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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Rosenbergs :
Allusions to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple who were controversially convicted of espionage and later executed by electrocution, serve as an important motif in The Bell Jar. Esther repeatedly reflects upon the execution of the Rosenbergs throughout the novel, reflecting her morbid preoccupation with death and complex feelings about morality:
(I knew something was wrong with me that summer, because all I could think about was the Rosenbergs and how stupid I’d been to buy all those uncomfortable, expensive clothes, hanging limp as fish in my closet, and how all the little successes I’d totted up so happily at college fizzled to nothing outside the slick marble and plate-glass fronts along Madison Avenue.)
In this parenthetical statement, Esther states that she could sense that “something was wrong” with her during the summer of 1953 because she could not stop thinking about the Rosenbergs. The execution of the Rosenbergs, for her, marks the general feeling of malaise, anxiety, and depression that she experienced that summer. Later on, she brings up the Rosenbergs again in a conversation with Hilda, a young woman who designs hats:
So I said, “Isn’t it awful about the Rosenbergs?”
The Rosenbergs were to be electrocuted late that night.
“Yes!” Hilda said, and at last I felt I had touched a human string in the cat’s cradle of her heart. It was only as the two of us waited for the others in the tomblike morning gloom of the conference room that Hilda amplified that Yes of hers. “It’s awful such people should be alive.”
She yawned then, and her pale orange mouth opened on a large darkness.
At first, Esther feels that she has made a genuine connection with Hilda when she agrees that the situation with the Rosenberg’s is “awful.” She soon realizes, however, that she and Hilda have very different beliefs and attitudes, as Hilda notes that she supports the execution and feels that it is “awful” that "such people" ever exist at all. This conversation marks, for Esther, the sense of distance between her and others. While she feels empathy for the Rosenberg’s and is horrified by the thought of death by electrocution, Hilda instead cheers on the execution of those deemed enemies of the nation.
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—The Rosenbergs :
Allusions to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple who were controversially convicted of espionage and later executed by electrocution, serve as an important motif in The Bell Jar. Esther repeatedly reflects upon the execution of the Rosenbergs throughout the novel, reflecting her morbid preoccupation with death and complex feelings about morality:
(I knew something was wrong with me that summer, because all I could think about was the Rosenbergs and how stupid I’d been to buy all those uncomfortable, expensive clothes, hanging limp as fish in my closet, and how all the little successes I’d totted up so happily at college fizzled to nothing outside the slick marble and plate-glass fronts along Madison Avenue.)
In this parenthetical statement, Esther states that she could sense that “something was wrong” with her during the summer of 1953 because she could not stop thinking about the Rosenbergs. The execution of the Rosenbergs, for her, marks the general feeling of malaise, anxiety, and depression that she experienced that summer. Later on, she brings up the Rosenbergs again in a conversation with Hilda, a young woman who designs hats:
So I said, “Isn’t it awful about the Rosenbergs?”
The Rosenbergs were to be electrocuted late that night.
“Yes!” Hilda said, and at last I felt I had touched a human string in the cat’s cradle of her heart. It was only as the two of us waited for the others in the tomblike morning gloom of the conference room that Hilda amplified that Yes of hers. “It’s awful such people should be alive.”
She yawned then, and her pale orange mouth opened on a large darkness.
At first, Esther feels that she has made a genuine connection with Hilda when she agrees that the situation with the Rosenberg’s is “awful.” She soon realizes, however, that she and Hilda have very different beliefs and attitudes, as Hilda notes that she supports the execution and feels that it is “awful” that "such people" ever exist at all. This conversation marks, for Esther, the sense of distance between her and others. While she feels empathy for the Rosenberg’s and is horrified by the thought of death by electrocution, Hilda instead cheers on the execution of those deemed enemies of the nation.
