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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis:
The Bell Jar is set in the Northeastern United States in 1953. The first half of the novel focuses on Esther’s time in New York, and the second half alternates between Esther’s small hometown in the Boston suburbs and a mental-health care facility elsewhere in the state of Massachusetts. In the beginning of the novel, Esther reflects upon the cultural values of her time and her own cynical attitude towards New York City:
I was supposed to be the envy of thousands of other college girls just like me all over America who wanted nothing more than to be tripping about in those same size-seven patent leather shoes I’d bought in Bloomingdale’s one lunch hour with a black patent leather belt and black patent leather pocketbook to match. And when my picture came out in the magazine the twelve of us were working on—drinking martinis in a skimpy, imitation silver-lamé bodice stuck on to a big, fat cloud of white tulle, on some Starlight Roof [...] —everybody would think I must be having a real whirl.
Here, Esther sarcastically notes that many other young women her own age would love to be in her position. For them, it would be a dream to live in New York City, attending events held by the fashion magazine and “drinking martinis” at the “Starlight Roof,” a stylish restaurant and night-spot in Manhattan that was popular in the middle decades of the 20th century. Esther, however, experiences New York as a lonely and alienating place that has a negative effect on her mental health. Throughout the novel, Esther finds her own beliefs and values to be in tension with those of 1950s America.
