Allegedly Handsome in a Turtle Neck Sweater

    Hello, in this blog I would like to explore further the small group discussion of is Buddy Willard a hypocrite? Here is the link to that discussion if you want to take a look: https://thecomingofagenovel2026.blogspot.com/2026/02/small-group-discussion-is-buddy-willard.html, but you might get a redirect notice where you want to click on the first link which looks like the one in this blog although the second link may not work anyway. I think Esther Greenwood means that she thinks Willard is fake by calling him a hypocrite. 

    I think Esther thought Buddy is her ideal man. During one Christmas vacation, Esther says that Buddy wore "a thick white turtleneck sweater and looking so handsome I could hardly stop staring" (Plath 59). This quote was when Buddy invited Esther to Prom. Here is link to page 59 if you want to take a look although it might be illegally pirated so I wouldn't risk t: https://online.fliphtml5.com/ozpri/beyu/#p=65. We do not know what Buddy looks like because The Bell Jar is fictional, but Esther does state Buddy is handsome in a turtle neck sweater. We don't know if he is still handsome without the turtle neck sweater.  I think Esther also liked Buddy before. Esther might be jealous of Joan. Esther asks Buddy"'How is Joan?'" coldly after Buddy says he is going to a sophomore prom with Joan Esther then describes Joan saying she was "president of her class and a physics major and the college hockey champion. She always made me feel squirmy with her starey pebble-coloured eyes and her gleaming tomb-stone teeth and her breathy voice. She was as big as a horse, too. I began to think Buddy had pretty poor taste" (Plath 61). Here is link to page 61 if you want to take a look although it might be illegally pirated so I wouldn't risk it: https://online.fliphtml5.com/ozpri/beyu/#p=67. I think this quote shows Esther being jealous of Joan. Esther says she "decided to ditch Buddy Willard for once and for all, not because he'd slept with that waitress but because he didn't have the honest guts to admit it straight off to everyone and face up to it as part of his character" (Plath 74). Here is link to page 74 if you want to take a look although it might be illegally pirated so I wouldn't risk it: https://online.fliphtml5.com/ozpri/beyu/#p=80. Buddy claims that he had the affair last Summer. The timeframe of Buddy having the affair and "dating" Esther is pretty bad.

    I think Esther initially thought of Buddy as a her ideal man. He is allegedly handsome with a turtleneck sweater. I think Esther gets jealous of Joan when Buddy says he is going to a sophomore dance with her When she learned about the affair she thought he was a hypocrite because he said things like Esther must go on a lot of dates and kiss a lot when he himself had an affair. I think Buddy not admitting to have an affair from the when he is potentially "dating" Esther with marriage in mind is wrong and hypocritical by todays standards, but may have not in the past. This double standard between men and women is one of the reason Esther breaks down mentally and is brought up a lot later in the book and it all started with Buddy.