Dr. Nolan

By the end of The Bell Jar clearly we've seen some pretty major changes take place in Esther's state of mental well-being. By the time that she's released from the asylum it seems as though in some major ways Esther has taken back at least some of her life. Her healing process was not at all achieved solely by Esther--she had a lot of help from a woman who plays a big role in Esther's life from the point at which they are first introduced to the point at which Esther is trying to reenter the regular world.

 Dr. Nolan is first introduced to Esther when she's brought to her first asylum by Philomena Guinea. Esther immediately indicates that she's surprised that she would get a female psychiatrist and that she didn't know that they even existed, and then goes on to describe her as a "cross between Myrma Loy and my mother. She wore a white blouse and a full skirt gathered at the waist by a wide leather belt, and stylish, crescent-shaped spectacles" (186). Clearly there are some different feelings about Dr. Nolan than there were about her old doctor, Dr. Gordon. Her first impression of Dr. Gordon are "But Doctor Gordon wasn't like that at all. He was young and good-looking, and  I could see right away he was conceited" (129). Obviously Esther feels that Dr. Gordon doesn't make quite as an effective doctor. 

What is it about Dr. Nolan that makes Esther trust her so much though? Well for one I'm sure the fact that Dr. Nolan is a woman in a world where men dominate immediately makes Esther want to trust her. For Esther I think Dr. Nolan plays as a good role model, much the same way that Jay Cee did. They both demonstrate to Esther that it is in fact possible for a woman to make a professional name for herself in a world that's almost completely controlled by men. I think it's more than that though--Dr. Nolan serves not just as a role model, but as a caring figure for Esther. As she puts it herself Dr. Nolan reminds Esther of her mother, a woman who cares very deeply for her. Where Dr. Gordon really just didn't seem to care very much about Esther, Dr. Nolan seems to take a genuine concern in her. When Dr. Gordon administers his electric therapy he doesn't really care that much, and ends up doing it incorrectly and putting Esther through a scarring amount of pain. Dr. Nolan on the other hand is very worried about Esther when she goes in to her electric therapy and it ends up working much better for her. Dr. Nolan really does seem to take a very mother-like interest in Esther's well being.

The most important thing that Dr. Nolan really does for Esther though is give her back a sense of control over her life--she gives Esther the ability to decide to lose her virginity to any man she wants without the threat of a baby as well as convincing her that she doesn't need to worry about the social expectations that are put on her sexual rights. When she tells Dr. Nolan of her fear of judgement over losing her virginity outside of marriage she simply laughs it off and calls it propaganda. Coming from someone that Esther respects as much Dr. Nolan it's sure to have an effect on her, and sure enough Esther's next decision is that she really does want to go out and lose her virginity to some man. The man in question, however, will not be just any man, but a man of her choosing whom she will seduce herself. By giving Esther the means to reverse the traditional gender roles concerning sex Dr. Nolan has gone a long ways to giving Esther back control of her life and sanity. 

Why can't she just get better?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having an extended conversation on The Bell Jar with none other than Jonny Yockey, while he and I went on our 45 minute long run. For those of you who aren't runners, I highly recommend going on a longer run with another intellectual--some of my most interesting and deep conversations have been had whilst running. Anyways, the question that Jonny proposed to me had to do with Esther's deep state of depression and was something along the lines of "what is it about depression that makes it so you can't simply decide to stop being depressed?" I must admit the next 44 minutes resembled less a conversation and more me going on and on rambling about my various thoughts on the matter, but it did get me thinking about what it really means for Esther Greenwood to be depressed and why it is she can't decide she's sick of it.

The first observation I thought of was that it's not the case that Esther sees what depresses her as anything that she is bringing on herself. The things that are making her depressed are things that Esther sees as being done to her and that she has no say in. The name of the book after all, The Bell Jar, is used by Esther to describe what it is that's driving her crazy. Something else totally apart from Esther is responsible for lowering the Bell Jar over her and driving her insane. When she goes to talk to Mr. Gordon and he ask her what's wrong she responds "I would find words to tell him how I was so scared, as if I were being stuffed further and further into a black, airless sack with no way out" (129). Esther doesn't describe her depression as being like she, herself, is the one pulling this sack over her head--something else is doing the pulling for her. This makes it very hard to simply tell Esther that she needs to stop moping and get on with her life. Esther doesn't see herself as having any control over that which makes her so depressed, and thus can't simply decide she'll get better now. 

I believe that the things that make Esther depressed are similar--in at least one big way--to the same kinds of things that might make you or I depressed. Esther is depressed by things that she has no control over--her fate as a woman has been decided by the society around her without ever consulting her about how she feels about it.This would be characteristic of what I see causing depression in many people, including myself. The things that frustrate and depress people the very most are those things that they can't change or decide about at all, such as for instance, the loss of a loved one. It's a widely known fact that any human who experiences a permanent loss of someone they were close to will feel a a very deep sense of depression. For Esther this sense of loss isn't in a person but in the idea that she has a choice over what her future will be like. For those who would wonder what it is that stops Esther from choosing to get better I would say it has to do with the fact that the lack of control over her life and herself is in fact what's driving her insane. 

Why Mr. Antolini?

In the Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield  does always make for a person who's easy to get through to, and we see a number of people try. The earliest example of this is at the very beginning of the novel with Holden's meeting with Mr. Spencer, his current History teacher,who wishes to talk with Holden about why it is Holden can't "apply" himself in school. Now perhaps this is actually a fair question--I actually believe a lot of the stuff that Mr. Spencer asks Holden about are good questions--but Holden certainly doesn't feel like hearing all this from Mr. Spencer is actually of any importance. Essentially from the time that Holden enters Mr. Spencer's house to the time that he leaves it he's regretting his decision. Holden really doesn't want to hear anything that Mr. Spencer has to tell him and responds only with the obligatory "yes" or "of course" when prompted, but doesn't really take in anything Spencer tells him. Mr. Spencer is, however, one of only a few adults throughout the entire novel with which Holden has any kind of really interaction. Aside from the stray taxi cab driver, the only other adult figure in Holden's life who tries to hold his attention is his old English teacher Mr. Antolini, who meets with somewhat different results.

As soon as Holden starts talking about Mr. Antolini we notice a few distinct differences--primarily he isn't immediately depressed by his decision to come. When he first enters Mr. Spencer's house he says "The minute I walked in , I was sort of sorry I'd come" (6), whereas when he's first coming to Mr. Antolini's house he describes it as "very swanky" (180) and says he'd been there on few other occasions--in short we get the feeling that he's actually looking forward to meeting and talking with Mr. Antolini, something we see in short supply when he meets with Mr. Spencer. Now the question is what is about Mr. Antolini that makes Holden look forward to coming to see him? 

Well for one it's clear that Holden can relate to Mr. Antolini more easily than he can to Mr. Spencer. Mr. Antolini acts very full of life and he speaks in a very witty manner--basically the opposite of Mr. Spencer who lectures on at Holden in his wise grandpa-like state. Mr. Antolini gives off an almost cool manner when he answers the door in his bathrobe and slippers with highball in hand--a state Holden finds obviously less depressing than when he meets Mr. Spencer who is also in his bathrobe. Not only has Mr. Antolini just finished a party, but he even offers Holden a cigarette, something I doubt Mr. Spencer would have ever done. He doesn't immediately start trying to tell Holden what he should be doing--I'd even go so far as to say that he treats Holden much more as an equal then Spencer does. Mr. Antolini doesn't give off an air of being the elder person trying it impart their wisdom on a younger person. To me at least, Mr. Antolini gives off much more of a vibe of being Holden's friend. He speaks to Holden frankly, but kindly, giving him good advice, without coming off as thinking himself explicitly more experienced than Holden. I think this is really where we see J.D. Salinger giving advice to his adult audience about how to connect with teenagers--if you want to someone like Holden Caulfield to really respect you and pay attention to you, you need to give off not an air of having something they need to hear, but of being caring friend who treats him as an equal.