The Bell Jar

      "The Bell Jar", written by Sylvia Plath, is an engaging story, following the life of Esther Greenwood, a 19-year-old girl who is beautiful, smart, successful, but also on the path to a break down. Esther is an intern at a fashion magazine, working for her boss, Jay Cee, in New York. Living in the Amazon Hotel, a women's hotel, along with 11 other college girls, Esther should be having the time of her life and enjoying every moment of this experience. Instead, Esther is restless and obsessive, and her new life doesn't seem to be helping her but instead hurting her. 
      Esther is obsessed with the "rules" and "ideas" of society, and throughout the story, readers see more and more how this eats away at her, and diminishes her. For example, towards the middle of the book, Esther's good friend Doreen convinces her to come on a blind date with her and her boyfriend Lenny, and Lenny's friend. Esther's date, a man named Marco, is an intense, somewhat scary man. They go outside together, and after asking him who he loves, Marco tells Esther he's in love with his cousin, who is going to become a nun. In a sudden burst of anger from talking about this, Marco pushes Esther down, and climbs onto her, ripping off her dress and yelling at her that she is a "slut". Esther fights back at this, punching him off of her and escaping him. She goes back to her hotel, grabs all her clothes into a bundle, and goes to the roof. She says, "Piece by piece, I fed my wardrobe to the night wind, flutteringly, like a loved one's ashes, the gray scraps were ferried off, to settle here, there, exactly where I would never know, in the dark heart of New York."
      This moment in the text really stuck out to me as a powerful turning point. Esther releases her whole wardrobe into the night sky, almost as though she is releasing herself and throwing herself down. This is a moment of weakness, yet at the same time somehow, empowerment. She is weak in the sense that she is giving up in some way, throwing her clothes off the roof, admitting to the fact she can't deal with this lifestyle anymore. At the same time however, it shows that she is finally in control, aware that she is done with this city life. 
      That moment ends the chapter, and the next thing that Esther does is get on a train back to Boston to spend time living with her mother in the Suburbs. 
      What I find amazing about this book is that Sylvia Plath creates a character who is so complex; she is in control, yet so in over her head at the same time. She is successful; at the young age of 19 she has a job, and he is also very intelligent; all throughout her school years she got fabulous grades. Yet, as the story progresses, she is crumbling more and more. Slowly but surely, Esther is losing her mind, and losing sight of those great qualities that once defined her. 
      This book shows how easy it is to lose yourself and get so caught up in a lifestyle that will just eat away at you. It's important to not lose sight of yourself- as cliche as that may sound. You can't let society and the people you meet define or change you. Even though I am only about half way through the book, I already can say that it is an amazing story, full of experiences and lessons that anyone could learn from. 

Literary Essay: The Secret Life of Bees

        The book, "The Secret Life of Bees", by Sue Monk Kidd, follows the adventure of 14-year-old Lily Owens, an isolated and insecure white girl living in South Carolina in the 1960s. When Lily was four years old, she accidentally shot and killed her mother, and ended up alone with her abusive father who she calls, "T. Ray". Lily is a complicated girl, afraid of lacking beauty and femininity as she grows up. Lily's housekeeper, Rosaleen, who helped raise her when her mother was no longer alive, is a feisty black Southern woman, who continuously pushes limits for the time period. When Rosaleen gets herself into trouble with a group of white men and escapes before she can be put into jail, she and Lily run away to find out more about Lily's mother. They end up at a beekeeper's house belonging to three black women named August, May, and June. Together, the five live together, shielded by their love for one another despite their differences, but unable to escape the realities of the views of the outside world. Throughout the book, the setting, the characters, and the plot line all work together to powerfully weave the themes of racism and injustice together. 
        By setting the story in the South in the 1960s, Sue Monk Kidd introduces the themes of racism and injustice that we know, historically, were so present in that time period. For example, after Rosaleen gets into trouble with a group of white men, she ends up in the hospital due to the injuries she received from the men. The author describes the hospital, saying, “Sylvan Memorial Hospital was a low brick building with one wing for whites and one for blacks.” This detail speaks for almost every public space that existed in the South in the 1960s. Everything was segregated based on race, and Sue Monk Kidd uses the setting of this hospital to show this discrimination and racism that existed. Setting plays an important role while illustrating the physical differences that existed within the story and the time period. 
        In addition to the setting, Sue Monk Kidd creates strong characters, some very flawed, others very endearing, who contribute to and fight against the themes of injustice and racism during the book. For example, when Lily and Rosaleen run away, they end up being taken in by a trio of warm, friendly, black beekeeping sisters, who defy the racism of the time. August, May, and June take in Lily, a little white girl, without any problem of having mixed races in their house. By taking her in without second thought, and loving her like a daughter, they show how ridiculous and unjust racism is. Another example that shows a character who contributes to the themes of injustice and racism (instead of fighting against it like August, May, and June do) is T. Ray, Lily's father. After Lily had been staying with August, May, and June for a while, one day T. Ray shows up and is appalled by the fact that Lily could be living with black women. He says, "So you've been here the whole time, staying with colored woman? Jesus Christ." (pg 291) This comment shows his surprise and disgrace at the fact that Lily would be staying with these black woman, which shows how apparent that theme of racism is, and that racism is what creates injustice. 
        Finally, the author clearly shows how powerful and consuming the themes of injustice and racism are throughout the book by designing scenes and making the plot arch illustrate those themes. An example of this is the scene in which Rosaleen gets arrested for "causing a disturbance", along with other charges. The scene starts out with Lily and Rosaleen harmlessly shopping, and that is when white men start to taunt Rosaleen. This scene builds, with Rosaleen responding to them by tumbling chewed tobacco on their shoes which leads to a physical fight. When the police come, the officer says to Rosaleen, "You're under arrest… Assault, theft, and disturbing the peace." (pg 33) He lets the white men go without any trouble-- even though they were the ones who began the brawl in the first place. Rosaleen didn't commit any of those crimes. The white man taunted her with racist remarks about her skin color which provoked Rosaleen. The injustice came from the racism- Rosaleen would not be in any trouble had it not been for the men’s provocative, racist comments. It is alarming how horribly accurate to history that moment was, and clearly the author did a very good job of using scenes like this one to demonstrate the themes of racism and injustice that are painted throughout the story. 
        All in all, the themes of injustice and racism are woven together and carried throughout the book through the characters, the setting, and the plot arch. Sue Monk Kidd does an excellent job of showing how consuming those themes are. The characters and their lives are taken over by racism of the time, which creates the overwhelming theme of injustice. Lily is a girl who doesn't care about what she considers to be small, trivial things like race. She is a character who looks past skin color, and looks for personality and the warmth and love someone is willing to give her. She shows readers just how unfair it is when people are judged and treated differently, or thought of as something less, because of their skin color. As a reader reading this book in modern times, it could seem distant and less impactful given how much more equal our society is. But, Sue Monk Kidd beautifully transposes those themes of injustice and racism into the story, so that the anger and dismay readers feel at the injustice is just as powerful, no matter how far our society may have come.