Buddy Willard is Esther Greenwood’s boyfriend in The Bell Jar. He embodies the ideal 1950s man: a handsome hunk, a scion, and an Ivy League medical student all in one. For most of the novel, Buddy remains in the hospital receiving treatment for tuberculosis. After he recovers, Esther dumps him. Why? Because Buddy is a red flag.đźš©
To begin, Buddy is a hypocrite. He presents himself to Esther as sexually inexperienced. Yet, he admits to having slept with a waitress named Gladys and to dating Joan (Plath 70, 239), directly contradicting his clean image. Moreover, Buddy assumes that all women want to be wives. When Esther expresses her desire to remain single, he dismisses her assertion, claiming, “You’re crazy.…You’ll change your mind” (Plath 93). In fact, Buddy is pleased because her declaration implies that she is not seeing anyone else; he reacted stiffly earlier when suspecting that she might be having affairs with other men. This behavior reflects the toxic double standard of that time, in which men could act freely while women were expected to be pure and devoted.
In addition, Buddy disregards Esther’s personal interests. He devalues her passion for poetry, a central part of her identity, considering it inferior to his scientific pursuits. He calls a poem “a piece of dust” (Plath 56), which offends Esther. Those words attacked her autonomy and ambitions. During the Yale Junior Prom, Buddy takes Esther up to the chem lab to see the New Haven view (Plath 61). This gesture may appear romantic, but it really reveals how little he tries to understand her. Esther deliberately gets herself out of that college class because she hates chemistry (Plath 35-36).
Buddy reflects ignorant patriarchal authority. He shows Esther a childbirth procedure. Unlike Esther, Buddy doesn’t consider how horrifying and painful the process is to women, rather he seems pretty excited watching the operation (Plath 65-67). His reaction reveals how women’s bodily experiences are often reduced to medical spectacles within male-dominated institutions. Buddy also finds joy when Esther breaks her ankle skiing straight down a slope, as shown by this quote: “A queer satisfied expression came over Buddy’s face. ‘No, you’re not,’ he repeated with a final smile. ‘Your leg is broken in two places. You’ll be stuck in a cast for months’” (Plath 98). Buddy feels happy because his superiority feels validated, seeing her in a frail state.
Overall, Buddy may be an intellect, but he doesn’t have a high emotional quotient.
To begin, Buddy is a hypocrite. He presents himself to Esther as sexually inexperienced. Yet, he admits to having slept with a waitress named Gladys and to dating Joan (Plath 70, 239), directly contradicting his clean image. Moreover, Buddy assumes that all women want to be wives. When Esther expresses her desire to remain single, he dismisses her assertion, claiming, “You’re crazy.…You’ll change your mind” (Plath 93). In fact, Buddy is pleased because her declaration implies that she is not seeing anyone else; he reacted stiffly earlier when suspecting that she might be having affairs with other men. This behavior reflects the toxic double standard of that time, in which men could act freely while women were expected to be pure and devoted.
In addition, Buddy disregards Esther’s personal interests. He devalues her passion for poetry, a central part of her identity, considering it inferior to his scientific pursuits. He calls a poem “a piece of dust” (Plath 56), which offends Esther. Those words attacked her autonomy and ambitions. During the Yale Junior Prom, Buddy takes Esther up to the chem lab to see the New Haven view (Plath 61). This gesture may appear romantic, but it really reveals how little he tries to understand her. Esther deliberately gets herself out of that college class because she hates chemistry (Plath 35-36).
Buddy reflects ignorant patriarchal authority. He shows Esther a childbirth procedure. Unlike Esther, Buddy doesn’t consider how horrifying and painful the process is to women, rather he seems pretty excited watching the operation (Plath 65-67). His reaction reveals how women’s bodily experiences are often reduced to medical spectacles within male-dominated institutions. Buddy also finds joy when Esther breaks her ankle skiing straight down a slope, as shown by this quote: “A queer satisfied expression came over Buddy’s face. ‘No, you’re not,’ he repeated with a final smile. ‘Your leg is broken in two places. You’ll be stuck in a cast for months’” (Plath 98). Buddy feels happy because his superiority feels validated, seeing her in a frail state.
Overall, Buddy may be an intellect, but he doesn’t have a high emotional quotient.
Hi, Kaylee! I liked the simplicity of your blogpost as you talked about a pretty important topic. During the childbirth procedure scene, I greatly related with Esther. It's not a normal reaction to see someone in immense pain and weirdly enjoy seeing them through it. I really the sentence" Buddy may be an intellect, but he doesn’t have a high emotional quotient." It shows that no matter your status, job, or position in life; we need to have some level of emotional maturity; something that is very applicable to all ages. Overall, great work!
ReplyDeleteHey Kaylee! The way you described Buddy Willard and his hypocritical tendencies were very accurate, especially in how he likes to make himself feel more superior to others and belittle their passions. He constantly disregards Esthers interests and refuses to believe the things she says just because it sounds wrong to him. The way he also feels some sort of satisfaction when things go wrong for others, like when Esther broke her ankle, shows his narcissistic mindset and reflects how little he cares for the people around him. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Kaylee, nice blog exposing the toxicity of Buddy! I resonate with your opinion of Buddy lacking in emotional quotient (perhaps he is straight up creepy?). He’s someone that completely dismisses and disrespects his romantic partner. I think one point you could expand on is how Buddy may not just be a flawed individual but a typical product of the 1950s gender regimes. Like we talked about in class, there were explicit double standards given to women about their education, purity, occupation, and more. In that context, a lot of his behaviors are normalized.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaylee! Your blog really intrigued me to say the least. The discussions about Buddy Willard during class were some of my favorites and I think you did an amazing job highlighting the main arguments when it came to Buddy. He does represent the patriarchy in many ways.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaylee!! I really enjoyed your blog. I found it really funny that you described Buddy as being a red flag. I completely agree with you, but I've just never heard him be described that way. Buddy embodies the double standard between men and women. He has this view of the way that he thinks and sort of makes Esther act based on the traditional gender norms. I think that you described the way that Buddy sort of treated Esther unfairly very well. Good job!!
ReplyDeleteHi Kaylee! I agree that Buddy Willard is a big hypocrite and that it makes him a big red flag. I feel that throughout the book he gives off very disturbing vibes that are made ok just because it is set in the 60's. He truly does represent the picture perfect man riddled with toxicity.
ReplyDeleteWe could have spent a whole class period on that skiing scene, as it really does reflect a lot about this strange relationship. You note the apparent glee Buddy feels when he gets to "diagnose" Esther (one of his favorite pastimes--elsewhere he jokingly diagnoses her as neurotic), which also seems to reflect some glee at her new immobility. But remember how this whole accident is set up, where Esther isn't too excited about the prospect of skiing, but then Buddy assures her that HE can easily teach her--not because *he himself knows how to ski or has any experience skiing* but because he says he's been watching them teach people to ski from the sidelines and it doesn't look too difficult. Instead of pairing Esther with an *actual ski instructor* this dude thinks he can mansplain skiing based on his observations (and he ends up NOT teaching Esther how to switch-back to control her speed!). It is true that Esther surprises herself by how much she actually ENJOYS the speed and rush of careening down the hill, but this joy is abruptly curtailed when Buddy gleefully pronounces her finished with skiing for now.
ReplyDeleteHello Kaylee. I like how you go over examples showing Buddy does not care for Esther. I think he "dates" her while having marriage in mind and has a affair with another women. He disrespects Esther in how he calls a poem. He takes her to a chemistry class when she doesn't like chemistry. I think it could represent how society does not care for the double standard between men and women like Esther does.
ReplyDeleteHey Kaylee, you really put into words my general dislike of Buddy. I don't think he's malicious, as much as he is a product of the time. He really puts no effort into understanding Ester and her interests, and its such a shame because Ester (to me) would be such an interesting person to talk to. I especially agree with your point of how women's pain can be almost commodified as a spectacle in the medical industry, and how that further pushes Buddy away from every being able to understand her point of view, or even wanting too.
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