Praachi's Blog

  Fun Home in the context of the Lavender Scare  Coincidentally, while reading Fun Home , I am also learning about homosexuality, communism, and homophobia during the 1940s-1960s for a project in history class. I found such specific parallels between Alison Bechdel’s view of her dad, Bruce, and the general sentiment towards gay men at the time. First off, for some context, in the 1950s a fear of communism within the gay community was rampant in the United States in the form of the lavender scare. During this time, the Cold War left Americans fearing that communism was seeping into the country through any –supposed– weakness . The red scare was a panic that people, especially those on the left, were encouraging communism and, thus, were going against our country. Similarly, the lavender scare was a panic that gay and lesbian people were more vulnerable to blackmail and threats and, therefore, could be used to push the communist agenda on America. Here was the thought process b...

  Esther’s Attempts at Suicide in The Bell Jar Esther is at an intense and confusing turning point in her life in The Bell Jar , and this is especially evident when she becomes deeply depressed after her trip to New York. Already burnt out from years of trying to stay ahead and still confused about her future, she comes home to the suburbs to stay with her mother. She then finds out she must stay there for the remainder of the summer because she did not get into a writing program she applied to, facing maybe the first rejection in her life. Suddenly, faced with an entire summer in the suburbs she hates, Esther becomes deeply suicidal, trying in many different ways to kill herself. However, each time she tries, no matter what method she uses, life prevails. I think it is incredibly interesting to read this book knowing that the author went through some of these exact events in her own life and is writing from direct experience. The description of failed suicides are especially tell...