Rhetorical Strategies

·         Simile: “I hadn’t, at the last moment, felt like washing off the two diagonal lines of dried blood that marked my cheeks. They seemed touching, rather spectacular, and I thought I would carry them around with me, like the relic of a dead lover, till they wore off of their own accord” (Plath 112-113).

·         Simile: “I looked as yellow as a Chinaman” (8).

·         Symbolism: “We had met together under our own imaginary fig tree…” (55).

·         Polysyndeton: “One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet, and another fig was a brilliant professor…” (77).

·         Anecdote: “And I knew that in spite of all the roses and kisses and restaurant dinners a man showered on a woman before he married her, what he secretly wanted when the wedding service ended was for her to flatten out under his feet like Mrs. Willard’s kitchen mat” (85).

·         Metaphor: “A green eye glowed on the bed beside me. It was divided into quarters like a compass. I reached out slowly and closed my hand on it. I lifted it up. With it came an arm, heavy as a dead man’s, but warm with sleep” (84).

        

Plath’s use of simile and metaphor in The Bell Jar symbolizes Esther’s feelings in comparison to the things and happenings around her.  Esther feels like she has to fit into a mold like a china doll in order to fit into what society thinks is a model woman.  Although Plath may have not intended to inflict this thought upon the reader with the simile comparing Esther to a “Chinaman”, it is clear to the reader that Esther not only thinks of herself as “yellow” skinned by her appearance but also appearing to look like something other than herself.  The author's clever use of simile in this case shows that she has a mysterious and in turn haunting style of writing for the purpose of making the reader pensive about her work.  Whether Esther is in an insane asylum or on the streets of New York City, she is constantly affected by some kind of label and demonstrates the author’s purpose in demonstrating this flaw within society. Esther often compares her feelings to that of nature in order to try and remove herself from this label; however, it is evident that nature and humans are more intertwined than one would think in that the humans have become more animal like especially when it comes to marriage. This contrasts Esther’s thoughts on nature being more innocent and pure.  When Esther decides to keep the blood on her face it is evident that she does so because the blood is the only thing that shows what she is truly on the inside despite her cheerful appearance.  Although Esther does this, it is essential to know that this does not mean she knows who she is but rather that she knows she is not what she is portrayed to be. Plath’s use of anecdote also articulates Esther’s feelings and philosophy on life as a woman.  Through the combination of metaphor, simile, and other rhetorical devises, the author conveys her developing theme of how life does not always turn out the way you planned and sometimes the best route towards figuring out what you really want has the hardest path.