Claudia Huerta

English 12
Ms. Rochman
27 December 2016

Criticism Against The Bell Jar

The act of censorship has been taking place for as long as time can tell. Censorship is the

act of suppressing certain material from a group of people. Sometimes people react with great

criticism towards books that they felt conflicted with or challenged the norms or values they

hold. Over time, there have been many books that have garnered popularity because of the ideas

expressed or its overall content that caused readers to get offended. These people proceed to

challenge the existence of the book and tried to ban it. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is one of

these books. It is the story of young woman named Esther Greenwood who undergoes a serious

breakdown and the way she copes. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was criticized and rejected for its

inappropriate content on suicide and sexuality and its rejection towards the traditional role of

women.

The Bell Jar faced a lot of criticism and attention in the small town of Warsaw, Indiana

from 1977 to 1980. Prior to its request of removal, the Warsaw school board had banned the

textbook Values Clarification for its discussion on controversial topics, such as divorce or

premarital sex, and discontinued many literary elective high school courses, in the summer of

1977. Under both initiatives, the board failed to follow the written policy which states that a

review panel and superintendent recommendation is needed to proceed with material removal.

Following the elimination of the elective literature program and certain books, Principal Smith at

Warsaw Community High School ordered the removal of The Bell Jar in November.

He felt that it was inappropriate because it mentioned the use of a diaphragm as birth

control and had profanity. He also did not appreciate the sexual content it contained nor its open
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rejection of the womans role as wife and mother. Smith feared that someone in the community

might be offended by the view towards women expressed in the book because the main

character, Esther, openly rejects motherhood and does not desire to build and raise a family and

undergoes a spiral of depression (Arons 6). Ultimately, Smith did not want pupils to to read how

Plath labelled marriage as a prison of dull domestic duties, mothers as drudges with dirty,

demanding children and wives as subservient and inferior to their husbands (Karolides, Bald,

& Sova 418). He used his authority to demand its removal from the classroom.

Teresa Burnau, a first-year English teacher designated to teach the Women in Literature

course at Warsaw Community High felt otherwise. She proposed to garner the consent of her

students parents for use of The Bell Jar. She further went to write a protest in efforts to keep the

book in the curriculum, which in turn brought her a notice that if she kept the book, she would be

dismissed from her job. Eventually Burnau came to terms with Smiths demand and removed it

from her lesson plan. However it was too late. On April 17, 1978, Burnau and two other teachers,

who supported her, were informed that their contracts would not be renewed; they were fired.

According to Smiths evaluation, Burnau exhibited bitterness and a bad attitude and the school

board claimed that she failed to fulfill her responsibilities as a teacher. The Bell Jar was banned

and Formation of People Who Care was formed, an organization embedded in removing vulgar

material from the classroom setting.

Following the ban of The Bell Jar and several other titles, four lawsuits were filed against

the Warsaw Community School Corporation and its decision for censorship. On March 21, 1979,

the third lawsuit was filed by Brooke Zykan, a 17-year old junior at Warsaw Community High,

and her family. She challenged the school boards decision making in forbidding the use of

certain books and eliminating specific courses. She pleaded for the restoration of the books and
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elective courses. She also asked for the creation of a rational process that could be used by the

board for future censorship decisions. She, her brother Blair and her parents felt that their rights

guaranteed by the First Amendment in the Constitution were violated, specifically, the right of

free inquiry and of academic freedom expression.

Zykan v. Warsaw Community School Corporation was born, as an effort to uplift the ban

placed on The Bell Jar and other books. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants (the school

board) ordered the removal of the books because particular words in the books offended their

social, political and moral tastes and not because the books, taken as a whole, were lacking in

educational value (Brooke Zykan v. Warsaw Community School Corporation 2). Furthermore

they proclaimed that the board disregarded the Croft Policy, which formed the proper

procedure for managing censorship decisions.

Joseph Bauer, the lawyer who represented the students stated that the focal point of the

whole suit was whether a school board has a right to remove books and courses and fire

teachers because they are inconsistent with the boards social and political values (Arons 8).

However, on December 3rd, it was abruptly dismissed by the Indiana district court for failure to

state a constitutional claim. It was brought back to light with an appeal to the federal circuit court

in 1980 to show that the board tried to place an antifeminist orthodoxy on the students (Arons

12). Nonetheless, the Court of Appeals agreed with the school board and proclaimed that the

school board had not violated anyone's constitutional rights because the right of academic

freedom is limited at the secondary school level (Karolides, Bald, & Sova 419). Therefore The

Bell Jar remained banned.

In 1981, following the hysteria in Warsaw, The Bell Jar was challenged in Edwardsville,

Illinois. A petition was created and signed by three hundred residents in the town. The petition
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argued to ban the book. The residents challenged the book for its sexual content and for its

promotion of an objectionable philosophy of life (Repeat Offenders 1). However the petition

was ignored and was not enough to ban The Bell Jar from classrooms.

The final challenge the book faced was in 1998 in Richland, Washington. On September

8, 1998, The Bell Jar was newly adopted onto the secondary reading list of Richland High

School. However two Richland residents, Teri Sharp and Karen Batishko felt that the book was

wrongful and should be banned from the list. Their religious views greatly impacted their

decision to challenge the book. On November 13, they wrote a letter addressed to the principals

of Richland High School and Hanford High School, Joan Hue and Dave Bond, respectively. In

the letter, they stated their deep concerns on The Bell Jar and six other titles. In the letter they

repeatedly claimed that a quarter of the books contained suicide, deviant sexual behavior,

depression and negative content, in reference to the The Bell Jar. They also referenced many

biblical verses, claiming that the Book of Proverbs says that education is the spring of life.

On November 18, 1998, Principals Hue and Bond addressed Sharps and Batishkos

concerns in a letter. They stated that they met to discuss their worries and outline their complaint

process. They then presented the availability of the books at both schools: a full set of The Bell

Jar at Hanford High and a copy available for individual check-out at Richland High. At the end

of the letter, they stated their expectations of receiving formal requests for the removal of each

book from Sharp and Batishko.

Following the letter, the staff of the Richland school district responded back to the parent

reviews of the seven challenged books which expressed their concerns on strong language,

depressing themes, perceived bias racially and sexually, violence, suicide, and other

contemporary issues (Use of Seven Secondary Level Novels Challenged). They acknowledged
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the parents concerns and praised their efforts however defended the use of the books by

attaching a document that revealed the context for teaching the books, the teaching objectives,

and the methods that would be used. They stated that as literature teachers, they expose their

students to sensitive issues displayed in the books. According to the teachers, The Bell Jar was to

be used in the tenth grade classroom. The theme was the hero in society and the objective in their

curriculum was to learn how society's expectations places pressure on everyone and the

alternatives to suicide. The intention was to use Plaths poetry along with her novel and students

would be able to choose to do individual projects.

Sharp and Batishko did not tolerate the staffs comments nor the principals consensus

and instead on December 1, formulated a formal proposal for reconsideration of instructional

material because to them the detriments of the books outweighed the small or non-existent

educational value they had (Use of Seven Secondary Level Novels Challenged). They felt that

the books should have been reviewed more thoroughly by the school board for adoption. In their

request, they stated how the teachers feedback on the parent review on the books was no

assurance at all of proper handling of the material. Sharp and Batishko felt that The Bell Jar as a

reading lit-circle choice was dangerous for the students because they were more at risk to

suicidal thoughts since teachers could not ensure that valuable deliberation would occur on

suicide alternatives. They feared the discussion would be depressing and influence pupils in a

negative manner. Lastly, they asked for the recent number of suicides committed by youth to be

considered, fearing that the use of The Bell Jar would trigger more.

Furthermore they submitted a form requesting the official removal of The Bell Jar. They

outlined the material in the book they objected. They first claimed how half the book dwells on

suicide, depression, mental illness and wrong choices (Use of Seven Secondary Level Novels
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Challenged). Second they claimed that there was not one exemplary character of worth in the the

entire novel, with constant poor decision making and no healthy choices. They further deemed

all the sexual content in the book as offensive, referencing Plaths detailed description of sexual

intercouse, use of a contraceptive, having a baby and men-hating. In addition they declared that

the book depicts an anti-Christian outlook and has no happy ending. They criticized Esthers

decisions throughout the novel and that she never takes control of a single piece of her life, with

the one exception that the reader has to put up with two whole chapters' worth of explanation of

the narrator's determination to lose her virginity and her success in doing so (The Bell Jar by

Sylvia Plath).

Though The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath has only been challenged in two places and

officially banned in one, it still garnered a wave of criticism for its objectionable content. Such

content consisted of suicide, sex, and a negative outlook on women. These topics dominated the

entire novel under the umbrella of depression. The descriptive passages and vivid scenarios Plath

wrote on these subjects offended many, to their core. That is why the people of Warsaw, Indiana,

Edwardsville, Illinois and Richland, Washington took action against the book with censorship.

The power of censorship has risen over the years and will continue to do so. The question is: can

censorship encourage people to read the book even more?

In my opinion, the people who challenged The Bell Jar had strong reasoning for it.

However I think the book should not have been banned or challenged because at the end of the

day it was a book. I would actually like to read it now, especially since I know people who have

read it and enjoyed it themselves.

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Works Cited

Arons, Stephen. Book Burning in Warsaw. Compelling Belief: The Culture of American
Schooling. Massachusetts: U of Massachusetts, 1986. 3-13. Print.

Karolides, Nicholas J., Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova. The Bell Jar. 120 Banned Books:
Censorship Histories of World Literature. New York: Checkmark, 2005. 417-419. Print.

Repeat Offenders. San Antonio: Trinity U, n.d. Print.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. School Connection. Citizens for Academic Responsibility, Jan.
1999. Web. 23 Dec. 2016.

Use of Seven Secondary Level Novels Challenged. School Connection. Citizens for Academic
Responsibility, Jan. 1999. Web. 22 Dec. 2016.

(Brooke) ZYKAN, by her next friends, Anthony and Jacqueline Zykan, and Blair Zykan,
Plaintiffs-Appellants v. WARSAW COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION, and
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Warsaw School Board of Trustees; William I. Chapel, Jerry C. Deeter, Wayne Bouse,
Marie C. Stokes, Max M. Anglin, William M. Dalton II, and Ralph E. Coplen; and their
successors in office, in their individual and official capacities, Defendants-Appellees. No.
80-1038. United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. 1980. Print.