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  Helen is a woman of many talents, and yet we are introduced to her in a state far beyond her prime. In every panel we see of her, we can see the visible signs of her aging state, such as her eyebags and sad eyes. Yet it seems strange that a woman of such potential would fall to such a position, essentially becoming a housewife satisfying her disloyal husband, and not take action to improve her life. This lifestyle of submission reminded me of what Esther in The Bell Jar dreaded as a potential future for herself, living as a housewife for Buddy Willard. I thus decided to look deeper into how Helen, who much like Esther was very skilled at her craft, ended up in this position, as I wanted to see if Esther was following a similar path as her. I find the narration of Helen’s past in Chapter 3 to be a strong example of how Helen changed as a result of her following the path Esther wishes to avoid, which is that of a housewife. On page 69 (at least on my copy), we can see Helen lookin...

Why Esther Hates Joan When first reading about Joan, many of us likely noticed the many similarities between her and Esther: they both are highly educated young women among elites who ended up “going crazy” as a result of the world around them, and they both attempted suicide to relieve them from their issues with the world, to name a few. But surprisingly, we see that Esther dislikes being in Joan’s company and fails to connect to her, even though the two are quite similar. Esther claims that she dislikes Joan for being the “being double of [her] old best self,” though I personally find this to be only part of her dislike towards her (231). Esther’s uneasiness around Joan, which in part led to her dislike towards her, started from when Joan explained how she ended up in the asylum. After hearing the story, Esther asks if Joan is “all right now” (225). We haven’t seen Esther ever be concerned in the health of others, and this all comes after Joan explains that Esther inspired her attem...