Love, Sex and the Body in The Bell Jar and My Story:

This paper seeks to explore the themes of love, sex, and the body in The Bell Jar and My Story, two much-read autobiographical texts by Sylvia Plath and Kamala Das respectively, which reveal the writers’ feminist “self.” These books were published in the mid-twentieth century when women started fig...

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Main Author: Subrata Chandra Mozumder
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: ULAB Press 2017-08-01
Series:Crossings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.ulab.edu.bd/index.php/crossings/article/view/137
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author Subrata Chandra Mozumder
author_facet Subrata Chandra Mozumder
author_sort Subrata Chandra Mozumder
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description This paper seeks to explore the themes of love, sex, and the body in The Bell Jar and My Story, two much-read autobiographical texts by Sylvia Plath and Kamala Das respectively, which reveal the writers’ feminist “self.” These books were published in the mid-twentieth century when women started fighting for their individual freedom by interrogating patriarchal hegemony responsible for delimiting women’s familial, social, economic, educational, industrial, and political rights. Both Plath and Das possess unconventional approaches towards love, sex, and the body. Their texts come out as threats to the patriarchal practice which pushes women to “stay at home, cook meals, clean house and bear children” (Lamb 1). For these poets, the woman’s body, which patriarchy mostly considers an object of sexual pleasure, is a significant tool for transgressing the dictums of patriarchy. The present study, therefore, aims at showing the themes of love, sex, and the body in the above mentioned texts as a means for the poets to interrogate patriarchal restraints and to create a new identity with self-esteem and self-worth. In this way, they refuse to accept the hegemonic role of oppression and assert their gender identity.
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spelling doaj.art-a393143f7c9e43aca89e9e9661fc80752023-10-16T04:21:49ZengULAB PressCrossings2071-11072958-31792017-08-01810.59817/cjes.v8i.137Love, Sex and the Body in The Bell Jar and My Story:Subrata Chandra Mozumder0Assistant Professor of English, Daffodil International University, Dhaka This paper seeks to explore the themes of love, sex, and the body in The Bell Jar and My Story, two much-read autobiographical texts by Sylvia Plath and Kamala Das respectively, which reveal the writers’ feminist “self.” These books were published in the mid-twentieth century when women started fighting for their individual freedom by interrogating patriarchal hegemony responsible for delimiting women’s familial, social, economic, educational, industrial, and political rights. Both Plath and Das possess unconventional approaches towards love, sex, and the body. Their texts come out as threats to the patriarchal practice which pushes women to “stay at home, cook meals, clean house and bear children” (Lamb 1). For these poets, the woman’s body, which patriarchy mostly considers an object of sexual pleasure, is a significant tool for transgressing the dictums of patriarchy. The present study, therefore, aims at showing the themes of love, sex, and the body in the above mentioned texts as a means for the poets to interrogate patriarchal restraints and to create a new identity with self-esteem and self-worth. In this way, they refuse to accept the hegemonic role of oppression and assert their gender identity. https://journals.ulab.edu.bd/index.php/crossings/article/view/137lovesexbodyThe Bell JarMy Storyfeminist reading
spellingShingle Subrata Chandra Mozumder
Love, Sex and the Body in The Bell Jar and My Story:
Crossings
love
sex
body
The Bell Jar
My Story
feminist reading
title Love, Sex and the Body in The Bell Jar and My Story:
title_full Love, Sex and the Body in The Bell Jar and My Story:
title_fullStr Love, Sex and the Body in The Bell Jar and My Story:
title_full_unstemmed Love, Sex and the Body in The Bell Jar and My Story:
title_short Love, Sex and the Body in The Bell Jar and My Story:
title_sort love sex and the body in the bell jar and my story
topic love
sex
body
The Bell Jar
My Story
feminist reading
url https://journals.ulab.edu.bd/index.php/crossings/article/view/137
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