Race is not brought up very often in The Bell Jar. It never really describes anyone past Esther’s own description of them which is usually a memory she has of the person about how she knows them or it could just be her feelings toward the individual. This could be simply because everyone Esther comes across could be the same race as her. She is considered a “scholarship girl”. She is either at school with other woman in her age and race bracket, home, working some job to save up money before she goes back to school or in New York. Those were the only settings we had though out the book. That us until she went to the asylum.

     When Esther went to the asylum their is a colored man that Esther refers to as a negro. She repeatedly refers to him as a negro through out the entire scene with him. Never one referring to him by a name or the position that he held within the asylum. She said things such as “The negro was just trying to see how much we would take.” (Plath 181) In reference to the dinner she was having which was served with two different kinds of beans which Esther thought was unacceptable. Or when she was put into Ms. Moles old room and after they locked the door she saw “the Negro’s face, a molasses-colored moon,” now this was at the height of Esther’s depression so it could be seen as her not reacting well because of this rather than her having a racial issue. If the reaction is racial is could be due to the fact that Esther hasn’t been exposed to people of different cultures since it has never been brought up in the book.