Nastiti, Kanti Teges (2026) MATROPHOBIA DEPICTED IN SYLVIA PLATH’S THE BELL JAR (1963). Undergraduate thesis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya.

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Abstract

This study is an examination of the character of matrophobia as demonstrated in the
relationship between Esther Greenwood and her mother, Mrs. Greenwood, in Sylvia
Plath's novel The Bell Jar (1963). The aims of this research are to find out the
portrayal of Esther's matrophobia in the novel and to analyze the cause of Mrs.
Greenwood to trigger Esther's matrophobia. The feminist literary critique was used
as the research method and Adrienne Rich's theory of matrophobia and institutional
motherhood (Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution 1976)
was applied. The method of research for this research is library research method
with the primary source of information is The Bell Jar and secondary sources are
books and journal articles of scholars.
The results show that Esther doesn't hate her mother, but she fears to inherit the
limited existence lived by Mrs. Greenwood in a patriarchy. The role of Mrs.
Greenwood, as an unconscious agent of the patriarchy, is to embody the traditional
image of womanhood, to control Esther's actions and desires, and to perpetuate
internalized misogynistic values through maternal care. Thus, Esther has an identity
crisis, a psychological conflict in her, and grows even more anxious as she is torn
between her own identity and her mother's identity. The study findings suggest that
Esther's psychological collapse is related to matrophobia as a structural reaction to
the oppression of patriarchal authorities that was linked to the mother-daughter
relationship. Hence, The Bell Jar offers as a psychological struggle and a feminist
criticism of the intergenerational transmission of patriarchy.
Keywords: Matrophobia, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Patriarchy, Institutional
Motherhood, Feminist Literary Criticism, The Bell Jar

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