The Dark Symbolism of Color in Chapter 9 of The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath – Mademoiselle Magazine 1953

Chapter 9 of the Bell Jar finds the protagonist, yet again hyper-focusing on a color. This time, it’s bile green. There’s no attractive way to spin the color bile. The word “bile” evokes the thought of gagging and vomit. It serves as a look back to the ptomaine poisoning incident, but also blankets the reader with a continuing unpleasantness.

Chapter 9 is a difficult chapter to read. From the beginning, we see Esther’s anxiety about the impending Rosenberg execution juxtaposed against Hilda’s enthusiastic attitude for it. Esther recognizes the act of being electrocuted as one of the most inhuman ways to be killed. While Hilda believes it can’t happen fast enough. Once again, the Rosenbergs and their manner of being put to death serves as foreshadowing.

Esther’s inability to do anything plagues her, as illustrated by her catatonic state when presented with packing as well as the mini-breakdown she has during the photo shoot. She can’t decide how to pack her clothes. She can’t decide what prop to use to represent her dream to be a poet. They finally settle on a paper rose from Jay Cee’s hat.

Doreen tries to get Esther to go to a country club dance with her. Esther has her reservations. Not just because she questions the appearance of Peruvian men, but also because of her persistent lethargy. She tells the reader, “It was becoming more and more difficult for me to decide to do anything those last days.” She explains that when she did decide to do something, she would start but then become “utterly perplexed” at how she got there. She only ends up attending the dance, because she can’t deal with the task of packing for home. It is as if Esther is stuck in thick mud. Mud that is turning slowly into quicksand that is bringing her downward, slowly, ever so slowly.

I have to be honest. The scene with Marco has always disturbed and confused me. On the one hand, Esther is blasé about life. She is so blasé, it’s to the point she doesn’t care if Doreen drags her along on another horrible double date. Esther has shown nothing but inactivity in the last few chapters. She acts petrified. She doesn’t know how to move forward. But, with Marco, she behaves contrarily. She nearly accepts his assault. At first we think she is so depressed she is going to allow him to sexually attack her. He calls her a “slut” and tears at her clothes. She thinks, this is it, she is finally going to be raped. But, then something awakens in her. Maybe it is born from a fight or flight reaction. I guess we will never know. Esther fights back. She makes him bleed and hurts him badly enough that he gets off her so she can leave. She even considers retribution by keeping diamond stick pin. She changes her mind at the last minute when her need to get away from Marco overcomes her.

Once again, we see that Esther is drawn to dangerous, selfish, narcissistic people. Marco is a sexual predator, and, Doreen is a loser of a friend, who brings Esther into the situation. Doreen, not only drags her to the gathering, but true to her fashion, abandons her once they get there. Esther must be approaching a new low, or she wouldn’t have still felt the need to find Doreen after all that. As if Doreen would have remedied the situation. Doreen got her into it in the first place.

At the end of the day, it seems Esther is hellbent on suffering. She holds unhealthy relationships. Some people are drawn to the dangerous, the vile or the abusive. Esther must be one of those people.

The chapter ends by Esther returning battered, bruised, and beaten to her last night at the Amazon. She says goodbye to New York by going up to the parapet and dropping her clothing off the edge, one by one, and watches each item as it sails into the inky sky. Each article falls downward, away from her. The clothing representing her experiences in New York. Leading her one more step away from New York and the horrible season she had there. All this is done while wearing only her bathrobe, leaving the reader to wonder just how far she has sunk into depression.

The Barbizon (Inspiration for the Amazon Hotel in The Bell Jar), 140 East 63rd Street, Manhattan, New York – Photo taken on 10/16/2024 by me.