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.