Preview

The Pressure to Be Perfect

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4337 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Pressure to Be Perfect
The Bell Jar and Black Swan: The Pressure to be Perfect

In a society where competition among others and influences from the media are becoming increasingly prevalent by the decade, it is easy for one to feel the extreme pressure to be perfect. Many individuals face the internal conflict of feeling that they are not adequate enough for various personal or societal standards, often leading to unhealthy insecurities, mental and emotional instabilities, and identity crises. Firstly, society’s reminders to individuals to reach a superficial level of perfection create unhealthy stress within oneself, leading to progressive depression. Furthermore, the even harsher mental and emotional pressures put on by one’s loved ones accumulate to cause breakdowns and self-harm, ultimately negatively affecting the relationship between the two parties as the issues worsen. Lastly, the unbelievable pressures to be perfect that is put on an individual by the individual themselves are the major force that may lead one to end their life. Plath’s The Bell Jar and Aronofsky’s Black Swan contain value as they demonstrate how the various ways in which an individual experiences the pressure to be perfect are among the most destructive forces in a person’s life.

Society’s constant reminders to individuals to reach a superficial level of perfection create unhealthy stress within oneself, leading to progressive depression. Often times, external influences such as the media to meet societal standards or reach the “status quo” can make an individual feel defeated if they cannot match up to all that society demands of them. The Bell Jar takes place in the 1960’s, where the societal standards were much more traditional and conservative than they are today. The young protagonist in this novel, Esther Greenwood, finds herself trying to achieve a successful life as a student in New York while battling the extreme pressures from her surroundings – kick-starting her struggles with internal



Cited: Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Print. Black Swan. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Pheonix Pictures, 2010. DVD.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    EMA 23 5 14

    • 1317 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The aim of this essay is to explore how society shapes people’s lives. The meaning of the word “shaping” in this context means to “influence or affect” (The Open University, 2013, YO32 p 29). This essay will focus on Childhood: Body image and stress related eating disorders, from Block 4, Unit 3 and Psychology: Social influence, happiness and natural and synthetic happiness from Unit 5.…

    • 1317 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sharon Begley in “Happiness: Enough Already” argues that being extremely happy may be a goal of anybody but it also can be “the end of the drive for ever-greater heights of happiness” (455). Begley claims that “being happier is not always better” (455) and an excessive happiness may affect badly to people’s life. She points out that people who reach the highest level of happiness don’t feel motivated to move forward since they are already satisfied. The author goes on insists that happiness does not last long because “negative emotion evolved for a reason” (456). She presents many cases of famous people who experienced negative emotions to create their well-known works showing the need of sadness in every lifetime. Furthermore, people desire to gain more and more happiness causing them the fear to experience sadness. Therefore, what they once considered normal sadness is regarded as a psychiatric illness now. The author then concludes that everything would be much better if “the single-minded pursuit of happiness as an end in itself” (458).…

    • 741 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Depression and Mormon Women

    • 2704 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Egan, Dan. "The Painful Side of Perfection." Salt Lake City Tribune 22 Feb. 2000: D1.…

    • 2704 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Psychologists have examined various theories as to why humans sometimes behave in a self-destructive ways. One proposed theory that answers this question is the Freudian argument, which states “people have an innate death drive that impels them to pursue their own downfall and death”2. This argument also concludes that people do harm themselves deliberately, even though they sometimes are not conscious of this. “Self-defeating behaviours are especially common when people feel that others view them less favourably than the people desire”1…

    • 2831 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    One of the most patent presentations of minds under stress is reflected in the way that Plath and Kesey portray a gender dominated society. Both novels display a governing gender that suppresses the other, labelling them ‘mad’ in a society that they rule. In ‘One Flew Over…’ most of the patient’s lives have been heavily affected and destroyed by women. Nurse Ratched is the most obvious example of this, and rules the ward with “an iron fist”. She represents the emasculation and dehumanisation of society. Her oppressive and matriarchal nature is reinforced by her nickname, ‘Big Nurse’, a possible reference to the Orwellian character ‘Big Brother’, with whom she shares many traits. ‘The Bell Jar’ shares this theme, although it is a patriarchal rather than matriarchal society that Esther inhabits. However, unlike ‘One Flew Over…’ Plath’s novel does not contain a main antagonist such as Ratched, and it is a combination of characters that inflict a domineering environment upon Esther. One such character is Buddy Willard. Like Ratched, he represents on the surface a near perfect stereotype; the ideal 1950s American male. Esther even remarks that he was the “most wonderful boy I’d ever seen” However, once Esther delves deeper into his persona she discovers that, akin to Ratched, he has fundamental flaws that taint his wholesome image. His constant need for order and plan bores Esther, much like Ratched frustrates the patients in ‘One Flew Over…’…

    • 3272 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The people who inhabit a community and their interactions with one another comprise a society. These repeated interactions allow people to internalize or, hold true, what society portrays as everyday norms and values. These norms and values are instilled during childhood through the time he or she becomes an adult. Amiri Baraka’s autobiography “School” and Lisa Keiski’s essay “Suicide’s Forgotten Victims,” makes this evident. In both “School” and “Suicide’s Forgotten Victims,” Baraka’s and Keiski’s daily interactions with their peers, authority figures, and society contribute to the formulation of important life…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today's society it seems that everywhere you look, you are pressured into thinking of yourself as inferior. There are signs every where you look telling you that you are not pretty enough, smart enough, thin enough, or that anything you have is not good enough. This ever-present pressure that the media puts on people causes low self-esteem (Tuberose, par 6). When people are stressed out or have low…

    • 1724 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Everyone has heard the story of depression before. Many people in today’s society glorify or say it's a form of attention. Over 10% of Americans suffer from depression and 1% are between ages 10-18. It’s common to see this in lives of teenagers, it’s common to hear their suicide story, but not as common to understand why. But what’s hardest to understand about suicides, are why the happiest people are the ones who commit suicide. Through the story that theme is explained vividly, even the happiest of people are struggling to conquer demons within.…

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Often when the body becomes incapacitated, the mind opens its eyes. As stated by Theodore Roethke, “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.” This quote is saying that in troubled times; one can find a way to see through the gloom. Therefore, darkness will lead to enlightenment. Both the memoire Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and the novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath illustrate the mind’s ability to shine light through the darkest of times. Man’s Search for Meaning shares an experience through a concentration camp from Frankl’s own eyes. In his account of the camps, Frankl describes the nature of man when subjected to immense suffering. The Bell Jar follows the plight of a young woman, Esther Greenwood, as she begins a downward spiral in her mental health, slipping farther and farther away from reality. She delves deep into a depression, suffocated by her disease like a bell jar traps its contents. In both stories, the individuals rise and fall in the sways of time and its complexities. They attest that the mind can shine through the shadows no matter what the predicament.…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Julie Scelfo Suicide

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Each year, thousands of lives are lost to the most preventable cause of death: suicide. The alarming rise in rates of suicide in young adults prompts an investigation into the root of the problem. Society’s reluctance to discuss suicide and mental illness plays a large role in the public being notoriously unaware of the pervasiveness of suicide in young people. In her essay, “Suicide on Campus and the Pressure of Perfection,” Julie Scelfo, a frequent contributor to The New York Times, analyzes the demanding lifestyles of college students and the stress factors on their lives. Scelfo strives to educate parents and students on the influences of parental control and the importance of mental health in young adults. She asserts this claim by implementing…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Comparison is the thief of joy,” said Theodore Roosevelt. His truth rings out today as multitudes of teenagers and young adults battle epidemics of depression: eating disorders: anxiety disorders: and other mental illnesses. Though chemical imbalances and traumatic events can trigger these plagues of the mind, another media scapegoat exists: insecurity. Insecurity seems like a likely reason for mental illnesses like anxiety and anorexia but behind those surface dwelling insecurities lies another predator lurking in the deep; comparison. Without comparison, insecurity would not exist because no one would have a reason to feel insecure. No ideal portrayal of beauty or the perfect student would trouble young adults since they would not compare themselves to those stereotypes or to others around them. Sinful and…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ana Carolina Reston Essay

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Over time, it is devastating to witness so many unhappy people around the world who have given up their hobbies and interests all for the empty givings of material wealth and materialism- only to find out it has made them miserable instead. Moreover, the desire to achieve perfection can be fatal and life threatening, with this in mind is the tragic death of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, in which her years of being called “fat” and “overweight” led to her dying from complications of anorexia and her dreams of appearing on every fashion magazine cover, coming true for the wrong reasons- her death on the runway (Phillips). Even early in one’s childhood, it has become a constant mantra in our daily lives to become what everyone wants us to become, and that failure to do so is a complete tragedy. Complications can last for one’s entire lifetime, and can leave damaging scars as physical, mental, emotional, and psychological disorders- depression, anxiety, anorexia, bulimia nervosa, to name a few, as people attempt to distort themselves to someone they do not…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Despite her wish, she can’t attain that flawless image no matter how much makeup she applies, or how often she decides to go to the gym. Given the fact that her goals are unreachable, she resorts to not eating which eventually leads to anorexia and other medical conditions. When examining this issue from a personal viewpoint, one would suggest that her individual problem resides in her lack of ability to look after herself. Using the sociological imagination viewpoint, one can begin to understand the factors which influenced her to become anorexic. The social media and the public plays an important role in the way society views beauty and ultimately the definition of being…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anxiety And Perfectionism

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I chose this topic because I personally struggle with anxiety and am a perfectionist, so I wanted to see if there was a correlation between the two variables. One study done on these two particular variables by Onwuegbuzie and Daley (1999), investigated the correlation between statistics anxiety and perfectionism with graduate students in research methodology courses. The instrument they used to examine perfectionism was the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and the instrument used for anxiety was the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS). Both the MPS and the STARS were administered for the students prior to taking their midterm exam in the research methodology course. The MPS measured three different types of perfectionism: self-oriented, socially prescribed,…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Suicide is a growing and fearsome problem that affects nearly everybody today. There is evidence that shows that since 2000, suicide rates have been slowly increasing. In fact, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide was ranked tenth in cause of death in the United States in 2013. So why is it that people choose to end their lives? What causes them to feel as if suicide is the only option? In Frank J. Zulke and Jacqueline P. Kirley’s book, Through the Eyes of Social Science, it explains how in the past, it was believed that a person committed suicide because of one’s mental insanity or genetic makeup. However, researcher Emile Durkheim claimed that suicide was due to one’s social groups and relationships. Thanks to Durkheim’s research, we can now classify…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays