tful. This can be seen in the way that she feels as if she is being tested by others. She is admitted to a mental institution, and it is apparent that she is untrustworthy of the motives of others when the doctors visit her: I lay on my bed under the thick white blanket, and they entered my room, one by one, and introduced themselves. I couldn’t understand why there should be so many of them, or why they would want to introduce themselves, and I began to think that they were testing me, to see if I noticed that there were too many of them. (Plath 198)Esther evidently feels as if she is constantly being judged and tested, although in fact she is not. Her magnified sense of distrust is illustrated repeatedly throughout the course of the book, at once involving the reader and developing her own characteristic response to unique situations. Finally, one who views occurrences which can only be categorized as coincidental as being planned often experiences a suspicious response. When she finds out that an acquaintance from high school is at the same hospital, her first reaction is wariness: “It occurred to me that Joan, hearing where I was, had engaged the room at the asylum on pretence, simply as a joke.” (Plath 207). Although the reader is incredulous of the protagonist’s manner of thought, it is also possible to feel a connection to the situation. Such a thought in the mind of the reader may only be a fleeting moment, however it is exaggerated in the book in order to create a correlation between oneself and the book. Esther’s deep paranoia serves to portray an extreme example of the way in which people react in certain situations. The reason that it must be so extreme is so that the reader can relate to it on a smaller scale.Paranoia not only leads to expecting the worst; it leads to a lack of optimism in life as well. Possessing a deeply rooted negative perspective on life can contribute to dispar...
