Abstract:
Identity crisis has been a long-discussed topic in English literature
and it is vastly connected with the notion of self-autonomy. Most of the works
of Sylvia Plath—regarded as one of the dynamic and controversial poets of
the twentieth century—centre around the themes of identity crisis and
self-autonomy that are intricately woven into the fabric of twentieth-century
English literature. Through the character of Esther Greenwood in Sylvia
Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963), this paper investigates how identity crisis takes
its origin in the psyche of Plath’s heroine, a middle-class woman coming of
age in 1950s America. Moreover, this paper equally shows what role the
ideology of cultural containment of 1950s America has played in fracturing
Esther’s self-esteem and sense of individuality. The researcher has reasoned
that Esther’s individual suffering transcends the immediate vicinity of her
personal space and resonates with the struggles that the female population
of that time went through, thus making it a generic experience which has
become a predominant issue of discussion in the modern era. Finally, the
researcher demonstrates the ways via which Esther is able to win back her
personalized identity and autonomy, though not fully but partially.
Keywords: Identity crisis, Self-autonomy, Mental illness
