Something that we talked about in class recently was the fact that Esther is in a sort of emotional and mental bell jar that kind of distorts her view of people. Going along with that, I wanted to address that point and it in relation to how she portrays Buddy. These are just a bit of my (unorganized) thoughts to the topic.
Primarily, pretty early into the book, from the first moment we see him mentioned, Esther doesn’t depict him as that great of a person. Esther explained that from the beginning she had adored Buddy from a distance for a good number of years, and during that time, I think in her mind she kind of set an impossible standard for him to meet, and when he didn’t, she disliked him more and more. Also, I think like anyone his society molded him to be the person that he is, and the fact that Esther doesn’t really appreciate society that much, kind of translates over to her perception and description of Buddy. She depicts him as this dull, sort of awkward guy. One of those examples of disillusionment she gets with Buddy is right after she hears about his previous affair. “What I couldn’t stand was Buddy acting so pure, when all the time he’d been having an affair with that tarty waitress...” (Plath 71). She considers him a hypocrite because he makes himself out to be this really innocent person, but he really isn’t. I think she liked the idea of Buddy that she made in her head, because everyone was always telling her he was this great guy, but at the end of the day, she just didn’t find him compatible at all.
If we actually try to observe the parts where Buddy is mentioned in the books in an unbiased way, he doesn’t seem so bad. He reminds me of a sort of stereotypical average good guy of his time. He got good grades, went to a good school, and followed a solid profession. I’m not saying Buddy is perfect, because no one is, but he’s not this dull, phony person she makes him out to be. If feel kind of bad for Buddy when he asked Esther what is was about him that made women so crazy. For the first time we see Esther being in a better state mentally and emotionally, and it’s then that we see the first instance where we see Buddy show actual emotion and almost remorse. This sort of demonstrates that mixed with the fact that she was going through a lot of emotional turmoil and confusion, she slightly overplayed her distaste of Buddy,
Overall, this is just a bit of my muddled, and slightly unorganized thoughts on this topic. I think that Buddy wasn’t the persona Esther depicted him to be for the entirety of the novel, but he also wasn’t perfect, and he did have his questionable moments, but Esther’s bell jar did distort her perceptions of others.
Buddy is the subject of most of Plath's wicked observational humor in this novel, and as a result we are inclined to chuckle at his portrayal (however much of a caricature it might be--caricatures can be funny). But I find it hard to dislike him, the big lug. There really is a kind of "innocence" to him that doesn't seem to be an act--he truly has no idea what's up with Esther, or why she says the things she says, and overall he seems pretty sincere in his awkward attempts to have a relationship with her.
ReplyDeleteThe things that bother Esther about Buddy in the end aren't personal so much as cultural--he simply embodies the values of the world he lives in, and he is in a most privileged position in that world. This renders him more than a little clueless, and Plath relentlessly undercuts the popular image of the supercompetent professional man. But in a way, poor old Buddy isn't really responsible for his own cluelessness.
Esther's take-down of Buddy does seem to embody some of Plath's criticism of ideal societal roles. Although Esther is harsh on Buddy, I think that this is natural considering the removal of the tinted lens she previously saw him through. I think that her mistake was blaming Buddy--she should really have blamed herself for being infatuated. I felt a bit sorry for Buddy most of the book, but I lost sympathy when he visited her and casually mentioned "'I wonder who you'll marry now... you've been here'" (241). I thought it was a bit presumptuous of him to assume their relationship was over, since Esther didn't seem to have ever made clear to him her true feelings.
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