Is this coming of age?
In the story The Bell Jar, Esther is shocked by many things she sees while in New York City. Her upbringing in the suburbs does not prepare her for the kind of life she is expected to live in New York.
At the time, there was (at still is) an expectation for women to maintain their purity and refrain from having multiple sexual partners and meaningless sex. Towards the end of the book, we realize that these double standards are some of the causes behind Esther's turmoil and her fear of pregnancy. We learn that her fear of getting pregnant and losing her freedom significantly contributes to her suicidal thoughts.
When Esther learns about Buddy's previous affair, she is disgusted and swears never to speak to him again. She calls him a hypocrite and pins her dislike of gender roles on Buddy. Her opinion on married life and being a mother develops by being around Buddy in the medical world.
After witnessing live childbirth, Esther begins to fear having kids. As her time in New York ends, she returns to the suburbs. When Esther sees Dodo Conway and her posse of children, her fear of being bound to a family lifestyle only increases.
Esther does not know that the cause of her feelings is her underlying fear of pregnancy; she only realizes that when she becomes closer to doctor Nolan. Dr. Nolan shows Esther that her fear is common and she does not have to feel that way. Her treatments help Esther liberate herself from the bell jar and see her life through a new set of eyes.
When Esther is granted "town privileges," she meets Irwin and has her first taste of individuality in the real world. Esther loses her virginity to Irwin, which she is not unhappy about. Right after her encounter, she then bleeds and has to go to the hospital to be treated. She makes Irwin pay for the hospital bills, giving her a real sense of pride. Before her time with Dr. Nolan, Esther would have been very opposed to the idea of sex and would not have advocated for herself if she was in a situation like the one with Irwin. However, with her newly-found confidence and autonomy, she can firmly express what she wants without fear of rejection. This version of Esther shows a significant growth in her personality, which is an evident characteristic of a coming-of-age novel.
I think what makes her sudden exposure to the city extra shocking to her is the fact that although she has been in New York city she has been isolated inside her writing bubble of buildings and fellow interns. In this bubble, the people she interacts with are a lot like her, with similar aspirations and uncertainties about the future and thus for most of her time in New York she sits an in echo chamber where where she is never questioned why she wanted to write in the first place. After being sheltered inside her insternship, Esther faces the harsh reality of the outside world and must apply her education to make a living at which point she, for the first time, is forced to strongly question her lifelong pursuit of writing, causing her breakdown.
ReplyDeleteI saw a similar post questioning the idea of how much "coming of age" is in the novel. I think it can go both ways, while it does exhibit some characteristics of a coming of age, you can also make an argument that it is more of a rebirth. Either way, Esther has showed significant growth throughout the story.
ReplyDeleteThis aspect of Esthers character development does point towards the story being coming of age. But really how I interpret it is that the end of the book is more of her beginning. She gets back on track to then develope and have her coming of age and find who she is. What you brought up in this blog post was interesting and I never thought about that aspect of Esther, and it is important when considering her coming of age.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this post! I think Esther's change in attitude in how she views standards placed on women is very revealing. Her coming of age can be seen in the way she perceives the societal issues and not the fixing of the societal issues themselves. This is also brought upon by the extremely personalized treatment Dr Nolan offers her, and how that gives her the confidence to exist with these societal expectations.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I agree that Esther's attitude and POV towards society changes greatly throughout the book. At the beginning there's a lot of fear from Esther of different social expectations and norms forced upon her which eventually led to her deteriorating mental health. Later she was able to seek understanding from Dr. Nolan and get the chance to enter society in a different way. I think the idea of coming of age in this book is vague and up to interpretation. I wasn't sure if Esther had come of age by the end of the novel or if this novel was just part of her process.
ReplyDeleteThe way Esther's outlook on her own future changes and shifts throughout the book is really interesting to look at, especially as we see her get the help she needs from Dr. Nolan, who definitely changes her outlook on life, lifts the bell jar a little bit, and Esther is able to breathe for a bit. Escaping the path society had put her on was really good to see compared to where the book started, forced onto the same path as everyone else. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI think Esther's way of managing her dislike and fear of societal standards is one of her most powerful transformations in the novel. After realizing that she is not alone in her hatred of the gender roles set on her I think she has more confidence to take charge and do something to combat them. With the help of her doctor she is able to find ways that make her feel more empowered and have more control over her life. Although the gender roles and societal expectations won't change Esther can change the way she deals with them.
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