Text Connections - The Bell Jar

Text Connections

            Marco mirrors the character of the snake in the Garden of Eden from the Bible very well. Plath compares Marco to a snake and accompanies the metaphor with a flashback(106). This gives greater credibility to my suspicions. Not only is the connection made directly. In The Bell Jar, Esther encounters a horrible situation with Marco (Doreen’s boyfriend’s friend). He tries to seduce her, but Esther sees his peculiar ways from the very start and at the end manages to escape.

            Many times throughout the novel I was able to relate with Esther’s point of view. When Esther had found out that the boy she had loved for so long had slept with a waitress numerous times one summer she became infuriated, but she never showed it (70-71). Instead she asked him about it and on her own decided that he was a hypocrite and she wanted nothing to do with him. If I were to be in that situation I would find myself wearing the same shoes as she and walking through the same scenes.   

            Esther had received a phone call Jody because Jody wanted to know when to expect her at the college because they were supposed to take a course together, but Esther had not made the course. Esther was still injured from the news and having this conversation only made things worse. Esther had told Jody not to expect her and to take another girl into the apartment. At first Jody insisted Esther take another course, but when she refused Jody resigned and hung up (118). My chagrin would also lead me to a foolish decision and decide to stay home instead of going to summer school. I would be too bummed to try to keep advancing, which is exactly what Esther did. She gave up and eventually resolved to depression.

            The depressed mood Esther was feeling reminded me of the depressed mood of the infatuated teenager, in New Moon the Twilight saga, after the love of her life had left her stranded in the small town of Forks in Washington. In The Bell Jar, Esther’s mom had called a friend of Esther’s so they can go out and so Esther would not be home alone all day. Which is what Bella Swan’s, the teenager in New Moon, father had done to get her out of the house and the zombie state she was in. This attempt failed for both girls and its outcome was possible death in both situations.