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"I was my own woman" - Breakdown and Recovery in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman

Kitanoska, Karolina (2013) ENGK01 20131
English Studies
Abstract (Swedish)
During the 1950’s and 1960’s an unexplainable phenomenon arose amongst middle class
women in North America. Women in the suburbs experienced a feeling of emptiness even
though they believed they had everything they could ever ask for in life. This phenomenon is
covered by Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique (1963) where she discusses the identity
crisis and loss of self that many women experienced during this time. In Sylvia Plath’ The
Bell Jar (1963) and Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman (1969), the two characters Esther
Greenwood and Marian MacAlpin are faced with the housewife ideal of the 1950’s and
1960’s. The characters follow a similar plot pattern in which they descend into a dark place
and rise out of it in the end;... (More)
During the 1950’s and 1960’s an unexplainable phenomenon arose amongst middle class
women in North America. Women in the suburbs experienced a feeling of emptiness even
though they believed they had everything they could ever ask for in life. This phenomenon is
covered by Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique (1963) where she discusses the identity
crisis and loss of self that many women experienced during this time. In Sylvia Plath’ The
Bell Jar (1963) and Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman (1969), the two characters Esther
Greenwood and Marian MacAlpin are faced with the housewife ideal of the 1950’s and
1960’s. The characters follow a similar plot pattern in which they descend into a dark place
and rise out of it in the end; Esther falling into depression and Marian to developing an eating
disorder. Both characters also express feelings of objectification as Esther feels trapped in a
bell jar and Marian relates to food being produced and consumed. This essay examines the
characters breakdowns in terms of the starting point, the crisis and the resolution. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kitanoska, Karolina
supervisor
organization
course
ENGK01 20131
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
women’s role in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Individuality, identity crisis, housewife ideal, depression, eating disorder, objectification
language
English
id
3938749
date added to LUP
2013-08-06 11:27:42
date last changed
2013-08-06 11:27:42
@misc{3938749,
  abstract     = {{During the 1950’s and 1960’s an unexplainable phenomenon arose amongst middle class
women in North America. Women in the suburbs experienced a feeling of emptiness even
though they believed they had everything they could ever ask for in life. This phenomenon is
covered by Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique (1963) where she discusses the identity
crisis and loss of self that many women experienced during this time. In Sylvia Plath’ The
Bell Jar (1963) and Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman (1969), the two characters Esther
Greenwood and Marian MacAlpin are faced with the housewife ideal of the 1950’s and
1960’s. The characters follow a similar plot pattern in which they descend into a dark place
and rise out of it in the end; Esther falling into depression and Marian to developing an eating
disorder. Both characters also express feelings of objectification as Esther feels trapped in a
bell jar and Marian relates to food being produced and consumed. This essay examines the
characters breakdowns in terms of the starting point, the crisis and the resolution.}},
  author       = {{Kitanoska, Karolina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{"I was my own woman" - Breakdown and Recovery in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}