Student Question
What problems in the medical system does Esther experience in The Bell Jar, and how do they harm patients?
Quick answer:
The flaws in the medical system shown through Ester observing and receiving medical treatment harm patients by fostering tension between doctors and patients, which leads to rancor and distrust, not recovery. Throughout the book, Esther sees many doctors, but none are very helpful. After talking to Doctor Gordon, he doesn't offer substantial insight. He merely asks, "Where did you say you went to college?" Later on at the mental hospital, she faces manipulative doctors and rather unfeeling nurses.
Throughout The Bell Jar, Esther has to confront all sorts of illnesses and undergo an array of treatments. None of them seem to be too pleasant.
Before Esther tries to kill herself, she sees a psychiatrist named Doctor Gordon. Remember this part? How would you describe the relationship between Esther and Doctor Gordon? Would you say that it helped Esther with her depression?I'd go with no.
According to Esther, while she's talking, Doctor Gordon is bending his head "as if he were praying." It's as if he's not listening to her or paying attention to what she's saying. It's like he's doing something else. After, what does Doctor Gordon ask her? Does he ask a deep, penetrating question that will help bring insight into why she can't sleep or focus? Again, the answer is no. Doctor Gordon asks her, "Where did you say you went to college?"
A big...
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problem with medical treatment (as seen here) is inattentive, uncaring doctors like Doctor Gordon.
Yet we could also say that a central problem with medical treatment, especially when it comes to mental health treatment, is when the patient isn't completely honest. Is Esther totally transparent with Doctor Gordon? She tells us that she isn't. She says,
I thought I need only tell him what I wanted to.
When it comes to Esther's experiences in the mental hospital, we notice an array of flaws. We notice that the staff and the patients don't seem to get along. What does Esther do to the man who serves the food? She kicks him. Why? According to Esther, he's trying to "see how much we would take" by serving two kinds of beans.
Again, it's hard to get better if you're not eating well and if the people who are trying to make you feel better aren't on your side.
One of the biggest problems with Esther's treatment is electric shock therapy. Does it feel like Esther is undergoing them voluntarily or is Doctor Nolan forcing her? Do these treatments seem more like punishment? Esther tells us the answer. During her first treatment, she says,
I wondered what terrible thing I had done.
Esther's relationship with Doctor Nolan, the nurses, and even Doctor Gordon could lead us to say that one of the biggest flaws in the medical system is the contentious, untrustworthy dynamic between patients and doctors.
Maybe if Esther felt more comfortable, felt more like the doctors were helping her instead of hurting her, she'd be less opposed to them.
Perhaps the electric shock therapy did help her. After further treatment, Esther admits,
I felt surprisingly at peace.
Yet if she had more sympathetic doctors, maybe she could’ve been helped without being subjected to such extreme treatment.