Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Sylvia Plath in her novel "The Bell Jar" was not just telling a story; she was chronicling the struggles faced by the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The author points out that the feminist movement faced several obstacles that are displayed in this book as problems also faced by Esther; her mother, men and other women represent the stereotypes, elements of disrespect and double standards faced by the feminist movement in the 1950s in which this novel is set. The paper relates that one of the problems faced by Esther is her belief that an independent career woman should not really need a man in her life to feel complete and even feels that she does not want to get married; however, other women press her into believing that a girl needs a man to be a real woman and start treating her differently after Buddy asks her to his school dance.

From the Paper:

"Esther's problems with other women do not stop with her classmates though. She also receives pressure to fit a stereotype by Mrs. Willard, Buddy Willard's mother. This is a woman who also encourages the idea that women belong to men and should live to serve them. When she tells both Esther and Buddy that, "What a man is is an arrow into the future and what a woman is is the place the arrow shoots off from."(72), she is not only giving Buddy this idea of what a woman should be but also persuading Esther just where a woman's place is. Marilyn Boyer supports this by arguing that women are held back by what society deems to be their functions, cooking, cleaning, and raising kids. Esther does not want this kind of life, one in which her only purpose is to make a husband happy."

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