Hi. Welcome to the blog for my IB English B class at Jur Hronec High School in Bratislava, Slovakia. Below you will find links to other websites and discussion questions. My students are required to comment on one of these postings every month and also respond to each other's comments. Feel free to add your two bits, but be aware that all comments are monitored before being posted.
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
The Bell Jar: Am I better or worse than…?
Esther
spends much of the novel comparing herself to others.Do you think this is something that helps to
cause her depression?Or is it more of a
symptom?Or is it simply normal –something
that most of us do but do not always admit to?
Depression is obviously a complicated thing. I personally haven't experienced full-blown depression myself, but it wasn't far off, and I think in Esther's case, comparing herself to others really doesn't do her any favors. For at least one half of the book, Esther is in New York where she feels out of her element. Esther is a simple girl from a relatively modest economic background, surrounded by girls from wealthy families and private schools. She feels like everyone else has their life figured out and knows what to do except for her. This definitely contributes to her mental state.
People say that you should only compare yourself to your former self and no one else, but from my experience, it seems as though most teenagers do the opposite. Esther doesn't realize this and falls into the trap. Moreover, she doesn't really have anyone in her life to talk to in order to get a different perspective. She doesn't seem to have a deep enough bond with anyone to whom she could tell how she feels.
Comparison with other people around us is something most of us tend to do, even if unconsciously. In some cases, it can help the person, motivate them to work on themselves and become better in a particular sphere. However, in other cases, it can rather hurt the person. Constant comparison makes us think we’re not good enough, and keeps reminding us that there will always be someone who is better.
Esther’s case belongs to the second, negatively-affected group. She constantly compares herself to other people around her, which is one of the main reasons leading to her depression. I think it is impossible to stop comparing yourself to others completely, since we live in a world full of competition and human beings are judging and competitive by nature. However, it really depends on one’s personality and character how much they let the comparison get to them. Some people are simply more vulnerable, some are pretty self-confident, and others are somewhere in between.
I feel like in the past, also when The Bell Jar was written, the competition was lower, weaker, or people simply didn’t realise it as much as today. Communication was far more difficult and globalisation didn’t really play a role yet, not talking about social media. Therefore there were also less depression and suicide cases among the population. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult not to compare yourself to others in today’s world. There is a lot more competition around us, and even if we don’t want to, we’re constantly exposed to the pressure of social media and all the “perfect lives” we see up there, which leads us to comparing them with our lives, that are not far as perfect. Many people don’t realise not everything posted on social media is true and real. This currently leads to depression among teenagers and young adults as well.
To begin with, comparing oneself to others is not beneficial and, in reality, is rather harmful. Not only is comparing yourself not healthy it is also pointless. Similarly to what Laura mentions in her comment, we tend to believe that we are inadequate because we see all the perfect people on social media, such as Instagram, Facebook or others. The fact that we believe that we are inadequate is preposterous as we are all unique. Even though there were no social media in the time when The Bell Jar was written we can observe how the main character of the novel, Esther Greenwood, compares herself to most of the women and lists a variety of reasons why she is inadequate. “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,” or “My grandmother and my mother were such good cooks that I left everything to them. They were always trying to teach me one dish or another, but I would just look on and say, "Yes, yes, I see," while the instructions slid through my head like water, and then I'd always spoil what I did so nobody would ask me to do it again.“ Then there is a whole page dedicated to listing all the things she cannot do, for example, “I was a terrible dancer. I couldn't carry a tune. I had no sense of balance, and when we had to walk down a narrow board with our hands out and a book on our heads in gym class I always fell over. I couldn't ride a horse or ski, the two things I wanted to do most because they cost too much money. I couldn't speak German or read Hebrew or write Chinese.” People and society, in general, tend to be overwhelmed by the unnecessary measures, such as beauty, age, weight, money, social status and we judge people around us and ourselves according to these measures which are, as mentioned above, pointless. This is arguably one of the main reasons for sadness.
Moreover, comparing oneself may be arguably one of the factors causing depression in the case of Esther Greenwood. According to definition depression can be characterized as a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Depression causes feelings of sadness and a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home. Several characteristics of depression can be found in Esther and her behaviour throughout the novel. Esther describes her low mood as feelings of sadness and tiredness and realises that she has not felt truly happy since the age of 9 before her father died. I believe that the fact that Esther is constantly comparing herself to others must have contributed to the feeling of sadness because the inadequacy that Esther feels from comparing herself to others is very closely related to sadness and also depression.
Depression is obviously a complicated thing. I personally haven't experienced full-blown depression myself, but it wasn't far off, and I think in Esther's case, comparing herself to others really doesn't do her any favors. For at least one half of the book, Esther is in New York where she feels out of her element. Esther is a simple girl from a relatively modest economic background, surrounded by girls from wealthy families and private schools. She feels like everyone else has their life figured out and knows what to do except for her. This definitely contributes to her mental state.
ReplyDeletePeople say that you should only compare yourself to your former self and no one else, but from my experience, it seems as though most teenagers do the opposite. Esther doesn't realize this and falls into the trap. Moreover, she doesn't really have anyone in her life to talk to in order to get a different perspective. She doesn't seem to have a deep enough bond with anyone to whom she could tell how she feels.
Comparison with other people around us is something most of us tend to do, even if unconsciously. In some cases, it can help the person, motivate them to work on themselves and become better in a particular sphere. However, in other cases, it can rather hurt the person. Constant comparison makes us think we’re not good enough, and keeps reminding us that there will always be someone who is better.
ReplyDeleteEsther’s case belongs to the second, negatively-affected group. She constantly compares herself to other people around her, which is one of the main reasons leading to her depression. I think it is impossible to stop comparing yourself to others completely, since we live in a world full of competition and human beings are judging and competitive by nature. However, it really depends on one’s personality and character how much they let the comparison get to them. Some people are simply more vulnerable, some are pretty self-confident, and others are somewhere in between.
I feel like in the past, also when The Bell Jar was written, the competition was lower, weaker, or people simply didn’t realise it as much as today. Communication was far more difficult and globalisation didn’t really play a role yet, not talking about social media. Therefore there were also less depression and suicide cases among the population. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult not to compare yourself to others in today’s world. There is a lot more competition around us, and even if we don’t want to, we’re constantly exposed to the pressure of social media and all the “perfect lives” we see up there, which leads us to comparing them with our lives, that are not far as perfect. Many people don’t realise not everything posted on social media is true and real. This currently leads to depression among teenagers and young adults as well.
To begin with, comparing oneself to others is not beneficial and, in reality, is rather harmful. Not only is comparing yourself not healthy it is also pointless. Similarly to what Laura mentions in her comment, we tend to believe that we are inadequate because we see all the perfect people on social media, such as Instagram, Facebook or others. The fact that we believe that we are inadequate is preposterous as we are all unique. Even though there were no social media in the time when The Bell Jar was written we can observe how the main character of the novel, Esther Greenwood, compares herself to most of the women and lists a variety of reasons why she is inadequate. “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,” or “My grandmother and my mother were such good cooks that I left everything to them. They were always trying to teach me one dish or another, but I would just look on and say, "Yes, yes, I see," while the instructions slid through my head like water, and then I'd always spoil what I did so nobody would ask me to do it again.“ Then there is a whole page dedicated to listing all the things she cannot do, for example, “I was a terrible dancer. I couldn't carry a tune. I had no sense of balance, and when we had to walk down a narrow board with our hands out and a book on our heads in gym class I always fell over. I couldn't ride a horse or ski, the two things I wanted to do most because they cost too much money. I couldn't speak German or read Hebrew or write Chinese.” People and society, in general, tend to be overwhelmed by the unnecessary measures, such as beauty, age, weight, money, social status and we judge people around us and ourselves according to these measures which are, as mentioned above, pointless. This is arguably one of the main reasons for sadness.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, comparing oneself may be arguably one of the factors causing depression in the case of Esther Greenwood. According to definition depression can be characterized as a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Depression causes feelings of sadness and a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home. Several characteristics of depression can be found in Esther and her behaviour throughout the novel. Esther describes her low mood as feelings of sadness and tiredness and realises that she has not felt truly happy since the age of 9 before her father died. I believe that the fact that Esther is constantly comparing herself to others must have contributed to the feeling of sadness because the inadequacy that Esther feels from comparing herself to others is very closely related to sadness and also depression.