Esther and Holden
As we neared the end of The Bell Jar, I noticed something: the farther we got into Esther's breakdown, the more she started resembling Holden from The Catcher in the Rye. She even got to the point where she started being hypocritical in the way that Holden is. For example, on page 188: "'What the hell is she doing here?' I wondered. 'There's nothing the matter with her.'" The whole point of the novel is to show that her illness is invisible, that nobody else can see it. However, when someone else comes in, she immediately assumes that there's nothing wrong with her.
She also becomes more and more separated and skeptical of society. Just in general, she removes herself from society and criticizes it (at one point I even thought she might start talking about phonies). Even though she does this because of her depression, the similarity is definitely there.
I agree with your assessment, and from the very beginning of the book I saw similarities between Esther and Holden. They way they talked and they way they seemed so down about everything in their lives were very similar. However, The Bell Jar went on I began to see that Esther was much more nuanced than Holden, and she had a deeper understanding of her feelings than Holden did. He often described situations in terms of other people's actions and didn't really describe how they made him feel, while Esther very vividly described her feelings.
ReplyDeleteI also think they are very similar especially on the last page of either novel. Both of them question their ability to remain "healthy". Holden hopes that he will apply himself, though he says he won't know if he will until he tries. Esther says she doesn't know if the bell jar will descend again. The parallel between both endings is the uncertainty. Nobody really knows what will happen next in their life. Nobody can ever be 100% sure.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, I thought of them as very different. Holden seems a lot more confident, more secure in his identity, but also less aware of himself, almost? Esther seemed really uncertain while he thought he knew everything. But they both have mental issues so they definitely come off similar in that way sometimes
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning of the novel, I noticed similarities. The way they spoke about others and described their experiences in New York I found to have some similarities at times. However, unlike you, I noticed less similarities as the novel went on. Esther had a very clear devolution that was marked by her feeling unsure of what was happening to her and what was going on. She describes what's happening as something happening to her because of her, while Holden describes what's happening as something happening to him because of the world. I don't feel the same emotions reading Holden's account of his story as I do reading Esther's.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting comparison! I also agree and found several similarities between Esther and Holden while reading, especially at the start. Although they still had many differences, followed different paths, and their motivations/what keeps them separate from society differ, some of their critiques of the adult world and the desire to avoid some seemingly inevitable societal expectations/transitional periods made them pretty similar. Both of them seemed to want to avoid completely turning into a “traditional” adult in a way, and they seemed to feel misunderstood or distanced from others throughout both books.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure if this is very significant, but I found it pretty interesting that at one part in the novel (I think it was when she saw Dodo Conway), Esther said that “children make her sick” (probably because they reminded her that as a woman at the time, she felt like she would be forced to care for them, be a wife, and not do anything else in the future). I thought that this was an almost funny yet fundamental difference between Holden and Esther outside of their more general similarities.
I agree, but saw some similarities even in the beginning of the story. When Esther was still living in New York, her constant changes in attitude about Doreen and Betsy reminded me of Holden. I also think that Esther begins to recognize phoniness as Holden did during the photoshoot with the other interns. At the same time, they both still kind of contemplate fulfilling traditional roles. But maybe that's a shared theme of coming of age protagonists!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that there are many similarities between the two of them. One interesting thing that you noted is the hypocrisy that Esther sometimes displays and also the disconnect between some of the things she would say and her thoughts (in a very similar way to how Holden would, only I would probably say that the way he does it is more extreme). Nice comparisons!
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree. Obviously, Esther and Holden are pretty different in the way they approach their mental health, but I can also find similarities between the two. For example, even though Esther isn't as aggressive toward the world, there are a few scenes, such as the one where she throws her mother's gift of roses into the trash, where she seems to be hostile for the sake of it. She takes a lot of her issues with her mental health out on herself, but there are moments where I think she is incredible cruel and in a way, acts like Holden.
ReplyDeleteI think Holden probably has some sort of mental problem as well so I think the behaviors they share are not a coincidence. They are both undergoing very similar experiences at similar ages. Besides that, I think most coming of age stories from that time period were influenced by Catcher in the Rye so I think the similarities could also be inspiration. But yes, I think the characters are pretty similar.
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely a lot of similarities between Esther and Holden, even from the very beginning (there are also an incredible amount of differences, but still). I think a lot, if not most, of those similarities can be traced back to the fact that they're both teenagers, and this is kind of how teenagers are. We often lack the ability to see things completely rationally, and tend to feel like we're the only one's going through something, thus often resulting in a lot of hypocrisy. It also ends up with teenagers being incredibly quick to judge. Like, from my experience, we can be *really* judgy, and I think a lot of Holden and Esther's ideas of "phonies" and (often misplaced or skewed) snap judgements of other people come from that.
ReplyDeleteI think there are a lot of similarities between the two, but I think the differences are more radical and are what shape the characters more. Holden is aware of himself a lot more, but isn't willing to fully acknowledge it or do something about it. While Esther seem doesn't really have a full grasp on herself. On the other hand, both of them feel isolated and that they are alone in what they are facing. Holden thinks he's the only one who thinks like he does and Esther seems to think that everyone's watching her and she is alone.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good connection. She does begin to act like Holden in the way that she undermines others' experiences. She thinks that she's the only one going through struggle when that simply isn't true. Her separation from society as you said is also very much Holden-like.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that Esther began to act from like Holden as the book went on. Her hypocrisy really reminded me of Holden's mindset during most of The Catcher in the Rye. I still think there are differences between them, as Holden understands himself more and thinks the rest of the world is wrong while Esther feels like the opposite; she feels like she doesn't belong and, because of that, she doesn't think she fits in with everyone else.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you point out the connection between the two because there are many. I definitely see how she isolates herself from everyone else. This could be seen by how she described herself in a bell jar. In this jar, she is alone with everyone else on the outside looking in, expecting her to be a certain way like a display. This is probably why she seems so isolated and critical of everyone around her because she feels like everyone is doing this to her, expecting her to live up to their expectations. Also, when she talks about not being happy ever since she was 9, she must have felt this way throughout her life.
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