Sex for women can be seen differently based on how they were raised to see it, how society saw it, and women were treated at the time. For example in the books Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Each of the main characters were women who saw sex differently. In The Bell Jar, the main character is named Esther and she saw sex as a right of passage, a way to her self freedom. Esther meets a man named Irwin who is a married professor and she chooses to give him her virginity. Her virginity was a major definition to who she didn’t want to be anymore. She states “It occurred to me that blood was my answer. I couldn’t possibly be a virgin anymore. I smiled into the dark. I felt part of a great tradition”(Plath, 219).Esther feels a satisfaction of freedom and how she was now able to be and choose how she wanted her life to play out. Although on the other hand in The Color Purple by Alice Walker, sex wasn’t freedom but a way men asserted control of women. The main character is named Celie, she struggles through life being treated as an object. Celie was to be controlled by her stepfather, then married off to a husband who as abusive and unloving as her father figure. In the beginning of the book it starts with Celie being raped by her step-father and being told to stay quiet or pain will be inflected to those she loved. She states “Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First he put his thing against my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then grab a hold of my titties. Then push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt , I cry. He start to choke me, say You better shut up and git use to it.”(Walker,1). This allows to see how men saw her as object and she allowed herself to be used as so due to her lack of knowledge that there was another way. Furthermore, sex was also scary but a way of showing your devotion and love to one another. In Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the main character is named Ifemelu and she is in love with Obinze. Both are well educated Africans that attend college and spend all of their free time together. They both understand the outcomes of sex and the need to use protection, being told and shown from parents and family. Ifemelu’s first sexual experience is with Obinze, they do not use protection but use other methods that aren’t always guaranteed. And Ifemelu fears she maybe pregnant due to her showing signs such as vomiting. Eventually she takes a test and sees she is not pregnant but has an inflamed organ that requires surgery. The book states “It felt to Ifemelu like a weak copy, a floundering imitation of what she imagined it would be…She had been tense through it all, unable to relax. She had imagined his mother watching them ;”(Adichie,114). Ifemelu feels the guilt that she promised Obinze’s mother when they would start any sexual relation, and so she can’t fully give herself to Obinze. Sex is different to everyone due to many factors such as time period, how they are raised, education, and society. All of this shapes an individual’s outlook on sex and what is the meaning behind it. In conclusion, for women it’s not all this general thought but can mean Freedom or Demise or Nothing.

In the book Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is based on a highly educated African American women named Ifemelu and her the struggle of being pinned under specific labels (especially labels about race). Although she is also in journey for love with Obinze. Her story is generally told through the element of fiction: Point of view, usually in third person (narrator). The book starts with third person to allow the setting to be set up for the reader to understand and get some background on the main character. For example, “The rude stranger in the supermarket-who knew what problems he was wrestling with, haggard and thin-lipped as he was- had intended to offend her but had instead prodded her awake”( Adichie,8). In this quote we see from her point of view how a label such as ‘fat’ has made her react a specific way. At first, she took it negatively by ‘noticing’ the tightness in her clothes. Although she also saw that she was not happy in her life and wanted desired a change. The ‘third-person’ point of view continues, but this time to allow insight on flashbacks/ thoughts. This allows for the reader to properly follow the zig-zag motions of the story line. Furthermore, when it states “Throughout the years of childhood, Ifemelu would often look in the mirror and pull at her own coils, will it to become like her mother’s, but it remained bristly and grew reluctantly”( Adichie, 49). This quote is a flashback to when the main character had a mother so beautiful and that everyone admired. She challenged her own ideas of beauty and her hair as an African girl. In conclusion, point of view allowed for the readers to see more than just one person’s perspective and specifically allowed for them to see the change or lack of change in the reaction to labels.

In the book The Bell Jar by Alice Walker, the main character Celie, suffers throughout her journey. She is raped by her step-father and forced into a marriage where she is also mistreated. And constantly forced into tasks and things she does not want to do. Even when she is constantly told to fight, she does not in fear of men. Her stepson Harpo falls in love with a girl named Sofia, who is almost completely the opposite of her. But they are alike in the ways they grew up and suffered under the same circumstances. Both women are seen as minors, both women were not allowed an education. Although Sofia was a fighter, she always fought her brothers and when Harpo raised his hand to beat her she had to fight him. For example “I love Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me”(Walker, pg40). She did not hesitate to beat him and fight for her respect ,even against the man she loved. Unlike Celie who constantly takes beatings and does everything that is told of her. Furthermore, “I ain’t never struck a living thing, I say..I think. I can’t remember the last time I felt mad, I say”(Walker, pg41). Due to the constant suppression she suffered all her life. Celie does not fight but on the other hand Sofia always fought. Sofia had to fight for the respect she knew she deserved. Even in a time where women were not seen as equals and women were taught to accept that belief. Sofia knew different and fought, Celie knows but chooses to not fight. In conclusion, both women took everything that was forced upon them and had different outcomes.

Intro:      Esther goes through a change throughout the book “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, she always questions gender roles. All except sexuality, she becomes very judgmental to those who challenge that gender role

• Mother wants her to learn shorthand, a secretary ‘basic’ job for women at the time(ch10pg11)
• Denies Buddy marriage proposal, which was her childhood friend who was promiscuous and expected her to stay pure till marriage(ch8pg88)

Body:  Esther goes out with Doreen and Lenny, and awakes to see Doreen being ‘playful’ with Lenny. She then leaves and decides not to see Doreen due to her promiscuous behavior.

• She always saw Doreen as promiscuous but since she challenged the same roles Esther challenged she liked her until she challenged ‘sexuality’(ch2pg19)
• ‘Insert from Components of Gender’ the definition of a gender role
• Go into depth with the quote “…the socially acceptable, easy to define one’s sexual preference …depends on the gender identity of our sexual partners”

Body 2:Esther walks into Joan with DeeDee, one bare-legged and both giggling. She leaves angered, which she later on questions those interest.

• Esther finds what Joan is doing “ Because I don’t like you, You make me wanna puke, if you want to know” (ch18pg211)
• Insert ‘Components of Gender’  the definition of gender expression
• With a quote such as “We need to question our assumptions, and that includes our assumptions about sex and gender, if we’re going to understand those aspects of ourselves and others”

Conclusion: In conclusion Esther may be against the conformity of marriage with kids, or light drinking and eating. All the things that women must refrain or live upto. Although even when faced with the judgment from her mother and peers. Esther gives the same judgment towards anyone who challenges her ideals of sexuality. Which she believe to be exclusively with a man and women.

I feel that Race played an small but unique role in “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath. It allowed a perspective on how people of color and people of a white background had certain jobs, or were treated in this specific way during this specific time period. Especially during the Second Wave Feminist Movement  when more privileged white women tried to play off equality of all women, including of color. Although women of color had more problems other than equality as women, as well as being treated humans.

In “The Bell Jar” for example the main character Esther spends some time in the Psych Ward of her town hospital, where she encountered an African man. She did not treat him very kindly and was not even properly assigned a name in text. He was addressed as ‘negro’, Esther even physically abused him. For example “I drew my foot back and gave him a sharp, hard kick on the calf of the leg…. ‘That’s what you get’ ,I said, and stared him in the eye”(chp14 pg175). This showed how she saw him, he was a helper at the ward. Although to her, she was not pleased by him and his existence. Esther later on went to be transferred to a more “privileged asylum, due to her fame in the papers.

Another connection can be made with Audre Lorde “Age, Race, Class and Sex” to the “The Bell Jar”. Audre discusses further the difference between the two movements of the Feminist Movement and The African American  Moment that although both are to better society and fight for more equality. Most of women’s movement was white privileged ladies that did not suffer as much as a African American women had. Audre states “As white women ignore their built in privilege of whiteness and define women in terms of their own experience alone, then women of color become ‘other’, the outsider whose experience and tradition is too ‘alien’ to comprehend.”(pg.117line20). This showed how much of a gap in treatment and tactics that were being used during these movements of inequality. In conclusion, race was not an ignored difference it was actually advertised and it’s awareness apparent.

 In the past women had to endure a lot of expectations placed on them by society. A society usually run by men that had almost impossible expectations. The passage about fear by Laura Franks from “Components of Gender”, proves that she is someone who doesn’t play by gender games. I think it  that means she doesn’t believe in the things that society wants her to believe in as a women. To study for jobs/ careers that don’t surpass men, to live for marriage, and to have the end goal to be a housewife. That has to do with fear, because in world/time like this women didn’t have many life choices. And in the eyes of men, they had complete power and say of a women’s life. For example in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, the main character Esther goes through a similar situation where she experiences fear and discomfort when she does not perform the gender role that is expected of her by society. Such as when she hung out with a young navy boy, and she thought saw Buddy’s mother. She did not want to appear like a promiscuous women, so she started to act like the young man was mistreating her (ch.10 pg 128). Esther felt uncomfortable when she felt she got caught with the navy man. Although when she was with the navy boy she felt society’s pressure to see the possibility of marriage and children with the man. Esther does not usually perform outside her gender role, and when she does it’s little things like a lot of eating, a lot of alcohol drinking, lack of make-up, and casual attire. Women throughout history have had to deal with so much pressure, specifically to marry and stay at home. To be “allowed” an education but couldn’t pursue careers without looking like a failure in the eyes of society for not choosing a life with a husband, house and kids. Fear, is what used to suppress women. Fear, is what kept them from thinking they had more choices and they could choose more than one.

     In the “Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath which is about a young woman and her struggles in New York City, starting her career but faces traditions and options that may not be ideal for her. The main character Esther is becoming a women in the mid 20th Century, she has many women in her life who show her all her options on who she can become. One being her boss at the magazine that she works at, Jay Cee. Jay Cee is viewed as this woman who is all work and has no mind for her appearance. For example “She looked terrible ,but wise”(pg 36). She is known to be very wise and strict to a fair extent. She is the best at what she does but isn’t expected to be seen as beautiful. Jay Cee’s characteristics being smart, kind, strict, fair, professional and moral, she values professionalism. Esther views her as her ‘best choices possible future role model, especially in a world where women with great careers will lose all that after marriage. I personally view her as starting point, women can be both beautiful and about their careers. It also not fair to judge appearances and to be so vain in a time about women’s fight for equality. For women to have a great example like Jay Cee in a moment when even the company is being controversial, such as presenting material items that are all for appearance to women who need different resources to start the careers they wish to proceed.