Esther's Doppleganger
When we first meet Joan, she seems to be almost a doppleganger of Esther. Both her and Joan dated Buddy Willard, and found themselves wishing they were like Mrs. Willard, wanting to be the epitome of a succesful wife. Even Esther herself said "Sometimes I wondered if I had made Joan up" (Plath, 219), because they had so many things in common. She also thought that Joan was almost a stage in her life that she had already been through as shown when she says "Other times I wondered if she would continue to pop in at every crisis of my life to remind me of what I had been, and what I had been through, and carry on her own separate but similar crisis under my nose" (Plath, 219).
This poses the question of whether or not Joan is real or a figment of Esther's imagination. Could Joan be made up by Esther's schizophrenia? Though Joan and Esther are very alike, Joan is much easier to influence, and doesn't share that same mindset Esther does. We wouldn't think of Joan to be someone who would randomly tell another person that they make them puke like Esther would say. Now, Esther isn't the biggest fan of Joan, but she feels some sort of connection to her because of how mentally in sync they are. I personally believe that Joan is a real character, but she is there to help Esther better envision how far she has come from the start of her depression.
When Joan is allowed to live off of the asylum, Esther is jealous, because she aspires to be as sane and healthy as Joan. Though we see this idea change drastically, when Joan commits suicide. I think that Joan commiting suicide was in a way showing Esther how her life could have ended up, but that she still got to continue and make a life for herself where she could have "freedom" like Joan had living in town.
One last point that truly shows that Joan was a real character is the fact that The Bell Jar itself was somewhat of a memoir of Sylia Plath's struggle. After the book was published, a former acquaintance, Jane Anderson came forward and sued Plath. When reading about the character Joan, Jane said she found Joan's background story was quite similiar to herself and claimed Plath's writing of the character Joan was an invasion of privacy.
Overall, there are some reasons to believe Joan could just be another thing Esther creates in her head, but there is a more evidence leading to the fact that she is real, because of the events within the book with other characters interacting and talking about Joan, and the lawsuit itself against Plath. Near the end of the book, Joan seemed to be more of a character to help Esther see her own character development.
Lacayo, Richard. “Law: Of Whom the Bell Told.” Time, Time, 9 Feb. 1987, time.com/archive/6708329/law-of-whom-the-bell-told/.
I think that Joan's suicide, and its effect on Esther's growth, is one of the most important moments of the novel. As you mention, Joan at first appears to be almost a doppleganger of Esther. Up until Joan's suicide, the two have extremely similar experiences, creating a situation in which Joan's character seems to be a projection of Esther's possible future. However, when Joan commits suicide, Esther is finally able to separate herself from Joan, allowing her to better take control of her mental illness rather than succumb to it. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of this lawsuit before, although I have wondered what the "real" Joan or her family would have thought of this depiction. It's definitely a good illustration of what Aurelia Plath refers to as the real-life people in Sylvia's life who are depicted in unkind ways in her novel. If the "real" Joan HAD taken her own life under circumstances even remotely like those depicted in the novel, Plath's characterization of her throughout would have seemed like particularly grotesque cruelty and a profound failure of empathy.
ReplyDeleteWe know that Jane Anderson WAS hospitalized along with Sylvia Plath, and we can assume that the weird "competitive" vibe that develops between them is based on their actual experiences together. I don't know about suing a deceased author of a work of fiction for defamation is the appropriate route, but I do think Anderson would have had a lawsuit solely based on the relentlessly mean and petty depictions of her as horse-like in various ways. It's worse than any other "distortion" characterization in the novel--Plath literally will *not let it go* that Joan bears a resemblance to a horse, smells like a horse, breathes like a horse, etc. There's a meanness here as well as a total lack of sympathy for someone in literally the same situation as the author of the novel, and it's hard to chalk it up to the distortions of the bell jar, since she continues to be callous toward Joan through the end of the novel, including her funeral. (I kind of do wish Plath had made this character up in her head, as a literary doppelganger, rather than what seems like a character assassination.)
I definitely think that they dynamic between Joan and Esther can be strange, because on one hand Esther was annoyed by her and all of the opportunities she got, which probably meant that she never wanted to see her. On the other hand, she felt that Joan resembled her and her past so much that she wanted to keep tabs on her (out of curiosity). I also think that when Esther confessed to Joan that she didn't like her she wasn't exactly saying it to Joan but more to her past self. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Emma! This blog is built on a really interesting basis. I hadn't considered Joan and Esther sort of echoing each other in the book, but I see it now! I do see how Joan's suicide really does create this gap between their stories. I really enjoyed reading this new take. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteHi, Emma! I didn't run into this lawsuit while I was doing my research, but it sounds really interesting. I agree with what you have said and you make good points with evidence. I found it really sad when Esther found out about Joan's suicide because of how she wanted to be like her and live off the asylum's campus. It makes me wonder how the real life of Jane Anderson was.
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