Diction
Sylvia Plath narrates The Bell Jar through the eyes of a depressed college-aged girl, Esther Greenwood. The diction is paralleled with Esther’s mood, which varies throughout the novel and establishes tone. In the beginning Esther describes the summer as “queer” and “sultry” and the people as “fusty” and “peanut-smelling.” Plath uses negative connotative diction to feed off a little bit of Esther’s personality. At one point Esther referred to herself as “stupid” (1). Esther says that she feels like she is holding a “cadaver’s head along with [her]” which is “black and “noiseless.” This not only gives out a disturbing tone, but it also symbolizes Esther’s personality and almost foreshadows her life.
Doreen is described with a superior and intimidating tone. The author uses words like “terrific” and “spectacular” to describe Esther’s friend. When Esther is around Doreen she feels “wise” and “cynical” (2). In comparison to how she describes herself, Doreen is given a much more superior attitude and the tone suggests that Doreen is a leader while Esther just follows, perhaps because she feels intimidated by Doreen’s good looks.
Plath develops a chaotic and alarming tone after Esther attempts to commit suicide. She described the hands wrapped around her as “mummy hands” and the lights were “blinding.” Esther did not know what was happening which made the situation even more chaotic. Esther described a voice (her voice) as “think,” “warm,” and “fury dark” which feed off an alarming tone.
I agree with you here, the diction is incredibly connotative which contributes to Plath's tone greatly. The words that she chooses to describe Esther as well as Esther's own thoughts portrays, as you said, a disturbed character. It is intriguing to contrast the diction from beginning to end. As Esther's mind declines, the choice of words becomes increasingly more eerie. This of course has a direct impact not only on the tone of the novel, but on the mood as well.
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ReplyDeleteI am intrigued by the quote you found: “cadaver’s head along with [her]” which is “black and “noiseless.” I must have not noticed this in my own reading, but it is very similar to a quote I analyzed in my own blog: "I’ve got a baby hanging over my head like a big stick, to keep me in line’". The baby represents the role of women as mothers as an inevitability. Just as she feels the pressure from others (the baby is over her head; external) to be a mother, she feels the pressure from herself (carrying the cadaver's head; internal) to be drawn to death, "black", and "noiseless[ness]". This may or may not be a stretch, but to me the cadaver's head and baby serve as duel symbols of burdon.
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