#Doreen The Bell Jar

[lgbstims]

Esther & Doreen from The Bell Jar stimboard, for anon 

sources 

#note that the middle gif is not from a Bell Jar movie it's just two women embracing #stimboard #wlw #the bell jar #esther x doreen #city #mirror #plants #perfume #hands #textiles #glitter #avocados #food #drinks #pouring

[sapphireshorelines]

Oh, to see without my eyes : the female gaze of tenderness

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987) / Anne With An E (2017) / Frances Ha (2012) / Carol (2015) / Parched (2015) / Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) / Jennifer's Body (2009) / Persona (1966)

"I raised my eyes then, and saw Doreen’s head silhouetted against the paling window, her blonde hair lit at the tips from behind like a halo of gold. Her face was in shadow, so I couldn’t make out her expression, but I felt a sort of expert tenderness flowing from the ends of her fingers."

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

#sylvia plath #the bell jar #women #tenderness #women in film #women in fiction #four adventures of reinette and mirabelle #anne with an e #frances ha #carol #parched #portrait of a lady on fire #jennifer's body #persona #parallels #web weaving #**

[chihirolovebot]

jus started reading the bell jar and mc (i have no idea what her name is oops) and Doreen remind me so much of phys and kokichi i hate u they won’t get out of my. head

ive never read the bell jar although i have been meaning to read more classic lit ... i'll come back to this if i ever get around to it but for now i take ur word for it :3

#dear venus.

[aliterasia]

the bell jar (sylvia plath)

It was comforting to know I had fallen and could fall no further.

I just love how the depression faced by the protagonist starts even when she is, possibly, at what should be the best moment of her life: incredible grades at university, internship in NYC, buying lots of clothes and overall living the dream of many of us. Still, she doesn’t fell anything. Indeed, she feels apathy for everything. For all the clothes, the shoes, all the boys who courted her, her friends, the air, the cars. It’s meaningful and says a lot, I think Sylvia chose this very one scenario on purpose, to show how depression works, breaking the ridiculous stereotype that a depressive person is sad all the time. If you faced it, you know it’s much more like it’s written in the book: a big and giant lethargy for literally everything, and as it grows, all you can think of is how you are listless to actually getting better. Like you’re in a very conscious coma.

The quote I chose for the post, despite being about *literally* falling (what left me kinda shocked as i read it), describes perfectly Esther’s path. Only one could tell how it feels like being at your own worst, at the rock bottom, the only comforting thing being: Hey, at least nothing can be worse than this.

Another aspect that caught my attention was her actual recovering at the end of the book. As you may know, Sylvia Plath committed suicide short after she finished writing The Bell Jar, and the book ends with Esther about to find out if she is able to get out of the asylum, leaving the mystery in the air relentlessly.

Sincerely, before I started, I was sure the protagonist would kill herself at the end of the book, as the same happened to the author. Ironically, how the work is narrated first person by Esther, you can tell her mental health actual improvement as you read, what unfortunately did not happen to Plath. It's incredible to follow Esther in her (lack of) sanity journey. But that's not everything, of course.

Throughout the book, Esther have experiences with five different boys: Buddy Willard, Frankie, Constantin, Marco and Irwin. The first one is the only that actually got to date her, and is called multiple times "disappointing" and "traitor", as their romance ended after Esther finding out his image of purity and chastity was an illusion, he's also the most mentioned in the book. She also called him arrogant and a liar multiple times, still, he always tries to be near Esther, even going to visit her in the asylum. Frankie is a friend of her friend Doreen's hook up, but he is rapidly dispensed by Esther as he is "too short for her". Constantin is introduced to Esther by Buddy Willard's mom, and is probably by far the most respectful towards her, as he does not force her to do any sexual activities or make any unnecessary comments like the other boys. Still they only last one date, which after Esther starts ignoring his calls. Marco is described by Esther as the "woman-hater". He is the typical straight misogynistic boy, bearing that typical I-like-women-but-not-too-much energy. They only interact in one night, and Marco is able to both physycally and verbally abuse Esther in that short period, and tells her he is in love with his nun cousin-sister. He also tries to sexually assault her, but is stopped by her biting him.

The reason why I sepparated Irwin of the other boys is 'cause he is the one that takes Esther's virginity. Although the happening is narrated as any other thing that happens in the book, I felt kinda desesperated as I read the amount of blood that cames out, leading her to the hospital after. Esther express her wish of having sex multiple times, much more curiosity than actual desire, and when it happens it's faced with the already known apathy. It's also a very vague description, not mentioning any foreplay (couldn't be me). After bleeding worryingly enough, she goes to Joan's house to ask for help.

Joan is, as far as I could tell, a lesbian. She seems to really like Esther, much to her annoyance, who even tells Joan she is disgusting. In a certain point - after finding Dee Dee and Joan in the bed -sharing an intimate moment -, Esther asks Dr. Nolan "what does a woman see in a woman that she can't see in a man?", which responds "tenderness", shutting her up. For me and my sapphics out there, this passage is specifically sweet. Esther also says she asks herself if all women does with each other is lay down and hug each other. My dear, I have layed down and hugged and loved my beloved one multiple times, because us girls show our love in a very more passionate way than men do. It's not just about kissing or fingering or whatever, it's about intimacy. That's what women do with each other.

It's also important to mention the racism towards present in the book. I will not say it's simply a "product of old times", that's just a ridiculous excuse. Esther stares at her reflection and calls it quote unquote a big, smudgy-eyed Chinese woman staring idiotically into her face. Even considering that, I wouldn't call it "white-feminism", how it was addressed by many. I think it's much more than that.

All considered, The Bell Jar has definitely made into my list of favorite books ever; It's a perfect mix of womanhood, mental health struggle and youth. It may be the only romance by Sylvia Plath, but it's surely a great one.

#review #book review #read in 2023 #sylvia plath #the bell jar #resenha #resenha livro #a redoma de vidro

[tedhugheshater]

your url just reminded me of this little story. i was telling my mom about what ted hughes did to sylvia plath, how he abused her and destroyed a ton of her work. but when i intially said they were married she was like “she’s not gay??”. i was like no why did you think she was gay. and she was like it seems like most poets are gay. i’m her daughter and i’m gay and i’m a poet and she knows both of these things and she’s right tbh most of the well known poets are gay.

Okay but, all jokes aside, she's got a point. IIRC, her teenage diary entries (which are archived in a university, rather than appearing in the Unabridged Journals books) have some... suspicious? content regarding her sexuality. I might be wrong, though. Either way, the way Esther talks of Doreen in The Bell Jar is wayyyy too admiring to be straight, in my humble opinion.

And her saying that in front of you is hilarious and very relatable lol

#asks #.txt #sylvia plath #women writers

[lawyeronabike]

Under Six Feet / Six Feet Under #1: With Respect to Ms. Plath

“Come on, Frankie,” the man said to one of his friends in the group, and a short, scrunty fellow detached himself and came into the bar with us.

He was the type of fellow I can’t stand. I’m five feet ten in my stocking feet, and when I am with little men I stoop over a bit and slouch my hips, one up and one down, so I’ll look shorter, and I feel gawky and morbid as somebody in a sideshow.

For a minute I had a wild hope we might pair off according to size, which would line me up with the man who had spoken to us in the first place, and he cleared a good six feet, but he went ahead with Doreen and didn’t give me a second look. I tried to pretend I didn’t see Frankie dogging along at my elbow and sat close by Doreen at the table.

-Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (1963), Chapter 1

#heightism #short men #literature

[ive7]

I wondered why I couldn’t go the whole way doing what I should any more. This made me sad and tired. Then I wondered why I couldn’t go the whole way doing what I shouldn’t, the way Doreen did, and this made me even sadder and more tired.

The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

#quote #sylvia plath #the bell jar #SylviaPlath #TheBellJar

[solaris-girl]

“I wondered why I couldn’t go the whole way doing what I should any more. This made me sad and tired. Then I wondered why I couldn’t go the whole way doing what I shouldn’t, the way Doreen did, and this made me even sadder and more tired.”

sylvia plath, the bell jar

#sylvia plath #the bell jar

[lgbstims]

If you wanted to make it but not get into who it’s actually for... broken mirrors, glitter, avocados, peach silk, ferns and perfume, city streets, liquor, women embracing. Could just call it Esther x Doreen or “repressed f/f homoerotic longing 1953 NYC”

Also I completely respect just not doing this request. I’m somewhat embarrassed asking.

Posted! Thanks for the most specific request I’ve ever gotten - you mentioned 9 objects so i found one of each. Hope you like it <3 I think reading Esther & Doreen’s relationship as homoerotic is a perfectly valid interpretation of The Bell Jar though, like you said, its not one with a happy ending.

[oneofmytroubles]

The section of Chapter 1 where Esther first mentions and interacts with Doreen:

“These girls looked awfully bored to me. I saw them on the sunroof, yawning and painting their nails and trying to keep up their Bermuda tans, and they seemed bored as hell. I talked with one of them, and she was bored with yachts and bored with flying around in airplanes and bored with skiing in Switzerland at Christmas and bored with the men in Brazil.

Girls like that make me sick. I'm so jealous I can't speak. Nineteen years, and I hadn't been out of New England except for this trip to New York. It was my first big chance, but here I was, sitting back and letting it run through my fingers like so much water.

I guess one of my troubles was Doreen.

I'd never known a girl like Doreen before. Doreen came from a society girls' college down South and had bright white hair standing out in a cotton candy fluff round her head and blue eyes like transparent agate marbles, hard and polished and just about indestructible, and a mouth set in a sort of perpetual sneer. I don't mean a nasty sneer, but an amused, mysterious sneer, as if all the people around her were pretty silly and she could tell some good jokes on them if she wanted to.

Doreen singled me out right away. She made me feel I was that much sharper than the others, and she really was wonderfully funny. She used to sit next to me at the conference table, and when the visiting celebrities were talking she'd whisper witty sarcastic remarks to me under her breath.

Her college was so fashion conscious, she said, that all the girls had pocketbook covers made out of the same material as their dresses, so each time they changed their clothes they had a matching pocketbook. This kind of detail impressed me. It suggested a whole life of marvelous, elaborate decadence that attracted me like a magnet.

The only thing Doreen ever bawled me out about was bothering to get my assignments in by a deadline.

"What are you sweating over that for?" Doreen lounged on my bed in a peach silk dressing gown, filing her long, nicotine-yellow nails with an emery board, while I typed up the draft of an interview with a best-selling novelist.

That was another thing -- the rest of us had starched cotton summer nighties and quilted housecoats, or maybe terrycloth robes that doubled as beachcoats, but Doreen wore these full-length nylon and lace jobs you could half see through, and dressing gowns the color of skin, that stuck to her by some kind of electricity. She had an interesting, slightly sweaty smell that reminded me of those scallopy leaves of sweet fern you break off and crush between your fingers for the musk of them.

"You know old Jay Cee won't give a damn if that story's in tomorrow or Monday." Doreen lit a cigarette and let the smoke flare slowly from her nostrils so her eyes were veiled. "Jay Cee's ugly as sin," Doreen went on coolly. "I bet that old husband of hers turns out all the lights before he gets near her or he'd puke otherwise."

Jay Cee was my boss, and I liked her a lot, in spite of what Doreen said. She wasn't one of the fashion magazine gushers with fake eyelashes and giddy jewelry. Jay Cee had brains, so her plug-ugly looks didn't seem to matter. She read a couple of languages and knew all the quality writers in the business.

I tried to imagine Jay Cee out of her strict office suit and luncheon-duty hat and in bed with her fat husband, but I just couldn't do it. I always had a terribly hard time trying to imagine people in bed together.

Jay Cee wanted to teach me something, all the old ladies I ever knew wanted to teach me something, but I suddenly didn't think they had anything to teach me. I fitted the lid on my typewriter and clicked it shut.

Doreen grinned. "Smart girl."”

#the bell jar quotes #lounged on my bed in a peach silk dressing gown #esther crushing on doreen #sex and sexism in the bell jar #Jay Cee #class and classism in the bell jar #bisexual esther greenwood quotes #She had an interesting slightly sweaty smell #like girl?? #doreen and esther #Doreen Lucas #Esther Greenwood #Sylvia Plath #Doreen The Bell Jar

[indigos-dreamscape]

7 pages into the bell jar by Sylvia Plath and already I think Esther and Doreen are gay. THE WAY ESTHER DESCRIBES DOREEN AND HER BODY OMG GAY

#sylvia plath #the bell jar #the bell jar sylvia plath #1930s gays #Esther x Doreen #Sylvia Plath wrote gays #classic literature #poetry #classic poetry

[soheavyifellthroughthearth]

My sketch of doreen from the bell jar

#the bell jar #sylvia plath #doreen virtue #sketch #drawing #art #myartstyle #my art sketch #my art #colored pencil #aesthetic #girlblogging #grunge #fairy grunge

[intestwines]

everything she said was like a secret voice speaking straight out of my own bones.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

#holy fuck im in love with doreen #i want to be doreen #i wanna be a whirlwind of a person #shes complicated and amazing #i love her #literature #classic lit #bookblr #sylvia plath #the bell jar #aesthetic #dark academia #academia #classic academia

[juenereveuse]

Okay but if I didn’t know better I would think that Esther Greenwood was in love with Doreen

#like #everything she said was like a secret voice speaking out of my own bones #being with Doreen made me forget my worries. I felt wise and cynical as all hell #it was so dark in the bar I could hardly make out anything except Doreen #Doreen looked terrific. she was wearing a strapless white lace dress zipped up over a snug corset affair that curved her in at the middle #and bulged her out again spectacularly above and below #maybe I'm delusional but this sounds pretty gay to me vdndb #the bell jar #sylvia plath #personal

[nmwritings]

I wondered why I couldn't go the whole way doing what I should any more. This made me sad and tired. Then I wondered why I couldn't go the whole way doing what I shouldn't, the way Doreen did, and this made me even sadder and more tired.

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

#this is exactly it #sylvia plath #the bell jar #esther greenwood