The Bell Jar #3

For this last blog, I used sparknotes because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to discuss, so I decided to bounce off some of the ideas on there. There are a few noticeable reoccurring themes throughout the novel. The first the news and fashion media. Esther models at the beginning of the novel, and she doesn't agree with the false happiness and the glamour that is associated with the fashion magazines and New York City. Maybe it has to deal with her darker personality, but she can hardly recognize herself through the falsities when she sees a picture of herself in a magazine at the mental institution. "The magazine photograph showed a girl in a strapless evening dress of fuzzy white stuff, grinning fit to split, with a whole lot of boys bending around her."(page 169). Esther is also fascinated with death, especially at the beginning of the novel when in the first sentence it talks about the execution of the Rosenbergs. It's foreshadowing. As Mr. Currin always says, these authors aren't getting paid by the word, so it was obviously put in there for a reason. Esther also talks to a woman and says, " 'Isn't it awful about the Rosenbergs?'" and the woman, Hilda replies with, " 'It's awful such people should be alive.' " (page 82). It's strange for a young girl like Esther to be so consumed by death, even before she loses her mind. I think this attraction is foreshadowing to the difficulties she will soon face in the novel. Another reoccurring theme is Esther always looking at her reflection in mirrors and so often not recognizing the person staring back at herself. "The face in the mirror looked like a sick Indian." (page 92). This image reflected back at her was right after Marco attempted to rape her. She could hardly recognize herself. She looked like an Indian because he had smeared his blood across her face when she punched him in the nose in self defense. The blood is also a reoccurring theme. It can also symbolize the violence and brutality that she faced throughout her time period from when she was losing her mind all the way through the stays at the mental institutions. For example, she practiced cutting her ankles in preparation of suicide. She also bled a lot when she lost her virginity to a random man. I think this is symbolic of her losing herself along the way as she tries to make the transition to adulthood. She gets caught up in the world and in herself which causes her to lose her mind. Although this doesn't happen to most people, there were obviously some brutal experiences that affected her mental capacity immensely.