Why the Rosenbergs?
“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs.” (Plath 1) That’s kind of an odd way to start a book, isn’t it? When I first started reading the Bell Jar, I was curious what the reference to the Rosenberg execution was doing here. Was the line simply added to ground the story in the historical period in which it took place? If so, why not just say, “It was the summer of 1953?” And if that were the case, why does the execution come up again halfway into the book, during the conversation with Hilda? I think it is clear that this is not just an offhand reference. To me, the repeated nods to this event seemed intentional and important, and I think they had a lot to do with Esther’s detachment from the world around her as her mental health worsened.
But first, who were the Rosenbergs?
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were a married couple who were executed by electric chair around the time The Bell Jar takes place. Their execution happened during the Red Scare, a time when American society was paranoid at the possibility that communist sympathizers and Soviet spies might be living among them, blending in as ordinary people. The Rosenbergs were accused of helping to pass secrets of the United States’ atomic weapons program to the Soviets, but whether they were really guilty remains dubious. The Russians themselves denied the Rosenbergs having a role in the Soviet Union producing an atomic bomb, and prosecution’s main witness recanted his testimony in 2001, claiming that he lied out of fear for his own safety. French philosopher and nobel prize winner Jean-Paul Sartre decried the trial as “a legal lynching.” But whether or not they were innocent did not matter for the Rosenbergs in the end. They were killed by the American government on June 19, 1953, leaving their two sons as orphans.
It is understandable to me why the killing would make Esther feel disconnected from her own life and the society around her. In cases like these, the facade of a just and rational society, where the law serves to protect ordinary people against the kind of state violence faced by the Rosenbergs, falls away, revealing a nation ruled by fear, hatred, and systemic bigotry. Living in such a place and time, I understand why one would lose the desire to pursue a normal life. I think the news of the execution served as a reminder to Esther of the cruelty and injustice of 20th century America, and along with the other traumas she experienced during this time in her life accelerated her descent into mental illness.
“In the Shadow of the Bomb.” University Staff Shared Governance, University of Wisconsin, 22 Apr. 2021, ous.wisc.edu/2016/06/17/in-the-shadow-of-the-bomb/.
Will, I found this a really good blog topic! We discussed this partially in class at the beginning of the book but, like you said, the topic came around again and my mental image of its significance spiked. You did a good job with laying out the historical context and connecting it to how Esther was affected by it!
ReplyDeleteHi Will! This was a pretty interesting blogpost. I never thought of how the Rosenbergs situation echos a corrupt and just awful nation. I thought of it as a almost case of death that she's interested in because she, in a way, is interested in death. Nonetheless, it was pretty interesting to hear your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteHi Will! I thought that the Rosenbergs were just a foreshadowing to Esthers future shock therapy, but I completely forgot how much it actually said about how Esther viewed the society they lived in. I really like how you connect this to the historical context as well. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteHi, Thank you for the context on the who the Rosenbergs were, it is appreciated. It is a pretty good reminder of the McCarthyism era that this book was taking place in. Also it seems somewhat fitting that the witness in the case admitted to lying out of fear the same year as the war on terror began.
ReplyDeleteYo what up Ill Will, I remember learning a bit about the Rosenberg's when we read Libra for History as Fiction and it was nice of you to give out a recap on who they were and I feel like they were much tied to the social customs of this era of America where there was fear of a great power overtaking the white-man identity of America of the time and Esther could feel some sort of relation to how they were misjudged by the country due to how different they were from the rest of the world and how they were pushing far past their own boundaries. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Will! Your blog post was really interesting to read. I really liked that you chose to do it on the Rosenbergs because I think that they are a family that we don't really know anything about, but they affected Esther at the start of the book. I really liked how you added information about the Rosenbergs that wasn't given to us in the book. I liked all the points that you made. Good Job!!
ReplyDeleteThe Rosenbergs reenter the novel right around the time of their execution, as we discussed in class, with Hilda's monstrous glee at their deaths. This later scene really drives home the sense that, for Esther, in her memory, this summer is less identified with the arbitrary year (1953) and more with this central event, which was headline news throughout the time she's in the city ("the summer they executed the Rosenbergs"). There's even a hint of paranoia in the way she says "they executed," which makes the government or justice system seem like an arbitrary gang that just electrocutes people for no obvious reason. Esther never mentions the alleged crimes, or the cold war context, both of which would be informing the views of someone like Hilda--she buys the government line about how much better off we all are now that these enemies of the state have been killed by the state. The allegations don't matter to Esther--she just gets a nightmare image of what "they" can do to you, if you step out of line. It's telling that her thoughts immediately go to the Rosenbergs and their experience, what it "feels like" to be electrocuted by "them." So then, later, when Dr. Gordon wants to "electrocute" her, it's like the fulfillment of this early prediction: she learns what it feels like to be electrocuted, and she wonders what terrible thing she's done to deserve this punishment.
ReplyDeleteHi Will,
ReplyDeleteNice blog! I too found the reference to the Rosenbergs very interesting. It was surely distasteful for Esther to hear the amount of hatred assigned to the Rosenbergs for the possible espionage. Because the trial seemed to be run more by emotion and mass hysteria than rationale, it created a level of distrust in society. I think it's also interesting that Ethel Rosenberg was suspected almost purely because she was the wife of Julius Rosenberg. That probably also influenced Esther's ideas of marriage as a societal constraint on women that attaches the man's name on the woman's.
Hi Will, this is a really interesting blog. I like how you connected the importance of the Rosenburgs being mentioned to how Esther views society, I hadn't conncented those dots. I also liked the background you gave on them since we only touched base on them for a quick minute in class. Great job on the blog.
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