One of the main reasons why Esther tried to commit suicide was the way she perceived her mother's actions, and the fact that she hates her mother:

`"I hate her", I said, and waited for the blow to fall.`

she obviously believes that hating her mother is wrong, as she expected the doctor to react negatively to her comment.

Throughout the novel, her mother has contributed to Esther`s problems. From Esther`s point of view, consequences of her mother's actions have lead to further problems for her. It was her mother who denied Esther the right to go to her father's funeral:

`My mother hadn't let us come to his funeral because we were only children then, and he had died in hospital, so the graveyard and even his death seemed unreal to me.`

The fact that Esther couldn't really accept her father's death contributed to career problems: she had no idea of what to do with her life, she `thought that if my father hadn't died he would have taught me....`

Before visiting New York and getting thrown into the real world Esther had been very successful academically:

`I had already taken a course in botany and done very well. I never answered one test question w

`when I was with him I had to work to keep my head above water.'

There are many factors which contributed to Esthers final suicide attempt. these include her perfectionist outlook; her inferiority complex; that fact that she was denied the right to say goodbye to her father; the way she perceives her mother's attitude towards her; the relationships with men which have failed. However, I believe that all her problems stem from her father's death and her mother's way of dealing with his death. I believe these are the main factors which caused her severe depression, which lead to her suicide attempts.

`Whenever I'm sad I'm going to die, or so nervous I can't sleep... I slump down so far and then say: "I`ll go take a hot bath."'

Esther also associates the death of her father with her happiness:

Esther`s mother does not seem to want to face Esther`s problems and seems to put off facing up to them for as long as possible. She is not sympathetic towards Esther and `said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping someone who was worse off than you', suggesting that Esther sign up as a volunteer at her local hospital. This shows that Esther`s mother is avoiding Esther`s mental problems.

`I was only purely happy until I was nine years old. After that - in spite of the girl scouts and piano lessons... all of which my mother scrimped to give me.... I had never been really happy again'

She claims that she has `always wanted to learn German` although `the very sight of those dense, black, barbed-wire letters made my mind shut like a clam`. Esther associates the language with her `German-speaking father`, wh

Some common words found in the essay are:
Constantin Eric, Esther`s Esther`s, Prussia' Esther`s, , suicide attempt, perfectionist attitude, throughout novel, death father, father's death, esther associates, mental illness, esther`s mother, `my mother, feeling inadequacy,
Approximate Word count = 1101
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)