DOI: 10.9744/kata.17.2.64-70 64 ISSN 1411-2639 (Print), ISSN 2302-6294 (Online) OPEN ACCESS http://kata.petra.ac.id Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar : a Mirror of American Fifties Ghandeharion, A. 1 , Bozorgian, F. 2 , Sabbagh, M.R.G. 3 1,2,3 Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, IRAN e-mails: ghandeharioon@um.ac.ir; azraghandeharion@gmail.com ABSTRACT With its portrayal of a talented yet frustrated young American woman in the 1950s, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (1963) depicts the experiences of a nineteen-year-old girl before her mental breakdown. Benefitting from a Friedanian second wave feminism, this paper aims to trace the root of disappointment and identity crisis in Plath's heroine, Esther Greenwood. It is understood that besides being a personal issue, her frustration is the outcome of sociocultural factors. The lack of role models and the contradictory messages sent by the media lead to her anxiety, disillusionment, and uncertainty. The Bell Jar proposes a solution: it is indeed possible for a woman to hold a fulfilling career and at the same time be a caring wife and a loving mother. And this is the answer Esther tries to figure out at a time when the boundaries between the domestic sphere and the outside world are clearly defined for women. Keywords: Sylvia Plath; The Bell Jar; Betty Freidan; the America of the fifties. INTRODUCTION Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar was first published in the UK in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel received good reviews; it was critically acclaimed and became a best-seller. It was published again with Plath's name on the cover. At the time, this change attracted the attention of readers who felt the urge to read the work of a novelist, who was better known as a poet. Not just the different genre in her artistic creation, but also her recent suicide magnetized many readers and critics. Consequently, between 1966 and 1977, Plath's British publisher, Faber, sold over 140000 copies of the novel (cited in Gill, 2008, p. 74). Critics have commented on the parallels between the events in the novel and Plath's real life. Plath herself underlines the confessional and semi-autobio- graphical nature of the novel when she calls it an "autobiographical apprenticework" (cited in Perloff, 1972, p. 507). Bawer adds to the weight of this claim by stating that in her journals, Plath feels as if she was stuck under the bell jar (in Bloom, Ed., 2007, p. 9). The events that take place in The Bell Jar mark a turning point in the heroine's worldview and her understanding of female identity. Esther gradually realizes that there is little room for her to flourish and appreciate her genuine self. Writing is her passion and she looks forward to a time when she can publish one of her own novels. Nevertheless, she becomes obsessed with her inadequacy and this results in a growing disappointment that hinders her progress. She believes she cannot rise to her full potentials since she is unfit for what the future has in store for her. In a Friedanian approach, this paper studies the sociocultural factors that lead to the central issue of the novel: the heroine's feelings of despondency and inadequacy. DISCUSSION The Bell Jar and Mystique of the 1950s In 1963, Betty Friedan, known as one of the greatest feminist icons of the second wave feminism in America, wrote the groundbreaking book The Femi- nine Mystique in an attempt to explain the problem that many American women were facing in the fifties, namely, "the problem that has no name" (1974 [1963], p. 11). In her book, Friedan claims that American women are haunted by the feeling that something is wrong but their inability to explain the problem makes them even more restless (ibid.). This can be seen at the beginning of The Bell Jar, where Esther admits that "I knew there was something wrong with me that summer" (BJ * , 1971 [1963], p. 1). Esther fails to give a clear description of that “something”, which Friedan labels as "the problem that has no name". * The Bell Jar