The Bell Jar
The presentation and significance of moments when light and dark imagery are brought to the fore.
Light is a motif encountered in The Bell Jar and Thérèse Raquin, used to illuminate true human nature. In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath’s use of mirrors conveys Esther dissociated identities; the mirror is a reminder of her inability to understand herself, and presents the difference between her inner self and the person she exhibits to the outer world. Similarly, Emile Zola uses light in Thérèse Raquin to reveal Laurent and Therese’s true nature, which is usually concealed in the dark.
In the introductory paragraphs of both texts, Zola and Plath use light imagery to establish the context in which these novels take place. Early on in The …show more content…
Esther’s outer self is habitually playing roles that others would want her to play, for example, for her mother, Esther plays the role of the ideal daughter who was “trained at a very early age” and had “given her no trouble whatsoever.” For Doreen, she plays the role of Elly Higginbottom, a confident outgoing girl, which is the opposite of the real Esther, who is often nervous and insecure. This character that Esther’s outer self has created is not only because of what Doreen would like her to be like, but also because, Esther wanted to strip herself from her identity and wants to be a completely new person with no past or expectations, as she demonstrates when she says, “ I didn't want anything I said or did that night to be associated with me and my real name”. As the night progresses, Esther feels herself “shrinking to a small black dot” and then eventually she felt like “ a hole in the ground”. As Esther returns home, she sees her reflection in a mirror, she notices a “smudgy-eyed Chinese woman staring idiotically into my face. It was only me, of course.” Initially Esther fails to recognize her own reflection and the person her outer self has become, she says that she was “appalled to see how wrinkled and used up”. Her observations are commentary to her outer self, as she realizes that she is not Elly Higginbottom, thats not who she is. The light from
Light is a motif encountered in The Bell Jar and Thérèse Raquin, used to illuminate true human nature. In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath’s use of mirrors conveys Esther dissociated identities; the mirror is a reminder of her inability to understand herself, and presents the difference between her inner self and the person she exhibits to the outer world. Similarly, Emile Zola uses light in Thérèse Raquin to reveal Laurent and Therese’s true nature, which is usually concealed in the dark.
In the introductory paragraphs of both texts, Zola and Plath use light imagery to establish the context in which these novels take place. Early on in The …show more content…
Esther’s outer self is habitually playing roles that others would want her to play, for example, for her mother, Esther plays the role of the ideal daughter who was “trained at a very early age” and had “given her no trouble whatsoever.” For Doreen, she plays the role of Elly Higginbottom, a confident outgoing girl, which is the opposite of the real Esther, who is often nervous and insecure. This character that Esther’s outer self has created is not only because of what Doreen would like her to be like, but also because, Esther wanted to strip herself from her identity and wants to be a completely new person with no past or expectations, as she demonstrates when she says, “ I didn't want anything I said or did that night to be associated with me and my real name”. As the night progresses, Esther feels herself “shrinking to a small black dot” and then eventually she felt like “ a hole in the ground”. As Esther returns home, she sees her reflection in a mirror, she notices a “smudgy-eyed Chinese woman staring idiotically into my face. It was only me, of course.” Initially Esther fails to recognize her own reflection and the person her outer self has become, she says that she was “appalled to see how wrinkled and used up”. Her observations are commentary to her outer self, as she realizes that she is not Elly Higginbottom, thats not who she is. The light from