When Laura Franks says that she has “refused to play gender games” I think she means that even though in society they make it seem like you have to choose, you don’t. A lot of people don’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth or don’t identify with a gender at all and prefer pronouns such as they/theirs, it’s all about the persons perspective on their gender identity. I believe this has to do with fear because people fear not being accepted in society. Wether it has to do with the hate they may receive for not fitting into social norms and being themselves or just because people don’t agree with their view points when it comes to gender because they view things as simple as male or female depending on the genitalia of the person.

     Their are instances in The Bell Jar where Esther does or doesn’t conform to her gender expectations. One scene where she doesn’t comply with gender norms is when she mentions that she was still wearing Betsy’s clothes that now drooped because “[she] hadn’t washed them in [her] three weeks at home.” (Plath 127) Esther even goes further to mention that she “hadn’t washed [her] hair for three weeks, either.” (Plath 127) Usually when you think of a young woman, you think of them taking care of themselves and their personal hygiene. Its not like a young lady to not take care of themselves and let themselves go. This is a perfect example of not performing the gender role that is expected of her because this wouldn’t be acceptable to other people if they saw her or knew that she was behaving like this. At this point in the book Esther is falling deeper and deeper into a depression and her reasoning for behaving as such is that it seemed “silly to wash one day when [she] would only have to wash again the next.” (Plath 128) This isn’t reasonable thinking and it’s one of the first times that her falling into a depression is showing physically and can be noticed by others.