The Truth Behind The Bell Jar
OUTLINE
The book The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is an example of what woman had to deal with when it came to problems with their own identity as woman. The mains character of the book struggles with experiences as a woman, dealing with expectations as a woman and restricted role of women of that time.
The Bell Jar shows the experiences as a woman.
- When Esther goes to New York; she meets several guys, Lenny Shepherd and they find out that he is famous. Esther then realizes that Lenny’s friend that was with him wasn’t really a friend of Lenny but he was getting paid by him to keep Esther company that way Lenny can try to get with Doreen
- Buddy Willard, confesses that he loses his purity to a waitress while dating Esther. propose to Esther but she didn’t want the normal life of a woman.
The Bell Jar shows how women dealt with expectations from society.
- she should be happy and confident, but in reality she feels gloomy and has dark humor.
- her relationship with men, which aren’t romantic as she daydreams. daydreams this fantasy with men that she meets and how it would turn out if she were to marry him or have a relationship with them.
The Bell Jar shows the restricted role of women in the 1950’s.
- Esther’s relationship with Buddy also gets her this approval from society as she is living up to those expectations from the norms.
- last night in New York for Esther when she goes out with Doreen and realizes that woman are identified either virgin or whore.
Esther goes through a lot of personal experiences as she starts to determine her sense of self and direction with life. In the book she challenges the regular norms of being a woman but she does it with courage. She stood up for what she believes she deserves even if it’s not the regular getting married and settling down lifestyle.
Hi Geannel, This looks like a complete draft of your essay. Please edit your blog and post the essay *outline* instead.
You should bring two copies of your typed draft to class. Please email me if you have questions.
LW
Hi Geannel, thanks for resubmitting your post as an outline. 🙂 I see that your thesis is “he mains character of the book struggles with experiences as a woman, dealing with expectations as a woman and restricted role of women of that time.” The structure of your thesis provides a strong organizational tool for your essay, and I can see that you follow the “map” provided in the thesis as you organize your body paragraphs. That’s good!
I want to encourage you to think a bit more deeply about your argument. When you say the book “shows the experiences of women” it implies that that Esther’s experience with Lenny and Buddy reflect the experiences of *all* women. When you say that it shows “how women dealt with expectations,” it implies that all women dealt with expectations in the same way. Are these statements actually true? Try to refine your argument so you are making more specific claims about what the book is doing. What kind of female experience is going on in Ether’s relationship with Buddy and Lenny? How would you characterize her specific reactions? What about the other women in the book, do the react the same way?
LW