Thus, the good girls and the bad girls were classified and identified in terms of their relationship to men and society; they were not given value in terms of their own personalities, talents, and endeavors. Esther Greenwood is terribly aware of this problem of being shoved by society into an "either/or" situation. This dilemma is portrayed in New York City through the characters of Doreen (the "bad" girl) and Betsy (the "good" girl). The one startling characteristic that Esther has is that she intends to defy any role or life path that will pigeonhole her into being one kind of woman or another. Esther Greenwood wants to be herself, and to be an individual. She wants her American birthright, which is why she keeps saying over and over, "I Am I Am I Am."
But this task she has set for herself is overwhelming. How can she integrate the good girl, the "A" student, with the fashion-conscious, man-teasing young lady? How can she integrate the innocent, pure young woman who loves cleanliness with the young woman who has intense sexual desires? How can she integrate the person who wants to be a poet with the person who wants to be a mother? How can she integrate the young woman who wants to travel and have many lovers with the one who wants to be a wife? And as Esther proceeds, at a rapid pace, first through her terms at college, then on to New York City, the center of the sophisticated chic world, she becomes more and more frightened that she will not be able to pick only one role, one "fig." This is tragic because there are no successful, interesting whole women to encourage Esther to pick all the "figs" she can. Indeed, Esther is constantly being warned and restricted by the adult women of her world. "Watch out, Esther," they all seem to say, and perhaps with some cause. Then Ethel Rosenberg is electrocuted. There is clearly not much encouragement for women to be individual, to be different, and to be brave and daring.
