How Dr Nolan Helps Esther

In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, the main character of Esther goes through several experiences that leave her feeling unfulfilled and apathetic to the world around her in relation to the expectations placed upon her by society. Esther realizes pretty quickly that she does not want to be a suburban housewife like Dodo Conway. Nor does she want to continue a life in New York as an intern to a magazine company like Doreen. Returning to Massachusetts, her attempts to write her own works fail, as Esther's lack of life experience causes a mental block for her. Her former identity as a student looking for more and more opportunities has been shattered, leading to her mental state worsening. Even a visit to the Psychiatrist Dr. Gordon proves unhelpful, as Esther quickly dismisses his ability to understand her due to his perceived flaunting of his happy family. After an uncomfortable experience with electroshock therapy, Esther attempts suicide, and afterwards she is taken to a private hospital under the care of Dr. Nolan.

Entering this new hospital, Ester's condition has deteriorated to the point of warping reality. Esther is fully under the bell jar, and is imagining people turning into monsters. Furthermore, other people are viewing her as less and less of a human. Her family and the doctors caring for her view her as some sort of an anomaly, constantly annoying Esther by their examinations and diagnoses of her. Her mother wants her to return to her old self, something that Esther vehemently refuses. This is where Dr. Nolan comes in. Dr. Nolan treats Esther with the basic level of respect she wants. She promises to warn Esther ahead of time when she administers electroshock therapy and truly understands Esther's struggles with societies expectations for her. Her personal sensitivity and empathy allow Esther to be comfortable sharing her feelings and experiences more. Dr. Nolan is able to understand Esther's worries about society forcing her to be subservient to a man, something Esther could tell neither Dr. Gordon nor her mother as they wouldn't understand.

The next way in which Dr. Nolan helps Esther is by listening to her concerns and administering the right kind of electroshock therapy. Esther grows fed up with the influx of visitors she gets like her family and Buddy, and how they don't view her as a human being. Esther opens up to Dr. Nola about her anger towards her mother. ″‘I hate her,’ I said, and waited for the blow to fall." But Dr. Nolan doesn't react in the way, catching Esther off guard. "But Doctor Nolan only smiled at me as if something had pleased her very, very much and said, ‘I suppose you do.‘" Dr. Nolan's willingness to hear out Esther's concerns and aid her with them comes as a shock to Esther. Despite her mother appearing to do nice things for her like bring her flowers, because Esther doesn't like these gestures, Dr. Nolan helps Esther by making sure she doesn't have any more visitors. Dr. Nolan allows and even aids Esther to have a small bit of agency, helping her lift the Bell Jar just a little bit.

The final way in which Dr. Nolan helps Esther is by helping her get birth control. Esther opens up about her worries of getting pregnant from sex. Specifically about how she as a woman must bear the consequences of sex while her male partners were not. Dr. Nolan then prescribes her birth control so that she wouldn't have to live with this burden. Birth control for women was a very taboo subject and Dr. Nolan could have easily denied her as Esther doesn't have much agency at this moment. But she decided to listen to what troubled Esther and actually help her. Esther's mental health improves drastically from this point, as she is finally able to have safe sex without worry of pregnancy. Dr. Nolan is able to empathize with Esther as a woman, actually listen to her concerns, and give her the agency she needs to help herself.