Both protagonists struggle to define themselves in a world that denies the development of the female self. Compare how the authors explore and present the destruction of the self in ‘The Bell Jar’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.

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Both protagonists struggle to define themselves in a world that denies the development of the female self. Compare how the authors explore and present the destruction of the self in 'The Bell Jar' and 'The Yellow Wallpaper'.

To be able to survive in a society that has rules, regulations, double standards, emotional and physical constraints one needs to maintain a sense of individuality. To hold a unique identity is the key to achieve others recognition and to have one's thoughts, character and environment understood.

The author, Sylvia Plath and Charlotte Perkins Gilman present the destruction of the self by revealing the unnamed woman's and Esther's deteriorating mental stability. In both these two novels we recognise and witness the devastating effects experienced by women who are slowly driven insane by the gender stereotypic confines of their social world. Both of the authors demonstrate that the women in the novels feel oppressed by the obvious social restrictions placed upon women, and undoubtedly these emotional burdens result in not only their social and intellectual deterioration, but also their mental destruction. Throughout the two novels there are examples of how the authors explore and present the protagonists struggle to define themselves in a world that denies the development of the female self and the destruction of the self. Gilman and Plath are trying to convey to their readers that both these women are desperately trying to free themselves from an isolated, controlled domestic and social life. Both women are trapped in a patriarchal society with rigid expectations of women. The cost of going against social norms is isolation, breakdown and the destruction of the self.

The beginnings of the novels immediately reveal to us what kind of society the women lived in. 'The Bell Jar' is set in the 1950's, and through Plath's description of New York, we are given a good reflection of the society at that time. In the first part of this novel when Esther is in New York she is with a whole group of women of the same age. How they are treated and portrayed in the novel presents to the reader what sort of society it was written in. Plath cleverly shows this through her descriptive writing -

"They were all going to posh secretarial schools like Katy Gibbs,

where they had to wear hats and...

waiting to get married to some career man or other...these girls looked awfully bored to me."

The few lines above suggests that women in those days were expected to get married and sit at home, and the unusual thing is that women accepted it as "they were waiting around to get married..." Esther doesn't want to be like these other women she knows, she doesn't want to be the same or carry the role that 50's America had dictated.

Likewise, in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' on the very first page the unnamed woman voices the societies views and beliefs set in the 1890's. Here we are introduced to John, the unnamed woman's husband and how he behaves and reacts towards her -

"John laughs at me, of course, but one expect that in marriage".

We can already sense what kind of relationship the two have. Seemingly it is one where John doesn't really understand her hence "laughs at her [me]". The use of the words "one expects" implies that the unnamed woman realises that John is a part of society, and will always fail to understand her, as whatever society thinks and does according to John will be natural. This may suggest why the unnamed woman doesn't really open herself up to anyone.
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In the two novels we come across other characters that do not allow the protagonists to grow or for that matter define themselves in the world. The authors have chosen to reveal this aspect and emphasise the destruction of the self.

In 'The Bell Jar' Plath presents a lot more characters that do not allow Esther to find her true identity or realise her true self. One of the characters that restrict Esther is Buddy Willard. We sense that Esther isn't really fond of him from the beginning because she "look down on him" and that she ...

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