Blog Topic #1: Rhetorical Strategies

• Symbolism: “The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above my head” (215).
o Most likely one of the most significant rhetorical devices Plath employs is symbolism. The bell jar, which the main character, Esther Greenwood, often refers back to, almost takes on its own negative persona in the book. Although while referencing the bell jar, the author is often referring to a glass jar most commonly used to showcase something or contain it, the bell jar, to Esther, symbolizes much more. The bell jar embodies the concepts of madness and insanity, while intertwining the underlying idea of confinement; no one wants to be limited or restricted in their ability to be free. Esther believes that she is being held captive in a bell jar, which is suffocating her, and ultimately, warping her perspective on society and affecting her ability to communicate with others.

• Allusion: “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York” (1).
o Throughout the novel, Esther Greenwood makes references to the Rosenbergs, two Russian spies, convicted in the United States during the Cold War. These allusions are helpful for the reader; it allows them to put into perspective the time period in which Plath’s storyline would have taken place. In addition, Esther’s obsession with the topic of their execution portrays a morbid, yet intriguing characteristic in her personality, which helps in further developing the reasons for her decline.

• Simile: “I crawled between the mattress and the padded bedstead and let the mattress fall across me like a tombstone” (123).
o Similes allow the reader to better understand what it is going on in the storyline through a pointed comparison, and therefore, help them to picture the scene from the book, in their mind. This simile also reveals Esther’s thought process and her growing negative attitude towards life, comparing a mattress to a tombstone.

• Onomatopoeia: “It sounded like a heavy wooden object falling downstairs, boomp boomp boomp, step after step” (124).
o The employment of onomatopoeia in Plath’s writing is effective in that it not only heightens the reader’s sense of hearing, but improves the other senses, as well. This rhetorical device helps the reader to better relate to and understand what is happening, and allows for the impression of as if they were witnessing the scene firsthand.

• Personification: “The letters grew barbs and rams’ horns. I watched them separate, each from the other, and jiggle up and down in a silly way” (124).
o In this excerpt from chapter 10, Plath personifies the letters and writing of Esther Greenwood, to be changing and growing animalistic features. Although in reality letters on paper cannot literally grow “barbs and rams’ horns,” to Esther, who is gradually going insane, the letters appear to be coming alive and sadly, it no longer looks like her handwriting.