What is “normal”? We spend enough time, collectively, trying to figure this out, but if women think it's complicated now, what about the women breaking through before us? Expectations were rigid, gender roles carefully defined, and opportunities much more limited. In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (1963), Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman (1969), and Mary Wollstonecraft's Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman (1798), we quickly understand how great the social pressure was on women and how this pressure could - and in the case of the three female protagonists examined here, led - to considerable emotional distress. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIt is not that the three characters of Atwood, Plath and Wollstonecraft are unaware of their struggles and the tough battles they face, simply because of their gender – on the contrary. It's this awareness, paired with each character's drive to buck gender-specific expectations, that leads to a certain degree of instability, whether it's paranoia, depression, or simply heightened awareness. Each of these characters tests boundaries, but not without consequences. As they question their roles and push for independence, their struggles result in a host of insecurities and the development of significant emotional problems. The first indications of insecurity occur with a "triggering incident" that inspires each of the characters to question their identity, including their role as a woman and wife (or future wife). This turning point inspires a period of self-reflection that results in a major shift in professional and personal motivation, personality, and even the creation of self-esteem. All these periods of self-reflection are linked to men and the protagonists' relationships with these men. The most obvious emotional distress fueled by a man is that of Marian McAlpin in Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman. Atwood's character is a typical mid-century modern woman, caught between career and relationship. She doesn't love her job, but she's still on the career path as a girl: "Sometimes I'm sure I'm prepared for something higher, but since I have only vague notions of the organizational structure of Seymour Surveys, I can't imagine what" ( p. 13) Atwood shows that, although Marian is responsible, she struggles to follow her direction. She knows she appears more composed than she appears, commenting that when she met her boyfriend, Peter, “He had been quite formal and asked me what I was planning on doing, making it seem a lot less vague than it is was in my mind, and he later told me that it was my aura of independence and common sense that he liked,” (Atwood p. 61). Marian's confusion about herself - what she looks like and what she really is - is ameliorated by those around her. They are an exceptionally indecisive bunch, both male and female, single and married. Through Marian's eyes, we witness her fiancé's anguish over his latest bachelor friend's engagement, her unmarried roommate's determination to get pregnant, the three "office virgins"' desperation to meet men, and all her college friend's ambivalence towards an ever-escalating situation. , chaotic family. Some are looking for love, others are looking for personal fulfillment, and still others don't know where to look at all. However, the interaction ofMarian with these individuals is far from useless. Compare his experience with that of others and listen to anecdotes that stimulate self-examination. Everyone is going in a different direction. From Marian to her roommate Ainsley, we get the impression that each character has difficulty realizing themselves and meeting the expectations of others. For example, the husband of Marian's college friend, Joe, comments that every woman must proceed with caution when getting married, saying “'I think it's harder for any woman who has gone to college. He gets the idea that he has a mind, his professors pay attention to what he has to say [...] when he gets married, his core is invaded [...] The center of his personality, what he has built ; her image of herself, if you will'” (p. 259). Marian is also at the crux of marriage, and at first she is happy, telling her fiancé, "'I'd rather leave the big decisions to you'" (p. 94) and then turning into a nervous breakdown: "Everyone was immediately afraid to dissolve, to fall apart layer by layer like a piece of cardboard in a sewer puddle [...] He was afraid of losing his shape, of expanding, of no longer being able to contain himself" (p. 240).Ester Also Greenwood in The Bell Jar, while graduating from a prestigious college, claims to be losing what defines her. She states, "The only thing I was good at was winning scholarships and awards, and that era was coming to an end. " (Plath p. 73). Esther laments the end of her university career and knows that one of her options is “a husband, a happy home and children” (p. 72). She seems confused by the prospect of all this, as well that vulnerable, and sees his life as a series of mutually exclusive choices. Like Marian, she wonders which path to take and realizes that many women are thrown out of work after marriage or remain spinsters if they refuse to give up what they love. Greenwood is equally troubled by her interactions with her boyfriend Buddy, including those related to sex. When Esther asks Buddy if he has had an affair, he tells her that he has a lot of experience in the bedroom. Esther thinks: “Something in me froze after that. [...] It wasn't actually the idea of ​​Buddy sleeping with someone that bothered me [...] What I couldn't stand was that Buddy pretended that I was so sexy and that he was so pure, when everything the time he was having an affair with that unpleasant maid” (Plath chapter VI, par. 67-71). Esther has a similar period of doubt caused by an experience with Constantin. When she considers sleeping with him, she begins to question the expectations and implications of her choice: "This woman lawyer said [...] Of course they would try to persuade a girl to have sex and they would say that the they would marry later, but as soon as she gave in, everyone would lose respect for her” (Plath chapter VII, par. 45), Greenwood considered her future: “I saw my life branching out ahead to me like the green fig in history […] Un fig was a husband, a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another was a brilliant professor" (chap. VII, par. 20-21). everyone else" (par. 22). Both Marian McAlpin and Esther find obstacles in their relationships based on how men view them sexually and how their experience differs from their partners. McAlpin feels troubled in her first meeting with Peter in The Edible Woman. In his apartment, after he expresses remorse over his friend's recent engagement and they make love, she wonders how he sees it: "Or maybe - and the thought was chilling - he intended [to make love in the bathroom ] as an expression of my personalitynew corridor of possibilities opened up before me: […] what kind of girl did he think I was?” (Atwood p. 63). As Esther Greenwood and Marian McAlpin question their futures, Maria in Maria: Or the Wrongs of Woman knows what she wants and understands the expectations placed on women. She is socially aware and, in many ways, more confident in her role than Esther or Marian. Perhaps, being a woman of a certain position (probably in a higher social class than the other two), she is simply more confident. Maybe it's also because he has a lot more time to think, imprisoned in a mental hospital. However, Maria is comfortable with her voice and opinions, comfortable enough to be intimately involved in a legal case. As Wollstonecraft notes in chapter 17, “Mary took the task of leading the defense of Darnford upon herself. He instructed his lawyer to plead guilty to the charge of adultery; but deny that of seduction” (par. 1). Maria is not only taking part in what Colleen Fenno in “Testimony, Trauma, and a Space for Victims: Mary Wollstonecraft's Maria: Or the Wrongs of Woman” calls a “participatory justice system,” but she is also taking part in a new movement of legal reforms, including a refinement of criminal justice (para. 6). Yet, in Wollstonecraft, Maria opens up with questions. Already in the first chapter, Mary “tried to strengthen her mind and ask herself what would be her use in her sad cell? Was it not to be able to escape, to rush to the rescue of her son and to foil the selfish plans of her tyrant, her husband? (chap. 1, par. 5). Despite her supreme confidence displayed through her appeal to the courts at the end of the unfinished book, Maria was not always so confident. The characters of Plath, Atwood and Wollstonecraft speak out against the status quo. Each woman is introspective, self-aware, and highly intelligent: Marian in The Edible Woman has a college degree (only about 138,000 women had a college degree in 1960, in contrast to 254,000 men in the United States, as noted on Statista.com). In The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood is finishing her degree in the late 1950s, while Wollstonecraft's Maria is multilingual and self-taught. These women are trained to question and examine – and they do. Part of this question is whether or not they are “normal,” which ultimately causes serious concerns in their minds about their sanity. In The Edible Woman and The Bell Jar, the female protagonists question their own stability after going through a period of self-exploration. First, Marian, it's caused by an engagement; for the other, Esther, is triggered by new relationships and changes. Although both characters are not seen as unusual by the general public, they question whether or not they “deserve” this description. One gets the feeling that the two characters believe they are hiding their profound flaws, almost as if they were "deceiving" the general public. In The Edible Woman, Marian worries about her flaws and continues to ask her peers whether or not they see her as unusual. In it, she perceives others as stable, healthy individuals, while she sees herself as profoundly and immutably flawed. In the book, Marian asks Ainsley, her roommate, Peter, her boyfriend, Clara, her college friend, and Duncan, her unstable acquaintance, whether she is "normal" or not - and when no one claims that she isn't it is, she convinces herself that somehow they are wrong: “She had thought about the other people she could have talked to. The virgins in the office would be intrigued and want to know everything, but she didn't think she would be able to give them any constructive advice” (Atwood p. 224). Marian is further disturbed when she discovers that, even whendescribing her problems to Clara, she fails to feel completely satisfied with the answer: “Although she was sure that Clara's explanation [about wedding nerves] was not the right one, she felt better” (Atwood p. 226). In Jinal Sanghavi's piece, “Madness In The Edible Woman,” the author states that Marian's struggles are actually caused by her “struggle to assert her identity and identify her role in society” (Sanghavi, Abstract, par . 3). only the case of The Edible Woman, but of The Bell Jar and Maria. In each of the novels, the female character is fighting an internal change. That internal change is seen as abnormal by the characters themselves, while the “normality” and balance experienced during their period of transformation is seen as abnormal by their friends and family. Marian realizes that her relationship with Peter is unhealthy, but after telling him "'You tried to destroy me [...] you tried to assimilate me'" (p. 299), he withdraws in fear - - and Marian feels better than we haven't heard in a long time. Esther Greenwood comes to terms with "corpses, Doreen, and the story of the fig tree" (Plath p. 226) and, instead of forgetting, finds an inner peace despite Dr. Nolan telling her that "many people would treat me warily, or even avoid me , like a leper” (p. 226). Mary's involvement at court would have seemed very unusual, yet it seems to be cathartic. In each of the books, the characters further question their sanity as the books continue and the interactions with men become more numerous. Each of the novel's protagonists falters in the face of a triggering event and then becomes more insecure after unsatisfactory relationships continue feeling the "normal" excitement of engagement, Marian begins to question her relationship, Peter's intentions, and whether what the future holds for them is what she really wants: "If this is really Peter, she thought, walking down one of the corridors, will he have a belly at forty-five? (Atwood p. 267). Maria's relationship with Darnford also raises some questions. The young woman has been abandoned by her husband, and despite hearing Jemima's horrific tales of abuse and anguish at the hands of men, she still finds herself attracted to her mate at the asylum. Wollstonecraft writes: “At Darnford he had shown no decided affection; the fear of escaping his sure proof of love often made her assume a coldness and indifference foreign to her character” (chap. 4, par. 5). Maria struggles with her desire as a woman, to marry Darnford, and her need to live with him in what people of that time would consider "sin." In chapter 16, Wollstonecraft reflects: “She wanted to declare her affection to Darnford, by becoming his wife according to the established rules; not to be confused with women who act from very different motives, though her conduct would be exactly the same without the ceremony as with it, and her expectations of him no less firm” (par. 20). Both authors Plath and Atwood say they based their books on their lives, and it's interesting to imagine how their struggles with men's sexual freedom (and women's lack of it) influenced their view of themselves. In Margaret Atwood: A Critical Companion, the author states that the character of Peter is based on Atwood's boyfriend (and fiancé), Jay Ford (Cooke p. 50). Although she told him not to "take it personally," part of Atwood's appeal is her ability to identify discomfort in a relationship where power and equality shift and change as the relationship matures. Plath's real-life relationship: ~3000