The Feminist Perspective in the novel 'The Bell Jar'

Abstract

The topic of my thesis is 'The Feminist Perspective in the novel The Bell Jar'.It is an autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath which was published in 1963.The purpose of this study was to find out the aspects of feminism from the novel.My research is qualitative research so it is completely based in secondary sources of data. To widen the knowledge and insights in the related area I have used many related books, articles,ELT journals, dictionaries, reference materials and theses. I read and re-read the original novel of Plath's 'The Bell Jar" and also the extract from'New Paradigm' to obtain the required objectives of the research. I adopted the qualitative research design selecting some extracts related to the female character and analyzed them.The findings of the study showed that females are dominated in male dominated society even in so called developed countries, they are dominated even by the females them selves who advices to follow the norms and values of the patriarchal society. The society and social aspects like religion, laws and other social institutions favors the males where females are taken as secondary position.This thesis consists of four chapters along with references and appendix at the end.Each chapter is divided into necessary heading, and sub-headings. Chapter one deals with general background, review of related literature, objectives and significance of the study. Chapter two includes methodology of the study, sources of data, sampling procedure, and tools for data collection, process of data collection and limitations of the study.The third chapter consists of analysis and interpretation of the collected data and the final chapter lists the major findings and recommendations,educational implications based on the analysis and interpretation of this study.