As you finish reading The Bell Jar, let’s share our thoughts on any of the following questions by adding a reply to this post in the comments:
What difference does it make to have a first-person retrospective narrator for this narrative?
Which relationship is most important for Esther to negotiate in the course of the story? How successful is she, and why does it matter?
Or, ask another question in the comments for you and your classmates to respond to.
There is a big difference having a first person perspective narration of the novel. It gives the reading a better insight of the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist. For instance, in chapter 11-12 we get a better picture of how Esther wants to kill herself. She carefully and rationally thinks about the method, time and location of how she would come suicide. Even though we get a sense of how Esther is planning on killing herself, he don’t necessarily know why. Because the novel is first person perspective we as readers have to analyze Esther’s state and determine why she wants to commit suicide.
Having a first person narrative for this Novel, made all the difference. It helped me as a reader to understand the plight of the protagonist. It was easy to put yourself in Esther’s shoes, because of the narrator speaking in first person. The Novel was very detailed , and every aspect was clear. Not only was Esther fighting with identity issues, she was also suicidal. It just seems like a story is told better coming from a person who has experienced it, as opposed to a person who has spectated.
I think her interactions with Dr. Nolan and Joan were the most important for Esther, at least towards the end of the story. I feel that Dr. Nolan mirrored a mother-figure that she lacked in her life; whereas Joan mirrored Esther herself, in a way that she could have some sort of a closure with the suicide event.
Also, I see Joan as Esther’s alter ego, since she was going through something very, and was able to go through with committing suicide — what Esther kept trying to do and wasn’t able to accomplish.
Something very similar, I mean.
I think the mother daughter relationship is the central one of the novel and it seems like Plath framed relationships that deviated from this mother daughter relationship. For example, Esther wishes that Jay Cee were her mother instead of her own mother. She even compares DR. to her own mother. The fact that Esther sees Doreen, Betsy, Jay Cee, Dr. Nolan, and many others as role models, we can sense the lack of a role model Esther sees in her mother. This relationship is important because there is a little emotional connection between Esther and her mother and she is always in need of comparing her mother with other women in the novel and this leaves her with a lacking self assurance in her relationship with her surrounding also.
I most certainly believe that Esther’s relationship with Dr. Nolan was most important to her. Not only did Esther learn to put all her trust into Dr. Nolan but also grew to love and care for her. In addition to having a close bond with Dr. Nolan, Esther considered Dr. Nolan to be a great mother figure in her life. I believe Esther’s relationship with Dr. Nolan mattered to her a lot because Esther never really had a positive mother figure or role model throughout her life to look up too and she finally found that in Dr. Nolan. I feel that Esther yearned for so long to have a strong emotional and physical connection with someone that when she did find one with Dr. Nolan, she repeatedly questioned and second-guessed her relationship with her biological mother. I believe Dr. Nolan sort of filled a void inside Esther that she was having for so long and she liked the new feeling of actually being cared for.
I can see how a third-person character narrator would limit readers’ ability to get into Esther’s head. But an omniscient narrator would offer all access to Esther’s thoughts. An omniscient narrator might also be able to reflect on some of Esther’s biased and disturbed views.
Esther is a first-person retrospective narrator, meaning that she is reflecting on her past, rather than narrating as she experiences events in her life. But do you think that she is a reliable narrator? Do you trust what she narrates, or do you doubt the accuracy of it? Does she have the distance to see things clearly, in a neutral way? Or is she an unreliable narrator, whose views you have to question?
The relationship that is the most important to Esther is my opinion is with Dr. Nolan. I say this because she was actually the first person to actually listen and try to comprehend what Esther was feeling. Dr. Nolan was like a mother figure to her helping her understand that her future could be as bright as she wants it to be. Dr. Nolan gained Esther trust as she actually listen to what she had to say. By being by her side and telling her that the treatment she received before was done incorrectly and this time it wont be as bad created a trust between them. By creating this relationship with Dr. Nolan is when we start to see the beginning of Esther getting better processes because she is actually liked the feeling that someone was caring for her. Dr. Nolan made Esther realize that its okay to dislike a person such as her mother and Esther found comfort in that.
Esther’s most important relationship I was with Dr. Nolan, she was the only person in the novel that tried to help and understand Esther. Dr. Nolan became the parental figure Esther needed as she was supporting and encouraging Esther to peruse her future. Compared to other characters Dr. Nolan took un active role in Esther’s well being present to comfort her during the shock therapy.