For many times in "The Bell Jar", the author shows the expectations others have on the main character, Esther Greenwood, concerning her behaviour and her future as well. She is under the pressure of taking decisions about her career and her personal life, but she does not feel prepared for it, not yet. The sensation of being rushed to a road she is not sure she wants to take, and the inability of chosing a different one, are posssible causes for Esther's madness.
Esther feels that she is pressured to succeed in whatever career she chooses, despite the fact that she cannot yet even decide a career path to follow. She is very good in everything she does, even when dealing with something she does not like at all (like Physics). But all the good grades and scholarships she conquers will be of no advantage if she does not decide what to do with them. Esther does not have an aim, an objective; she wants to be everything, and nothing at the same time.
That is what Jay Cee tries to tell her: she must take a direction. And Esther feels abandoned, because she expected Jay Cee, who plays a kind of maternal role for her (she would like the editor to be her mother), to guide her, to say what direction to follow. But the woman makes it clear that this is something the girl should do by her own. Esther feels frustrated, for the simple fact that she knows how difficult it is to find a definable goal, and of course because Jay Cee shows herself to be as harsh and autoritative as Esther's mother.
Her mother, who falls a little into Esther's deslike, thinks the girl should be more practical, and insists in her learning shorthand. But Esther cannot see any utility for it, not even that it could save her some time in writing; she does not deal very well with practical things. Nevertheless, the mother seems to ignore the fact that the girl does not want to learn it, and keeps on insisting with the shorthand classes, every time she has an oportunity.
