A Study Of Gender Identity In The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath is widely regarded as a leading American confessional poet.As her only novel,The Bell Jar has received enough attention as a masterpiece of post-World War II female literature in America.The work describes the plight of white American women in the 1950 s,represented by the protagonist Esther Greenwood,who are still bound to traditional identity norms and find it difficult to escape from the influence of heterosexual hegemony while seeking their own independent identities,and thus caught in a physical and mental struggle.The dilemma of human existence described in The Bell Jar is the result of the constraints imposed on gender identity by a system of heterosexual hegemony norms that touches every aspect of social life in a pervasive and insidious way and penetrates the realm of our common sense.This thesis reviews the development of individuals who conform to gender norms,focusing on the power of vacillation in conformity,and further provides ethical thinking on individual challenges to subvert the norms.Although these individuals present a submissive posture due to their cultural environment,they still show a strong sense of resistance,even as they attempt to subvert the gender norms that have constrained them tightly for so long.This is in line with Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity,which is a process concluding constant repetition,transgression,and subversion of the compulsory heterosexual hegemony.This thesis is composed of three chapters apart from the introduction and conclusion.Chapter One focuses on the conformity of individuals to gender norms.Gender norms and gender discourses lead people to live in compliance with the system of heterosexual hegemony,and to become a part of the social subject by conforming to the norms.Their compliance and adherence to norms make them give up their individual feelings,lose themselves,and consolidate the control of heterosexual hegemony.Chapter Two concentrates on the vacillation of gender norms caused by the excluded “Other” that women who pursue their professional aspirations,women who are quarantined for mental illness,and women who violate sexuality norms.The “Other” is part of society as individual beings,but are excluded to the margins of society because of their violation of social norms.Chapter Three further analyzes the subversive effect of the vacillation and Plath’s appeal for the care of the “Other”.The thesis holds that Plath’s search for gender identity from individual experience exposes the social problems caused by the heterosexual cultural system and points out that ethical care for the “Other” is an urgent issue nowadays.