An Analysis Of Esther's Anxiety Of Writing In The Bell Jar

This thesis explores Esther's anxiety of writing in Sylvia Plath's autobiographic novel The Bell Jar based on the feminist theories about the anxiety of authorship and women's creativity. Neither the prevailing interpretation of hardship Esther suffers during the process of identity seeking nor the analysis of her puzzlement from the perspective of bildungsroman novel touches upon Esther's anxiety of writing. She wants to be a poet but why cannot she articulate her aspiration? When Buddy Willard states a poem is a piece of dust, why doesn't she answer him quite sharply instead of? And what is the reason for her being denied the admission to the writing course?Esther lives between conflicts. On one hand, the dominant patriarchal definitions of her identity, way of thinking and even the mental state severely damage her writing discourse; on the other hand, her attempt to get rid of anxiety of writing makes her confront a variety of difficulties. Finally, she has a diaphragm as a step forward for her rebellion against the patriarchy and writes herself with blood although a series of questions and uncertainty about the future present themselves in front of her.This thesis focuses on Esther's anxiety of writing and states that it not only results from the stereotyped images of women defined by patriarchal norms but also arises from the lack of female models and her lack of experience for writing, which makes her write in anger and anxiety with nobody to turn to for help. The anxiety is both her agitation and apprehension about the patriarchal oppression upon women's creativity and her worry that writing will isolate or even destroy her, the fact of which once left her in a state of aphasia. The anxiety is exacerbated by her fear that she cannot rival a male precursor and that she cannot create works of value. Therefore, this thesis states her breakdown has something to do with the patriarchal domination of writing discourse and the lack of female writing tradition. Esther's anxiety reflects the hardship and predicament confronting a woman during the process of her constructing her identity as a writer.