Essay: Contrasting Visions of Society in Plath's & Forster's Works

This essay provides a comparative analysis of Sylvia Plath's 'The Bell Jar' and E.M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops,' focusing on their portrayals of societal norms and future visions. 'The Bell Jar' explores the stifling social expectations placed on women in 1950s Manhattan, contrasting characters like the rebellious Doreen and the conventional Betsy to highlight the limited roles available to women. Similarly, 'The Machine Stops' depicts a future where humanity is confined underground, dependent on a machine that, like societal norms, becomes a limiting and destructive force. The essay draws parallels between Esther's struggle against societal constraints and Kuno's rebellion against the machine, emphasizing the psychological impact of restrictive systems and the yearning for freedom and a more natural existence. The essay concludes by highlighting the shared theme of humanity's potential self-destruction through blind adherence to limiting beliefs and systems.

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Name of the Student
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Author Note

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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, addresses a young woman’s struggles in Manhattan,
based on the society in the 1950’s. It is lightly autobiographical, as it focuses on the
protagonist’s mental breakdown and recovery and hugely read owing to the fact that Plath
committed suicide a month post the publication of this classic. In this essay, ‘The Bell Jar’
will be compared and contrasted with ‘The Machine Stops’ written by R. M. Forster, to bring
out the ‘present’ in both the stories, and reflect on the ‘futures’ they both talk of.
The Bell Jar sheds light on the societal norms which were both stifling and difficult
by placing two absolutely contrasting characters, personifying the two extremes of
femininity. Doreen was a rebel with countless sexual exploits and Betsy, who was kind and
virginal. However, the present in ‘The Machine Stops’ by E. M. Forster is based on a world,
where humanity has a home underground and relies heavily on an enormous machine that
provides their basic needs. Similar to the Bell Jar in the placement of characters, as Vashti
and her own son Kuno in the book are poles apart. The mother reeks of contentment and
discusses new ideas while Kuno, on the other hand, is a sensualist with a tendency to rebel,
his displeasure in the utilitarian, sanitary world is apparent and he yearns to break free.
‘The Bell Jar’ is a highly psychological novel, focused on the New York state of mind
of the protagonist who stumbles and falls when she fails at clinging on to restrictions. The
social politics of the time is held up by Plath’s ruthless honesty. Esther seems bludgeoned to
near death by the limited scope of the female roles the society had to offer and slips into
depression and paranoia. Her suicidal thoughts overtake her till she is witness to one that
quells it. She seeks a version of a future, which comes with a promise of societal freedom that
limit her.
Similarly, Kuno is pressed down by a machine that is held up to the level of God, with
a religion called ‘Technopoly’. Post his illegal visit to the surface where people exist, he

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realizes that the machine, builds a cage around him. It is a limiting factor, which has
brainwashed the people into ignoring the eventual ruin of the machine, simply because of the
assumed omnipotence. It is a metaphor, of people unknowingly clinging on to belief systems
that will inevitably bring destruction, like the end of the novel in which the machine dies and
the people underground is obliterated. The psychology of the machine as a limiting factor
reminds us of the societal norms in Manhattan, in Plath’s ‘The Bell Jar’. The future Kuno
dreams of, is that of humanity in the lap of nature, redeeming the race, without the mistake of
the limited Machine.