Two Symbolic Scenes from The Bell Jar

I found the metaphor and imagery used in two scenes in Sylvia Plath's, "The Bell Jar", especially striking. These were the scene where Esther takes a bath after her night out with Doreen and Lenny and the scene where Esther breaks her leg skiing.

In the first scenario, Plath carefully chooses words to evoke an image of a prenatal stage of development that Esther seems to be trying to return to. First of all, she is entirely removed from the hustle and bustle of the city. Then, there is all the talk of being hot and warm and immersing oneself in the bath. The emphasis on purity also draws out the image of a baby. Finally, at the end of her bath, she even says she felt "pure and sweet as a new baby", born out of the bath water.

I think that Plath highlights Esther's desire to be cleansed and pure to show that the scene with Lenny and Doreen wasn't some coming of age moment but a catalyst for regression. Esther also wants to forget what she saw rather than it sparking a revelation or some sort of progressive change within her. Her fixation on purity especially makes me think of a child because she wants to un-see what happened between Lenny and Doreen and regain her innocence.

The second scene is when Esther goes skiing with Buddy. First, like in marriage, Buddy has no prior experience skiing, save him watching others participating. Yet he still acts as an authority and confidently tells Esther what to do. He tells Esther to hang on to the tow rope but gives her an out saying that she should only go half way. Unfortunately for Esther, once moving with the rope, she is unable to let go and peel off from the rope. The tow rope is like her relationship with Buddy, it seemed like a good idea at first --non-binding and all-- but, then, once attached to him, she was unable to free herself. At the end of the rope, Esther finds herself at the top of the ski run. She is faced with a choice, but not a very good one. Her options are:

A) take the plunge and go down the mountain. This option seems to be the logical and generally socially acceptable choice. Here she obeys Buddy.
B) some how get back down another way, like taking off her skis and walking. This option is a bit more frowned upon and awkward.

Option A corresponds to marrying Buddy while option B is her breaking it off with Buddy.

In the end, Esther chooses to ski down the slope but at a physical cost, she breaks her leg. This is parallel to Esther's loss of a career, poetry, and condemnation to serve Buddy should she marry him. Finally, her leg is put in a cast. The cast symbolizes the stagnation of marriage, dependence on Buddy's care, and inhibited mobility caused by marriage.

I really liked both of these scenes because it's fun to figure stuff like that out. The second scene reminded me a bit of the "bank scene" from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison from last semester too, because it was a very blunt moment of allegory in a novel where the symbolism is often very nuanced.