چکیده:
Esther from Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Holden from J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye are two examples of alienated protagonists in a novel. Their experiences have been almost identical, yet the readership has reacted differently to the two protagonists, while Holden’s alienation has been attributed to the social causes Esther’s alienation is considered a psychological issue. This article shows that the two protagonists are indeed similar to one another in both aspects, as one can find psychological and social causes at work in both of them, and unlike what the readership of the novel used to think, Esther does not have a schizoid personality and the gender roles at work in the society are the main cause of her plight.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"Here I want to show that how these two characters’ similar experiences differ, in that Holden’s is more of an all-inclusive revulsion towards the society he criticizes which makes the reader easily attach it to his obvious alienation while Esther’s non-conformity is more of an internal and self-enclosed destruction, which disguises the alienating process and makes the psychological mal-functions appear more evident.
There are so many possible models of femininity she can emulate: "Buddy Willard’s mother, professor’s wife and leading citizen; Doreen, the Southern blonde sex kitten who always knows how to get her man; Betsy, innocently happy and uncomplicated Midwestern fashion model; Philomena Guinea, best-selling novelist, whose endowed scholarship Esther holds at college; and finally, Jay Cee, the successful editor" (Perloff, 1972, p.
When Esther observes the process of childbirth she realizes the depth of hypocrisy in males and their domineering ways; she questions the stereotypes about motherhood: Later Buddy told me the woman was on a drug that would make her forget she’d had any pain and that when she swore and groaned she really didn’t know what she was doing because she was in a kind of twilight sleep.
The Beginning: Alienation Holden unlike Esther, who confesses her feelings thoroughly, begins his story with a reluctance to relate to the reader since he does not "feel like going into it" (Salinger, 1964, p.
But, unlike Esther, he sees sex as a requirement of entering the adult world; therefore, his failure in having this necessity makes him think about death as a way to escape from the bitterness of reality and to exempt himself from the burden of growing up."