According to Laura Franks’ gender role is the qualities, mannerism, duties and cultural expectations to a specific gender. I believe she means what society’s expectations of what a woman or man should be. Those expectations vary from generations to generations and culture to culture. In the 1960’s when The Bell Jar is written, a woman’s duties are clearly defined. A woman has been expected to be married and has children; she also is expected to be a housewife, awhile the man is supposed to be the provider. Laura refuses to play gender games means that she refuses to do what society expect her as a woman  to do like getting married, have children and become a housewife  which in part is society’s definition of what a woman should be. She decides to be her own person and she mentions that the first time it was frightening because going against everything society tells you to be and how you are raised create fear, fear of the unknown. Naturally, when someone does something the first time, that person is afraid, but over time it becomes natural to the person. Laura learns to defy society’s expectations without fear. Laura could have been cast out because she did not conform to what is expected of her and she surely is aware of what is expected because she talked about the 5 components of gender. In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Esther defies society’s expectations and definition of what makes a woman over and over. On chapter 11 on page 133, Esther is talking to a sailor alone, back then a proper woman would not be going out without chaperone and all throughout the books, there are many examples that she goes out all the time on her own.  She also lies to the sailor about who she was. I cannot imagine that a proper woman would be telling lies about her life. I do not get the feeling that Esther even gets afraid of doing the opposite of what is expected of a woman in the book. She constantly breaks society’s roles of a woman. Esther does not what society is expecting a woman to be. Matter of fact, she thinks it would be “11 years of straight A’s” wasted to become a housewife.