Our identity is more than a name; more than what we see when we look in a mirror. A person's identity is shaped by personality traits, social standing, intelligence, physical appearance and life experiences. Identity is like a building; if you do not have a strong base your building will collapse. In Sylvia Plath's, "The Bell Jar," the theme of identity is a recurring topic. Many characters in the book have difficulty finding their identities and purposes in life; one such character is Esther Greenwood.
Throughout the novel, Esther fights to look past the social conformities that constantly surround her. Esther lacks a sense of who she is due to a disconnection from her mother and being involved with her peers who also live troubled lives. Esther's instability stems from the misguiding relationships within her life which eventually cause a decline in her mental health, thus disabling her from finding out who she really is. .
Early in "The Bell Jar," Sylvia Plath makes it increasingly clear that Esther Greenwood is mentally unstable. As early as from the first paragraph of the novel we learn about Esther's fascination with death as she talks about how she cannot get the electrocution of the Rosenberg's out of her mind (Plath 1-2). Instead of sympathizing with the pain they must be going through she instead "wonders what it would be like being burned alive all along your nerves," which is typically something someone who is in a good state of mind would be thinking. In addition to this, we also learn that the summer job Esther had gotten, in her words, "was supposed to make her the envy of thousands of other college girls just like her all over America"(Plath 2). Esther's use of the words "supposed to " give us the indication that not only is she unsure of who she is supposed to be in life but also how she is supposed to feel in certain situations.
One of the main reasons that Esther is so unstable and has so much trouble discovering her identity is because of her lack of a solid foundation while being raised as a child.