Heteronormativity as a Tool for Psychiatric Rehabilitation in The Bell Jar
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Abstract
The novel The Bell Jar, by American writer Sylvia Plath, focuses on a specific period of the life of the protagonist, Esther Greenwood, in which she finds herself submerged in a depression that makes her unable to enjoy her internship in New York. Placed within the context of the Cold War, the novel shows not only the social attitudes regarding the position of women in society in the post-war period but also the reactions towards the apparently inevitable advancement of communism, with the execution of the Rosenbergs in the electric chair as part of the first sentence of the story. Being unable to pick one of the possible options available to her, Esther is thus alienated from the norm that was established for women at the time. This causes her to have a mental health crisis for which she is institutionalised, and receives electroshock therapy as part of her treatment. The objective of this article is to show how it is possible to identify the use of electricity as punishment for the disruption of normativity, as well as shine a light on the way Esther’s interactions with other female characters can be interpreted as a lesbian interest that must be discarded in order to allow her to have a “happy” and “fulfilled” life under the precepts of American society in the mid-twentieth century.
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