Women In The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

Woman today would find themselves lost in the times of the mid-1900’s society. Through the novel The Bell Jar, the reader will experience society’s expectations of women, their relationships with men, and how they follow right along with what the main character’s beliefs. The reader will learn to understand that there are punishments of society when one does not do what they should. The search for her identity and the acceptance of her truth has inspired women in future generations. Through the character of Esther Greenwood, Sylvia Plath explores the oppression felt by women in the 1950’s in her semibiographical novel The Bell Jar.
Today, society’s expectations of women are nowhere similar to how they used to be back in the 1950s. Esther Greenwood writes The Bell Jar to protest her experience of depression to the people. Esther wants people to see what depression is really all about and not just what people assume for it to be (Johnson 36). Esther talks numerous times about the idea of feminist manifesto which shares the idea that women and men are not the same but their rights are equal. Esther does not compare herself to other women because everyone is different and should not be compared. Through Esther’s authentic identity she sees a whole different world from everyone else. In Esther’s view she sees people that compete, that are not kind, and that are not genuine which will not be in their favor one day (Swensen 515). Perloff stated. “The story of The Bell Jar is the attempt of a young woman to create an authentic identity instead of living up to society’s expectations” (Perloff 1).
One aspect that leads
From the 1950’s until now the expectations of women have gone through a drastic change for the better. When Esther finally accepts her true identity, it significantly changes the outlook on women in the