. they're also trying to make it mandatory to "incorporate [internal AI LLM tool] into our daily work" despite it literally not making any sense for me to use. free me

[americanmyths-blog]

Crazy Girl

Allyson Waldrop

Professor Rothenbeck

English 2270

1 May 2017

Crazy Girl

           Sylvia Plath was a famous American author who touched young women from all times and walks of life through her writings of real life struggles that young women face. In The Bell Jar, Plath wrote about a young woman named Esther Greenwood who had trouble fitting into societal norms of the 1950’s which ultimately lead to her “madness”. Today’s society has evolved in some of the gender roles, but the base platform of these roles has remained constant. It is through these gender roles that shows the deterioration of the minds of young women, in which Plath has been able to reach women over a span of fifty five years. Mental illness can take many shapes and forms; however, Plath uses four of the biggest issues young women face today, body image, depression, anxiety and suicide. Gender roles in the 1950’s required women to be pious, pure, domestic, and submissive. Esther Greenwood, Plath’s main character is a young woman whom is trying to discover herself. Throughout this time of discovery, Esther encounters issues of expectations in which she struggles with, because of these struggles Esther develops the beginning stages of many mental illnesses. During Esther’s time at Ladies’ Day, in New York City, she faces body image issues, and symptoms of bulimia. Esther also deals with being a submissive woman when she rejects Buddy Willards proposal for marriage which sends her in a downward spiral of depression. Thru the course of the novel Esther has an internal struggle which turns into a severe case of anxiety, about what kind of woman she wants to become, a housewife like Mrs. Willard or a professional writer, like her boss. During the novel Esther toys with the idea of committing suicide, after a few failed attempts Esther decides to lose her virginity to a Harvard professor in order to make her feel alive. Silvia Plath uses mental illness to reach her readers and expose the destruction of the minds of young women because of societal gender expectations that young women face.

Esther’s visit to Ladies’ Day shows the struggles Esther faces in regards to her body image. Esther attacks the food at the banquet, particularly the chicken, caviar and avocado. Esther mentions that “no matter how much [she] eats, [she] never puts on weight”, this leads the reader to believe that Esther has no problems with body image issues (Plath 24).  Caroline Smith, notes her article, "The Feeding of Young Women”, Smith notes that the conflict with in Esther’s statement is when she notes that she eats quicker than other girls when taken out on expense accounts because she orders more food. This suggests that Esther does notice how much food she intakes and thinks by eating faster the girls who are reducing, will not  notice her “tackles” the food she orders (Smith, “Feeding” ; Plath, 28). The engorging of her food shows that Esther has a body image insecurities because she does not feel comfortable eating as much as she would like to in front of the reducing girls. Shortly after inhaling her food, Esther return to her room and begins to purge the food. Esther continues to do take part in these bulimic activities. Body image and eating disorders have recently become a large issue in today’s society with young girls, they feel as though they must look like models in magazines, Esther feels this way too, only she is working for a magazine that makes her feel this way. Esther interns for Mademoiselle magazine, which promotes domestic ideals to their readers, along with their domestic ideals Mademoiselle also promotes submissive roles as they published in the September “How-To” edition with an article titled “How to get a man” (Smith, “Feeding).

Esther’s rocky relationship with her on again, off again, boyfriend, Buddy Willard shows the societal expectations of all women finding a man and being submissive to her husband as early as they can graduate college with their “Mrs.” degrees. During Christmas Buddy Willards father drives Esther to the sanatorium to see Buddy. Buddy who had always thought writing was useless, had written a poem to show Esther, after reading she “though it was dreadful” (Plath 92). There Esther declines Buddy’s marriage proposal of “being Mrs. Buddy Willard”, in an attempt to try again, Buddy takes Esther to ski. There Esther has a terrible accident and breaks her leg in two places, ultimately ruining Buddy chance of proposing again ( Plath 93, 98). After the ski trip Esther returns home where she falls into a deep depression, Esther decides to write a novel. Esther begins to spiral out when she can no longer sleep. She is jealous of her snoring mother and debates strangling her in the middle of the night, an odd notion and she feels as though she needs weight to push on her in order for her to feel safe, symptoms which are common in patients who are in the beginning stage of schizophrenia (Séllei, Fig Tree). Because of this behavior “[she] cant sleep. [she] cant read” and turns to her family doctor for more sleeping pills. Depression is a common thread between woman when turning down a proposal, society has placed emphasis on the idea of a man asking a woman to marry means she must say yes, this breakthrough of Esther saying no shows Esther that there consequences to denying a man, these consequence of breaking a leg and having a sleeping disorder lead to the sever anxiety she faces throughout the novel. Thru the summer Esther is uncertain about what she will accomplish with the next phase of her life, she debates dropping out of school, going to Germany and ultimately decides to write her novel, this causes the depression to partner with anxiety which will corrode Esther’s mind and ultimately lead to her destruction.

In the novel, Esther has been having an inner conflict with who she wants to become. Esther is faced with deciding to become either Mrs. Willard or Jaycee. Mrs. Willard, Buddy’s mother, is a house wife who represents one side of life, Esther as Buddy Willards wife. Mrs. Willard shows the domestic roles of a woman in 1950s society. She cooks, cleans and tends to her husband. Mrs. Willard. Mrs. Willard is a symbol of the ideal woman, she sums up what she thinks is the key to marriage, she tells Esther “What a man wants is a mate and what a woman wants is infinity security” (Plath 84). Plath uses Mrs. Willard to show the treatment of husbands to their wives. Esther tells the reader she found Mrs. Willard once making a rug that was made out of Mr. Willards old suits, Plath is showing us that husbands walked over their wives because women were supposed to be submissive (Plath 84). Esther also debates about aspiring to be her boss, Jaycee. Jaycee is a professional editor for Mademoiselle magazine. Jaycee is committed to her career, even though she is married. Jaycee pushes Esther to think about who she wants to be and where she wants to go. Jaycee tells Esther that she must do something to separate herself from the “hundreds of girls…thinking they’ll be editors” (Plath 33). Jaycee, while married, represents the single life in which Esther is only focused on her career. Esther is so worried about choosing which one she wants to be. Esther does not want to make the wrong choice however will not make up her mind about which path to take. This gives Esther added anxiety about not knowing her future all throughout the book. This added anxiety does not help stop the deterioration of her mind. In the 1950’s society, piousness was a needed virtue for an ideal woman, however because of the severe anxiety that Esther had, she is not able to decide what she wants, thus making her non-pious. Plath is writing ahead of her time once again, as society has evolved into allowing women to be in the work force, more and more young girls stress themselves and give themselves anxiety attacks because they cannot decide what to do. Esther is not able to make a decision because of her anxiety and depression and thus decides suicide is her only option.

The double standard in today’s society is the same double standard in the 1950s society. Esther’s deep depression, anxiety, body image issue and stress have final built up. Esther decides to attempt suicide multiple times. Esther fails and because of this needs to feel alive again. Esther is jealous of Buddy Willard losing his virginity to a waitress. Esther does not want to have sex because she is in love, but only to get back at Buddy Willard. Esther takes a trip with Joan to Cambridge, there she meets a professor and decides to lose her virginity. Esther has sex with the professor and then begins to bleed profusely. Even though she is hemorrhaging, Esther isn’t phased and shows that she was only doing it to lose her virginity, “I smiled into the dark. I felt part of a great tradition” (Plath 229).   This rare and unfortunate situation in which she loses her pureness leads to her ending up in an institution. This is always a relevant topic to young women because every day women are forced to choose between being pure and being a prude. The double standard was not as prevalent in the 1950’s because the expectations were to wait for marriage, however today expectations are flipped in which some woman are expected to have sex on the first date. This double standard and failed attempt at suicide allow Esther to receive the help she needs in an institution. Esther can recover in the institution from her mental illnesses and gain a friendship with another young girl named Joan. Joan is Esther’s double. As Esther gets better the reader assumes Joan is getting better as well, but when Esther wakes from the hospital, she learns Joan has killed herself. This is still applicable to today society in that everyday young women are losing other friends who are young women due to anxiety, stress, depression and body image.

Esther Greenwood was created by Sylvia Plath to show how young girls are affected by societal norms and that it can cause women to suffer from mental illnesses such as body image, depression, anxiety and even suicide. Plath uses scenes such as Ladies’ Day, Buddy Willard’s proposal, anxiety of the future and the loss of Esther’s virginity to show that young women experience all kinds of physical and emotional problems growing up in a society with unequal gender roles of women and men.  Silvia Plath uses mental illness to reach her readers and expose the destruction of the minds of young women because of societal gender expectations that young women face. Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar, is a classic piece of American Literature that is easily identifiable to young women who are trying to discover who they are.

 Works Cited

 Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. London: Arcturus, 2014. Print.

 Sellei, Nora. "THE FIG TREE AND THE BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES: THE BODY AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN SYLVIA PLATH'S "THE BELL JAR"." JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

 Smith, Caroline J. ""The Feeding of Young Women": Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar, Mademoiselle" Magazine, and the Domestic Ideal." College Literature 37.4 (2010): 1-22. JSTOR. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.