Bell Jar or Brave New World? Considering Esther’s Comfort in a Dystopia

It is no secret that Esther Greenwood is enormously discontent in her current world, suffering in the sour air of the bell jar. The bell jar creates a dystopia of her own perception, one induced by her mental state and amplified by the expectations of womanhood. I can’t help but wonder if perhaps Esther would be more content in an entirely “other” world, despite it being dystopian, and flawed. Thus, I was drawn to my illegal copy of Brave New World (long story--I got it at a used book store and did not think to look at the publisher. Typos riddle my see-through pages that are centered in the strangest way. It really is the most interesting reading experience. I highly recommend, if anyone wants to borrow it). While there are certainly aspects of this dystopian world that Esther would not appreciate, there are a few that might alleviate her hatred of her current one.

Throughout The Bell Jar, Esther displays a general disgust toward child-bearing and motherhood. She says, “If I had to wait on a baby all day, I would go mad” (182, Silvia Plath). It is clear she doesn’t even want to think about giving birth--let alone doing so herself, as the 1950s so adamantly expected of her. This leads us to the first aspect of Brave New World that might appeal to Esther: parenthood and childbirth are taboo. At the very mention of the word “parent” by the Director (who is in charge of producing children–they are genetically engineered, rather than born), “There was an uneasy silence. Several of the boys blushed. They had not yet learned to draw the significant but often very fine distinction between smut and pure science” (20, Aldous Huxley). “Mother” is considered an even more lewd term, never uttered unless in a purely scientific setting. With this avoidance of the subject of parenthood, Esther wouldn’t need to even consider the prospect of producing progeny.

Perhaps the astute reader will now wonder, what of Esther’s desire to lose her virginity? If parenthood is considered smut, then surely sex must be incomprehensible in Brave New World? To that I would say: you are gravely mistaken. Brave New World’s entire focus is pleasure--through soma (a drug that makes you happy and peaceful), comfort, and sex. It is encouraged for people to never have simply one partner: in fact, the female protagonist, Lenina, is warned by her friend for not sleeping around enough: “I really do think you ought to be careful. It’s such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man” (36, Aldous Huxley). Perhaps this differing ideology in Brave New World would suit Esther. After learning that Buddy had slept with another woman before their getting together, Esther is consumed with the desire to sort of “get him back” by sleeping with someone else. 

Unfortunately, Brave New World would not actually be the perfect utopia it wishes to be for Esther. Sexism is still prominent in the world, as the quote I cited for the expectation for women to sleep around is immediately succeeded by Bernard, the male protagonist, complaining about how his friends talk about Lenina: “‘talking about her as though she were a bit of meat’” (40, Aldous Huxley). Objectification has not passed from this Brave New World, something that would most definitely negatively impact Esther. 

Further, there is a push against what is beautiful in Brave New World--such as flowers, or literature (the children are actually shock trained at a young age to despise these things: strange that there is shock therapy in both books, although my mind draws a blank on any significant connections between the two). Esther’s sole passion of writing would probably not thrive in this anti-intellectual dystopia. Perhaps she could relate to my favorite quote from my dubious copy of Brave New World, “But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin” (215, Aldous Huxley). Or perhaps she would rather have a muted world than one under the bell jar. I don’t know, but it is certainly a fun possibility to ponder. Please somebody ask to see my illegal copy of Brave New World. It’s my pride and joy.