The Bell Jar Chapters 9 - 12
On the day the Rosenbergs are sentenced to death, Esther finds herself in conversation with Hilda, a fellow guest editor, who expresses relief at the impending execution. During a magazine photoshoot, Esther is handed a paper rose, a symbolic representation of her poetic muse. However, when asked to smile for the camera, she breaks down in tears. Left alone in her sorrow, Jay Cee later brings her some stories to review and provide feedback on. Esther harbors a secret hope that one day, Jay Cee will approve a manuscript, only to discover it was penned by Esther herself.
As her final night in New York approaches, Doreen convinces her to attend a country club dance with Lenny and a blind date, a friend of Lenny’s. Amidst their conversation, Esther surveys the room, her eyes falling on the costly attire she purchased but never dared to don. She confesses to Doreen her inability to confront the clothes, prompting Doreen to hastily gather them up and hide them under the bed. Upon their arrival at the dance, Esther instantly labels her date, a Peruvian named Marco, as a misogynist. Upon their initial encounter, he presents her with a diamond pin she finds captivating, promising her an act deserving of such a gem. As he speaks, his grip on her arm tightens, leaving a trail of four bruises. At the country club, despite her reluctance to dance, Marco discards her drink into a plant and compels her to tango. He instructs her to act as if she’s drowning, and as Esther leans into him, she realizes, “It doesn’t take two to dance, it only takes one.” When Marco escorts her outside, Esther inquires about his love life. He confesses his love for his cousin, who is destined to become a nun.
In a fit of rage, Marco thrusts Esther into the mire, clambering atop her and tearing away her dress. She convinces herself that if she remains passive and unresisting, the inevitable will occur. However, when he degrades her with a derogatory term, she retaliates. Landing a punch on his nose, Marco backs down. Just as he’s about to let her go, he recalls his diamond. He smears the blood from his nose across Esther’s cheeks, but she staunchly refuses to reveal the diamond’s location until he threatens to snap her neck. She leaves him behind, rummaging through the mud for her handbag and his precious stone. Unable to locate Doreen, Esther manages to secure a ride back to Manhattan. She ascends to the rooftop of her hotel, teetering on the brink, and methodically discards her entire wardrobe from the roof, one item at a time.
Esther boards the train to Massachusetts, donning Betsy’s attire and adorned with Marco’s blood, which she believes lends her a “touching, and rather spectacular” appearance. Her mother greets her at the station, bearing the news of Esther’s unsuccessful application to the writing course she had set her heart on. The thought of spending the summer in the suburbs fills Esther with dread. She contemplates her neighbors: Mrs. Ockenden, a prying woman she detests, and Dodo Conway, a Catholic mother of six with another on the way. Despite her chaotic household and junk food diet for her children, Mrs. Conway is universally adored. A call from her friend Jody brings the news that Esther’s plans to reside with her in Cambridge have been thwarted by her rejection from the writing course. Jody suggests she come anyway and enroll in a different course. Esther ponders the idea of moving to Cambridge, but a “hollow voice,” her own, tells Jody she won’t be coming. She opens a letter from Buddy, who confesses he might be falling for a nurse, but if Esther visits him with his mother in July, she might rekindle his affection. Esther dismisses his letter, scribbles on the back that she’s engaged to a simultaneous interpreter and never wishes to see Buddy again, and sends the letter back to him. Esther resolves to pen a novel, but as she starts typing, she’s overwhelmed by her limited life experiences. She consents to her mother teaching her shorthand, only to realize she has no desire for a job that necessitates such a skill. As she lies awake in bed, she contemplates using the summer to write her thesis, defer college, or travel to Germany. However, she discards these plans as quickly as they come to her. As her mother, sharing the same room begins to snore, Esther contemplates strangling her. The following day, she attempts to read Finnegans Wake, but the words seem to frolic and skitter across the page. She contemplates transferring to a city college, but quickly dismisses the idea. When she requests more sleeping pills from the family doctor, Teresa, she’s referred to a psychiatrist instead.
Esther seeks the professional help of Dr. Gordon, a psychiatrist. For three weeks, she has neglected personal hygiene, deeming such tasks frivolous, and confesses to a week-long bout of insomnia. She hopes Dr. Gordon can restore her sense of self, but his good looks and apparent vanity instantly breed distrust. His desk is adorned with a photograph of his beautiful family, which incites Esther’s ire. She believes the picture serves as a shield against her advances, and concludes that such a handsome man with a picture-perfect family could never assist her. Esther discloses her inability to sleep, eat, or read to Dr. Gordon, but omits her struggle with writing. Earlier that day, she had tried to pen a letter to Doreen, but her handwriting was illegible. He inquires about her college and remarks on the attractiveness of the girls during his tenure there during the war. When Esther informs her mother of Dr. Gordon’s expectation to see her the following week, her mother sighs at the mention of his twenty-five dollar hourly rate. Esther engages in flirtatious banter with a sailor at the Boston Common, assuming the alias of Elly Higginbottom, a Chicago orphan. She mistakes a passerby for Mrs. Willard, but quickly realizes her error. When the sailor questions her distress, she claims she thought the woman was from her Chicago orphanage. The sailor asks if the woman was cruel to her. She affirms and breaks down in tears, momentarily convinced that this dreadful woman is the root of all her unhappiness. During her subsequent visit to Dr. Gordon, Esther admits to feeling unchanged and presents him with the shredded letter she attempted to write to Doreen. He disregards the torn pieces of paper, instead requesting to speak with her mother, and informs Mrs. Greenwood that Esther requires electroconvulsive therapy at his Walton hospital. Esther contemplates suicide while reading a tabloid story about a man dissuaded from leaping off a ledge. She finds she can comprehend tabloid articles, as their brief paragraphs conclude before the letters begin to jumble and shift. The following day, Dodo Conway will chauffeur Esther and her mother to the hospital for shock treatment. Esther contemplates fleeing to Chicago but realizes the bank will close before she can withdraw the necessary bus fare.
Esther proceeds to Dr. Gordon’s hospital for her electroconvulsive therapy. The waiting room of the hospital bears a striking resemblance to a summer resort, yet its occupants are devoid of vitality, reminding Esther of display mannequins. En route to her treatment, she crosses paths with a woman threatening to leap out of a window, an act rendered impossible by the barred windows. A bespectacled nurse connects Esther to the shock machine, and a jolt reverberates through her, shaking her to her core, akin to an apocalyptic event. She ponders over the heinous act she must have committed to warrant such a punishment. The experience brings back memories of the time she inadvertently shocked herself with her father’s lamp. Dr. Gordon, once again, inquires about her college and reminisces about the nurses who served there during the war. Overwhelmed by dread, Esther informs her mother of her decision to discontinue her sessions with Dr. Gordon. Her mother expresses her belief that Esther is unlike the other patients at the hospital and is confident that she will choose to recover. Subsequently, Esther finds herself in a park, comparing her photograph to that of a recently deceased starlet from a newspaper. She observes a striking similarity between them and imagines that if the starlet’s eyes were open, they would mirror the “dead, black, vacant expression” in her own. She resolves to remain on the park bench for another five minutes before proceeding to end her life. She tunes into her “little chorus of voices,” echoing the critical comments made by individuals like Buddy and Jay Cee. That morning, she had attempted to slit her wrists, but the fragility of her wrist skin deterred her, leading her to practice on her calf instead. After her unsuccessful attempt, she boarded a bus to Deer Island Prison, located near her childhood home. She conversed with a guard and fantasized about a different life where she had met him earlier, married him, and lived a content life with children. She visited the beach and contemplated slitting her wrists again, but the absence of a warm bath to retreat to afterward dissuaded her. She remained on the beach until a young boy warned her about the incoming tide. She toyed with the idea of drowning herself, but the icy cold water deterred her, prompting her to return home.
Analysis
Esther’s behavior and worldview become increasingly erratic and skewed. Once a cynical yet normal young woman, she now struggles to perceive reality, disregarding societal norms. Her loosening grip on reality leaves her vulnerable, failing to protect herself from Marco’s dangerous advances. She discards practicality, symbolically throwing her expensive clothes off the hotel roof. She becomes indifferent to others’ opinions, wearing Marco’s blood as a badge of honor, and her detachment from herself grows. Her future uncertainty intensifies, leading her to frantically reject all possible paths. Plath suggests Esther’s troubles stem from her mind, exacerbated by her circumstances. She silently endures Marco’s attempted rape, intensifying her pain. Her return from New York City to suburban isolation, coupled with her rejection from the writing course, further destabilizes her sanity.
Esther’s mental health deteriorates, rendering her unable to read and increasingly delusional. She develops a growing distrust for the medical establishment, feeling unheard and misunderstood by her doctor and mother. They encourage her to forget her pain, not alleviate it. After shock treatment, Esther’s mother naively believes Esther will choose to be ‘normal’, viewing her condition as a temporary rebellion, not a genuine illness.
Feeling failed by her mother and doctor, Esther contemplates suicide, focusing on the method rather than the reason. Her rational approach to her demise suggests she sees it as the only way to end her pain. She identifies with a deceased starlet, feeling already dead inside. Yet, Esther realizes that her body isn’t the enemy but the disconnect between her mind and reality. She feels her only option is to silence her mind by ending her life, a flawed logic that seems almost reasonable from her perspective.
