Sylvia Plath expressed the difficulties associated with gender discrimination, which she herself had to go through, in The Bell Jar. ‘The Bell Jar’ of Sylvia Plath Reflected in the Novel The struggle of a young woman for public recognition in the patriarchal world formed the basis of Sylvia Plath’s novel. Internal problems caused by intransigence with the patriarchal world led to the mental illness of the main character. The duty of each woman to get married destroys both the heroine’s life and the life of Sylvia Plath herself. The Bell Jar draws attention of the reader towards female exploitation under the banner of the institution of marriage (Imtiaz et al. Those women, who, for one reason or another, could not meet the criteria for an ideal wife, had an intrapersonal conflict. Esther Greenwood was forced to follow the same path: she dreamt of becoming a writer, which was an unsuitable profession for women in the 1950s. Women who wanted to make careers on an equal basis with men faced harsh criticism and condemnation. The formation of the ‘American Dream’ was carried out by promoting the image of an ideal family in media: a big house, two children of different sexes and a happy smiling housewife. The demographic crisis of the 1950s negatively affected the position of women in the American society. Women’s Role in Society in the Middle of the XX-century USA This struggle, external and internal, was expressed in the character of Esther Greenwood. Women in the middle of the XX-century no longer demanded the acquisition of basic rights at the legislative level, they fought for gender equality in the common and professional spheres. Since the narration takes place in the 1950s, the events of the novel should be related to the second-wave feminist movement. The Bell Jar was one of the first works in which issues of gender discrimination were overtly discussed. Learn more The Representation of Feminism in The Bell Jar
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