The Bell Jar

Esther’s summer in New York is supposed to be one of carefree pleasure, but newspaper headlines and radio broadcasts keep the execution of the Rosenbergs at the forefront of her mind. Esther does not see 1950s America as a reasonable, moral place, but a façade hiding darkness and suffering such as the impending execution of the Rosenbergs. The Rosenberg case was controversial for political reasons. Some felt that the Rosenbergs’ guilt was questionable and their sentence too harsh, others that in order to combat Communism, spies must receive harsh punishment. However, Esther does not mention the politics of their case. Instead, the machinery and physical process of their deaths fascinates and horrifies her. Esther’s obsession with the Rosenbergs represents her general obsession with death.

The novel avoids attributing Esther’s mental illness to external factors, and blames it on a mysterious and powerful inward force. A number of factors exacerbate Esther’s condition: she lost her father when she was a child, her mother fails to understand her, she comes from a poor family, and she feels great and crushing pressure to succeed. Contradictions in the culture that surrounds her also aggravate Esther’s madness. As a young, talented woman in 1950s America, she is encouraged to be independent and self-sufficient, but is also expected to become a submissive wife and mother. Along with identifying marriage and motherhood as signs of achievement, society also defines female success by physical attractiveness and a home filled with lovely possessions, but Esther feels the emptiness of the fashion magazine world she inhabits in New York. Both personal difficulties and the problems of being an intelligent, sensitive woman plague Esther and fan the flames of her mental illness.

The Bell Jar revolves around Esther’s journey of self-discovery. She experiences some of the typical milestones of young womanhood: her first wedding proposal, her first sexual experience, and her first time in a big city. Esther becomes acutely aware that the college phase of her life is about to end and that she must make decisions about her future lifestyle and career. But Esther’s journey does not smoothly progress toward positive self-knowledge and a growing exercise of her own abilities. Instead, she suffers a breakdown, and madness disrupts her coming-of-age. By the end of the novel, Esther feels as if she has been put back together to face the world, but she must live from now on with the memory of her insanity, and with the threat of its return. In this sense, The Bell Jar could be understood as an anti-coming-of-age story.