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by David Marler

In 1963, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar was released under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas.  The novel was a hit from the beginning, but was only read by the masses after Plath’s suicide shortly after the novel’s release.  The Bell Jar is autobiographical, and when you read the book, you almost have a feeling that you can understand Plath’s personal struggles through her character, Esther Greenwood. Esther was depressed, and appeared often almost aimlessly to go through her young life.  Much like Plath, she grew up in Massachusetts and was interested in literature and publishing.  And like Plath, young Esther dealt with family issues and what it meant to be a young woman in the 50s and 60s.  Many critics even see Plath’s suicide as one of the events that rocketed The Bell Jar into the literary infamy it appreciates today.  

Even now, The Bell Jar is seen as an American literary classic.  The BBC in 2019 even went as far as to call it one of the 101 novels that shaped our world.  The novel is one of the first to give insight into topics that were often left undiscussed. Esther suffers from depression; she is “committed” to a mental health hospital; she undergoes electro-shock therapy.  The novel also explores the feelings that many people have when they suffer from mental illness.  Esther goes through life with an understanding that she does not experience the world like the women around her.  

The novel also dives into the reality of expectation that many women in the late fifties and early sixties experienced.  Much like other novels that we explore in this course, the novel dives into the emptiness of social conventions, of bourgeois morality.  Society dictates that Esther should feel a certain way about her job prospects at the magazine, about her internship in New York with all of its perks. But Esther feels a void; none of these things make her happy, and she feels alienated by her peers.  She does things that people expect from her (like date Buddy), even though they don’t make her feel happy or even content. 

Donna Hilbrandt argues that the novel handles something she calls the “sexual double standard.”  Hilbrandt noted that Esther herself had to adhere to strict sexual social norms.  She was not allowed to have premarital sex, but she soon finds out that the men in her life do not adhere to this. 

Workshopping the novel 

As in all of my literature workshops, the class will consist of two parts: part I: knowledge of the text, and part II: knowledge of theme, symbol, and genre.  The Bell Jar is taught alongside the New Zetlandic film Whale Rider for our introduction to feminist literature and film.  Part II will focus a lot on aspects of feminist literature.

Part I: Knowledge of the text

Activity 1: Esther Greenwood in the 2020s (20 minutes)

As a college of education, we try to also “practice what we preach,” meaning some activities may appear to infantilize the material we are handling.  Still, these activities are fun (even for students in the twenties) and they help young teachers see how they can approach literature in their own classrooms. 

For this activity, the students will be placed into pairs and they will be given 10 minutes to create a tweet (or tweets) about a part of the book.  The Bell Jar has 20 chapters, so each group should be given two chapters (10 pairs/groups in total).  

I do not normally advocate for using chapter summaries in class, but it may be helpful for students who read the book far in advanced.  A good one can be found here. 

After the students have created their tweet(s), they will share them with the larger group. 

Another way to do this activity is to have the students translate a chapter or part of the book into an emoji story.  

Activity 2: Lecture about the biological aspects of the novel (10 minutes)

The lecture (see below) is a short introduction to the novel (and its importance to the feminist and American cannon) and a link will be made between Sylvia Plath’s life and that of Esther Greenwood.  We will then discuss the biographical similarities and differences.  

This section of the workshop will depend on the following definition of autobiographical fiction: 

Autobiographical fiction (literary genre): “Autobiographical fiction is any work of fiction that is based on the real life events of the author. Autobiographical fiction is based on fact—but, importantly, not bound by fact” (Source: Sean Glatch). 

Activity 3: Class Discussion (20 minutes)

The next 20 minutes will be reserved for class discussion about the book.  The following questions will be used:

1. What similarities and differences are there between Sylvia Plath and Esther Greenwood? How biographical is this work? 
2. The title of the book is The Bell Jar, what does the bell jar symbolize (or mean) to the book’s main character? 
3. What are Esther’s feelings for Buddy? Why does she feel conflicted by him?
4. Two of Esther’s friends in the novel are Dorine and Joan. What are Esther’s feelings towards these characters? 
5. One of the most important symbols in the book is the fig tree (chapter 7).  Esther says “I saw myself sitting at the crotch of this tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground” (Plath ch. 7). The symbol means women are often only given one choice.  Is this still the case for women today? What has changed? 
6. In the end, Esther seems to get better, why do you think she recovered: the treatment, or her own will? What does this say about Plath’s view on psychiatric medicine? 

Part II: Knowledge of theme, style, and genre

Activity 4: Feminist Literature (30 minutes)

For this activity students must have a general understanding of what feminist literary criticism is.  

Step 1: Explanation (5 minutes)

I will start by explaining feminist literary criticism to the student.  They will be introduced to the topic below: 

Feminist Literary Criticism: Feminist criticism is concerned with “the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women” (Tyson 83). This school of theory looks at how aspects of our culture are inherently patriarchal (male dominated) and aims to expose misogyny in writing about women, which can take explicit and implicit forms. This misogyny, Tyson reminds us, can extend into diverse areas of our culture: “Perhaps the most chilling example…is found in the world of modern medicine, where drugs prescribed for both sexes often have been tested on male subjects only” (85).

Step 2: Group discussion (10 minutes)

The students will be split up into three (or six) groups.  Each group will receive three questions that they will have to answer in 10 minutes to answer.  They must then prepare a 2 to 3-minute explanation of their questions – these will be shared with the group. 

For this activity we will rely heavily on the list of typical questions that Purdue University’s online writing lab has formulated.  We will use the questions in bold.  

Typical questions:How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?What are the power relationships between men and women (or characters assuming male/female roles)?How are male and female roles defined?What constitutes masculinity and femininity?How do characters embody these traits?Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How does this change others’ reactions to them?What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy?What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of resisting patriarchy?What does the work say about women’s creativity?What does the history of the work’s reception by the public and by the critics tell us about the operation of patriarchy?What role does the work play in terms of women’s literary history and literary tradition? (Tyson)

Questions group 1

• How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?
• What are the power relationships between men and women (or characters assuming male/female roles)?
• How are male and female roles defined?

Questions group 2

• What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
• How do characters embody these traits?
• Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How does this change others’ reactions to them?

Questions group 3

• While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture determines our gender (scales of masculine and feminine). How is this the case in the novel?
• Feminism is also intersectional.  What role do people of color play in the novel? What does this say about the feminism in the book? 

Step 3: Group discussion (15 minutes)

Each of the student groups will not discuss their questions and the discussion will be opened up to the entire group.  Because of the nature of the discussion, it is easier for the teacher to ask their students to give their opinion.  The last question of group three (re: white feminism)  is a segue for the next activity.  

Reference: Lois Tyson – Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, 2nd ed., 2006.

Activity 5: A critique of white feminism (20 minutes) 

For this activity, the students will read a poignant rebuke of the novel written by Crystal Contreras of the Willamette Weekly.  Contreras believes that “[The Bell Jar is] just another embodiment of white feminism, which is label for a certain type of feminism that focuses on the safety and comfort of white, middle and upper middle class [sic] women at the expense of women of color and other marginalized people.” She argues that it’s maybe “time to rethink The Bell Jar’s feminist credentials, or at the very least reclassify it as a problematic favorite, especially since stereotypes are rooted in racial bias and don’t exist outside of a historical context.” 

For this activity, the students will be broken into groups and given five minutes to read Contreras’s article.  Afterwards they will discuss whether or not they agree with her, and whether or not they believe the book is worth reading?  Can a book be a product of white feminism and still worthwhile? They will have 10 minutes for their group discussions (so 15 minutes in total).  Then, they will share their groups findings with the larger group. 

Yesterday, during a flight between Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi, I found myself laugh-crying while reading the final chapters of Tony Tulathimute’s Rejection: Fiction.

Whenever I read a novel, the literature teacher in me always emerges unexpectedly. I think about the didactics of the text and, most importantly, how I could incorporate it into one of my courses. This book would be perfect— but I would never be able to use it.

The text itself is remarkable. The stories are relevant, and the characters are individuals we all suspect exist, akin to cancerous cells on the periphery of society. There’s a white cis-male feminist who eventually becomes an incel because women supposedly can’t overlook his lithe frame and narrow shoulders. There’s a young woman in her twenties who spends years longing for a male friend who had sex with her and subsequently rejected her—leading to digital stalking and encounters with another narrow-shouldered man. By far, the best short story features a Thai-American woman who single-handedly creates a bot farm to pour vitriol into the Twitterverse and even pays actors to lend authenticity to a scandal. The best quote from the book is from this chapter, where Bee states:

“I no longer wanted even me to represent me. To say anything at all from a single monophonic viewpoint, even anonymously, started to feel cringe. So I laid a clutch of alts, mostly on Twitter, some elsewhere. The most successful were the gimmick accounts. My first one was @HoleFoods, where I went to restaurants and, instead of reviewing the service or the ambiance or meal, I posted photos of the next day’s dump, with an account of duration, noise, smell, assfeel, Bristol stool scale rating, etc.”

At this point, Tulathimutte breaks the fourth wall and incorporates himself as a character in the text. While it isn’t quite the same as The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the text could be studied anthropologically in relation to today’s rejects.

Yet, I could never teach this text. In the past, I’ve attempted to use edgy social texts to foster inclusion and offer new perspectives. In 2018, I added Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home to the first-year bachelor curriculum. I believed a story about a half-Egyptian, half-Palestinian female protagonist who moved around the world would resonate with my students. The majority are children of immigrants with dual identities who constantly feel misunderstood in the West. However, the book includes a passage about female masturbation, rendering it both taboo and passé.

This presents a similar problem with Tulathimutte’s novel. Its acuity is striking, revealing the real grime that exists in online cultures. In “Ahegao, or, The Ballad of Sexual Repression,” the main character has resigned his sex life to a world where he can only pay for specific private sex videos. The young gay Thai-American man Kant’s detailed sexual requests for specialized pornography are so elaborate that they go beyond mere vulgarity— they’re pathological and extremely entertaining to read.

While the format is ideal for my students (short stories in a collection are often easier to handle), and the content would spark debates about sexual and societal norms, it would certainly draw complaints (I’ve been told that my choices of Giovanni’s Room and A Picture of Dorian Gray stem from my own sexuality).

Nevertheless, there’s still a part of me that wants to include this novel. Next year’s students can choose their own literature modules. However, this means I’ll have to do something I despise: provide a trigger warning that reads: “This novel is shocking and includes sexual violence, physical violence, pornography, and more than one reference to feces, and it’s the best book I’ve read this year.”

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) is one of the most well-read Victorian novels today. Like many novels of the time, it was a serial publication for Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine.  The novella was published in sections in the magazine.  It wasn’t until a year later that was published in book form.

Ethics and the Dandy

The Picture of Dorian Gray was scandalous from its very beginning.  The magazine that published it had issues with many of the topics and themes of the novel.  There was open insinuation of homosexuality, and other amoral acts.  Characters’ lives were fictitiously ruined, many committed suicide, and one of the main characters – Basil Hallward (the painter) – was even murdered.  Morality in the Victorian era was something that Wilde almost appears to mock – he comes revisits topics of morality and beauty throughout the novel.  

Beauty is viewed as the highest ideal in the novel.  It is more important than being a good person, being virtuous, or even being moral.  Youth is directly linked to this view on beauty.  Dorian stays forever young and beautiful, but he becomes morally corrupt.  We can see that Wilde’s work is a commentary on this worshipping of beauty and youth – both aspects of the dandy culture (or dandyism), where certain men of the time would spend hours on their looks and appearance in order to show refinement.  

Problematic then, problematic now.

When the novel was published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, the editor, J.M. Stoddart, removed many scandalous passages from the work.  Many of these passages were re-added in 1891, when the work was published in novel form.  Most of these edits dealt with sex and homosexuality.  One famous example was the removal of Basil’s near “coming out” when he says to Dorian:

“It is quite true that I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man usually gives to a friend. Somehow, I had never loved a woman. I suppose I never had time. Perhaps, as Harry says, a really grande passion is the privilege of those who have nothing to do, and that is the use of the idle classes in a country.”

Nearly all of the edits dealt with Basil, who Wilde originally described as “Rugged and straightforward as he was, there was something in his nature that was purely feminine in its tenderness.”  While the sexuality of all of the characters remains ambiguous, Basil seems to be completely obsessed with Dorian, who he views as his muse.  

Most of the “moral issues” with the novel come from complex Victorian ideals about morality.  British morality had changed significantly in the Victorian era.  Victoria herself was seen as a moral example that the rest of the nation should follow.  Victoria’s family was seen as the idealized version of what all British people should strive for.  Victorian morality was a strict set of code (mainly for the emerging middle class) that praised personal restraint, hard work, and religion. So, when Wilde’s novel eluded to homosexuality, ruined women, suicide, murder, etc., many were shocked.   The novel glorified the exact morals and ideals that Victorians found repugnant and unacceptable.  Still, the novel is Victorian in that there is some poetic justice at the end: Dorian commits suicide for his crimes and the portrait returns to its original state. 

Five years after it was published, Wilde would become notorious in the United Kingdom when he was charged and imprisoned for a homosexual relationship.  He would later flee the UK and move to France, which did not criminalize homosexuality.  

Aspects of the novel that shocked Victorian readers (like homosexuality) are no longer shocking to most readers.  But The Picture of Dorian Gray is problematic for different reasons.  First and foremost, the novel is quite misogynistic.  Women are treated as unimportant, silly, and often incapable of original thought.  The female characters in the novel are almost entirely underdeveloped and flat.  The male characters are misogynists that say horrible things to and also about the female characters in the book.  While there is a form of reckoning for the characters who partake in immoral acts (most of them commit suicide), there is no reckoning for the misogyny.  

Workshopping the novel

Part 1: Knowledge of the work

Part 1 of the workshop should always be about the facts about the text.  It is important for a few reasons.  First, the goal is to ensure that the students actually read and understand the text.  In my class, students who do not read are asked to leave.  Secondly, this portion ensures that the students know which parts of the text are important for possible essays.  We focus on the text, structure, aesthetic, and the events of the text.  We begin by focusing on the basics of the text in the warming up and we move towards context.  Another way of putting it is: we move from what happened? towards why did it happen? and why is it important?

Activity 1: Warming up (15-20 minutes) – finding the right actor.

For this portion of the class, the students will focus on their knowledge of the text.  This is a quick warming up activity.  The students will be placed into groups of three students.  They will each get a character and a task.  They will have to answer the following statements: 

-What should the actor look like?

-How should the actor behave when in character?

-Which characteristics are most important for this actor?

The characters they will analyze are: 

1. Dorian Gray
2. Lord Henry Wotton
3. Basil Hallword
4. Sybil Vane
5. James Vane
6. Allan Campbell

Steps: 1) Give students the instructions: Your group will get a character and you must decide on the characteristics of the actor.  You will have 5 minutes to prepare a 1-minute elevator pitch where you will propose an actor.  You must discuss -What should the actor look like?

-How should the actor behave when in character? -Which characteristics are most important for this actor?  

2) Break them up into groups and allow them 5 minutes to discuss and prepare.  One student must keep time and is in charge; one will take notes; one will present later to the group. 

3) After 5 minutes the students will give a short 1-2-minute presentation to the entire group.

Activity 2: Group Discussion on the text (15 minutes)

1. The novel is based around three male characters: Dorian Gray, Lord Henry Wotton, and Basil Haliward.  How are these characters similar and different from one another?
2. What kind of love does Lord Henry have for Dorian… does Dorian have for Sybil Vane… does Basil have for Dorian? What does this say about each character?
3. Lord Henry gives Dorian a book after Sybil’s death titled Le Secret de Raoul (a.k.a. “the yellow book”), what is in the book? Why is this book significant?
4. Why does Dorian kill Basil Haliward? 

Part 2: Knowledge of genre, theme, and symbols

Part two of the lecture will focus on genre, theme, and the symbols of the novel.  In activity three the teacher will discuss various themes and symbols in the text and will link these to both the text and Oscar Wilde’s life.  A large part of the lecture will be done in group work, where the students will hold a mini-presentation about one of the major topics in the novel.  

Activity 3: Lecture: Oscar Wilde’s tumultuous life and The Picture of Dorian Gray (15 minutes)

This part of the workshop will consist of making connections between Oscar Wilde, the movements he belonged to, and the text.  

Activity 4: Micro-presentations on theme, symbol, and genre (45 minutes)

For this activity, the students will be broken up into groups.  They will be given 20 minutes to create a short 4 to 5-minute presentation on one of the terms below.  It is important that they use specific examples from the text and answer the question as best as they can. 

Group 1: Dandyism

The title of your mini-presentation: Dandyism in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Look at the term Dandyism below.  What role does Dandyism place in the novel?  Which characters are Dandies?  

Group 2: The Aesthetic or Decadent Movement

The title of your mini-presentation: The Picture of Dorian Gray as part of the Aesthetic or Decadent Movement

Many academics have called The Picture of Dorian Gray a quintessential text from the Decadent or Aesthetic movement.  Read the term below and present specific examples from the text that prove that this novel is an important part of the Aesthetic movement.

Group 3: Libertines and Sadists

The title of your mini-presentation: Libertines and Sadistic characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Many of the characters in the novel can be described as libertines or even sadists.  Describe what those terms mean and present which characters are libertines or sadists using specific examples from the book.  

Group 4: The Gothic genre

The title of your mini-presentation: The Picture of Dorian Gray as a Gothic novel

The Picture of Dorian Gray is often seen as part of the gothic genre.  Read the term below and prepare a mini-presentation where you explain how this book is part of the Gothic genre.  Use as many specific examples from the book. 

Group 5: Bourgeois Morality

The title of your mini-presentation: The roll of bourgeois morality in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Many academics argue that The Picture of Dorian Gray is a rebuke of bourgeois morality.  Read the term below and create a mini-presentation where you explain the role of bourgeois morality in the novel.  Use as many specific examples from the text as possible.    

Important terminology for the workshop 

Dandyism: “The term “dandyism” refers to a British cultural movement of the late nineteenth century, within the Victorian era. It was a doctrine of elegance, finesse, and originality which was primarily concerned with language, sophisticated manners, and dress. An aphorism coined by the writer Gabriele D’Annunzio, one of the leading representatives of the Italian movement, perfectly sums up its essence: “living life as a work of art.” For that reason, “being dandy” became an expression not only of sophisticated dress, but of a proper lifestyle that expressed itself in every aspect of existence, such as attitude and personal tastes, and was superior from the point of view of social and cultural capital. This way of life was driven by a determination to stand out from the stereotype of the ordinary bourgeois man, and its aim was to rise above social conventions and the common way of thinking. In this sense, the dandy played a leading role in the society of its time, as an actor on a theater stage, shocking the audience with his eccentric and provocative style.” (source: Michele Bonazzi)

The Aesthetic or Decadent Movement: “Aestheticism and decadence shocked the Victorian establishment by challenging traditional values, foregrounding sensuality and promoting artistic, sexual and political experimentation.”… “Many Victorians passionately believed that literature and art fulfilled important ethical roles. Literature provided models of correct behavior: it allowed people to identify with situations in which good actions were rewarded, or it provoked tender emotions. At best, the sympathies stirred by art and literature would spur people to action in the real world. The supporters of aestheticism, however, disagreed, arguing that art had nothing to do with morality. Instead, art was primarily about the elevation of taste and the pure pursuit of beauty. More controversially, the aesthetes also saw these qualities as guiding principles for life. They argued that the arts should be judged on the basis of form rather than morality.” (source: Carolyn Burdett)

Libertines and sadists: A libertine is “a person, usually a man, who lives in a way that is not moral, having sexual relationships with many people.” (source: Cambridge Dictionary) and a sadist is “a person who gets pleasure, sometimes sexual, by being cruel to or hurting another person.” (source: Cambridge Dictionary)

Gothic novel: “The gothic novel is one of the oldest and most studied forms of ‘genre’ or ‘formula fiction’. It got its start around the middle of the 18th century in Great-Britain and encompasses novels and stories that could be described as a mix of horror, mystery, adventure, psychological thriller and historical fiction.” (source: Douglas Redant)

Bourgeois morality: The Bourgeoisie is a term often used to refer to the Middle Class.  Bourgeois morality is “marked by a concern for material interests and respectability and a tendency toward mediocrity” (source: Merriam Webster Dictionary).  According to Jerrold Seigel, “Few features of classic bourgeois life have been more remarked on and bewailed than its morality, often derided as rigid, puritanical, and hypocritical, especially in regard to sex.” (source: Jerrold Seigel)