The Bell Jar is occupied by several female characters who all represent an assortment of female stereotypes. There are students who want to experience New York City to the fullest, patients in a mental institution, and psychiatrists who could potentially serve as role models throughout the novel. Esther often lacks self-confidence because she constantly compares herself to these individuals. Esther is shown to be stubborn because she rejects the femininity presented to her. Instead, she spends her time worrying about what she thinks a woman is. Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar depicts the repressed role that women endured due to the restrictions and expectations of societal norms. During the 1950s, the American dream for women was to not fail in a male-dominated society. Women wanted to enter the paid workforce to help support their families and no longer rely on their husbands for all their needs. Even though the overall American dream was to be rich, provide for your family, and have a job; people wanted to be really rich without working. Families of this period were materialistic and just wanted what everyone else had. It was in the 1950s that “…more than 6 million women went to work for the first time in their lives…women were later criticized for destroying the American family” (Gillespie 3). In previous years, until 1945, women stayed home to care for their families while men fought in World War II. More jobs were needed in the American workforce, so much of the responsibility fell on female citizens. In the novel Esther relates to these women in the sense that she wants to live for herself and not for her husband,...... middle of paper ......lanahan, Thomas. “Sylvia Plath.” American Poets Since World War II. Ed. Donald J. Greiner. Detroit: GaleResearch, 1980. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 5. Literary Resource Center. Internet. February 26, 2014.Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=Gale%7CH1200001843&v=2.1&u=mlin_s_stoughs&it=r&p=litrc&sw=W&asid=503fe2df2780eb697cD2b3ffa2ed 5. A ritual for being born twice: The Sylvia Plath's BellJar." Contemporary Literature 13.4 (Fall 1972): 507-522. Rep. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Eds. Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk. Vol. 62. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Document Resource Center. Internet. February 27, 2014. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1100000662&v=2.1&u=mlin_s_stoughs&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=8258c94257f7d3b451c44f0e1d06f619 6. Plath, ia. bell. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Print.