Literary Analysis Of Cheryl Peck's 'Fatso'

In Alice Randall’s “My soul to Keep, My Weight to Lose”, Alice discusses her developing insight into her large weight problem.

In Cheryl Pecks essay titled “Fatso” she conveys personal stories that have caused her pain

Beauty is one of the main foci in society today where selfies, beauty enhancement or plastic surgery, celebrities, and the media reign over society—constantly defining what people should aim for in terms of appearance. Appearances are everything to many people rather than inner beauty such as character and values. In turn, this beauty-obsessed world has led to people becoming more shallow, superficial, and unaccepting towards anything besides the “norm.” It is quite ironic to have a “norm” considering how each individual is different and live in different cultures and such. People are not meant to be or look the same neither should they adhere to a certain standard in which someone else has established. Robert Haas’ “A Story About the Body,” perfectly illustrates the shallowness that some people have and Haas is able to embody shallowness inside a single bowl filled with something beautiful and something repulsive; after all, those two things cannot be found without each other.

I will be analyzing the character Schmidt in a short clip of flashbacks from the show New Girl; Schmidt is actually one of my favorite characters , but I am now realizing some things about him that I haven 't thought of before. For instance, in "Bachelorette Party," they showed a flashback of "fat" Schmidt in college with his ex-girlfriend before he became a body-obsessed guy and changed completely. Schmidt has also confessed in another episode of being judgmental of others appearances because of his experience as an overweight child that has left him emotionally traumatized. Many of the flashback videos put emphasis on his stomach, showing him having trouble with the topic of girls and eating large amounts of food. The shows flashbacks

Eating disorders are becoming a rising problem in many individuals regardless of their age or gender. Eating disorders are problems that revolve around abnormal eating behaviors and distorted beliefs about eating, weight or shape. They can be classified as psychiatric problems, which are considered a general medical condition. Eating disorders happen when individuals are obsessed about controlling their weight by controlling what they eat. Often, they judge their self-worth by their ability to control their weight/shape (Grilo 6). It is no secret that eating disorders are alarmingly common. Especially now, in this culture, where large corporations are “investing” in this industry as a result of their market research which can then only mean one thing – eating

The short story by Andre Dubus follows Louise from age nine up until the time she becomes a mother. It gives insight to the damage that can be done when loved ones force negative body images on young children. Louise’s mother starts her on a self-destructive path, which Louise will never overcome and continually affects her life. This is reinforced by the similar opinions of her relatives and friends who make her feel that she will only be truly loved if she is thin. The prevalent theme of Dubus’ “The Fat Girl” is the destructive way society views food addiction and how it adversely affects women.

The poem Barbie doll by Marge Piercy is about a little girl who grows up only to kill herself for not living up to society’s standards. The speaker shows how she had a normal childhood and was happy playing with here baby dolls and toy stove. However, during puberty, her body changed and everyone noticed. She was criticized for her “fat nose and thick legs”. She tried to change by dieting and exercising, but soon tired of doing so. She then cut off her nose and arms in order to please the rest of society. Only at her funeral did people finally say she was pretty. As shown in this poem, the criticism placed on women in our society is a continuously growing problem today. By using imagery, symbolism, and diction, Piercy demonstrates the high standards placed on girls at a very young age.

Whether a love poem, or a death poem, poetry is always composed with a specific task in mind the author is attempting to accomplish. The task may range from admiring someone or something, or even commenting upon the ills of society, but nevertheless, poetry is always written with the intent of delivering a powerful and meaningful message. Such is the case with the two poems, “Homage to My Hips” and “To an Athlete Dying Young.” Each poem utilizes certain elements differently such as symbolism, the topics of love and death, and emotional connection to bring the reader’s attention to significant societal issues, and illustrate the affect those issues have upon those in society. These poems are similar in that they both celebrate some aspect of

In the critical period of forming her identity, Louise battles with her obesity. Criticism from her family and friends cause her to question her body image and consequently, her self worth. Louise is not the only adolescent to struggle with her appearance; with his depiction of her transformation, Andre Dubus addresses those whose view of themselves is marred by society. After years of her weight and emotions fluctuating, Louise realizes a deeper change. Through Louise’s journey, Dubus communicates that the power to change oneself emanates from one’s self control and ability to surpass societal pressure.

Schwartz’s essay is written in the satirical style using a sarcastic dry humor to appeal to its audience. He claims “if fat people are unhappy people, blame not their fat but their fellow citizens who bill them as clowns, clodhoppers [a clumsy or awkward person], cannibals, or criminals;” (Schwartz 179). This claim when read by a fat audience member may allow them to relate despite the bias because it is biased in their favor, however if Schwartz is trying to appeal to other audiences this claim comes across as not even close to what they as non fat people experience. Schwartz tells the reader to “[b]lame the kindergarten teachers, the coaches, the friends, and physicians” (179) as he claims they are the ones who start fat people on the diets that do not work. His statement does not come across as sarcasm but rather a fact he believes to be true and most people don’t see kindergarten teachers pushing children into diets. This turns off both fat and non-fat audience members because they cannot relate to or find humor in this argument. If kindergarten teachers were taken out of the statement the argument would be more believable however still not sarcastic. In an attempt to get the reader to find a personal experience to relate to his argument that fat acceptance is necessary value in our society, Schwartz says, “fat people are seen as throwbacks to a more primitive time...The modern world is passing them by.” (181). By using an image most people have seen, Schwartz effectively appeals to any audience member’s ethos. Schwartz argues that fat people are not allowed to do well in whatever they choose to do with their lives because people are too focused on their looks rather than their work ethic. He then argues that physicians are just as bad as the rest of society because, “They find fat patients distasteful… Fat

Cheryl Peck writes her story ‘Fatso’ from her own point of view, comparing her experiences to those of different nationalities. Peck tells us that the same discriminatory experiences that a person of color may face whether it be about their skin tone or their body size, she has probably experienced just about the same injustices given her own weight. Although Peck does not directly tell us that is what she is doing but you get the idea based off of her writing. Peck is not trying to throw in anybody’s face that the things she has gone through is worse or more important, but just give people the idea that there is a first hand understanding and she identifies.

In the poem, When The Fat Girl Gets Skinny, by Blythe Baird, the poet addresses the issue of social ideology and how these trends affect young women. Told in a first perspective point of view, the poet supports her theme by describing how teenagers are being affected, establishing a social conflict of false need to achieve trends by identifying motifs for teenager’s actions, incorporating the use of life experiences from the past to the present tense and finalizing with a shift to highlight positivity in change of habit. Baird’s purpose is to illustrate a major conflict among young women who are being affected by social idolization of being skinny. She creates a mood of hopeful in order to inspire young teenagers who are currently harming

Whether it’s magazine covers, instagram, twitter, on television or just on the world wide web in general, everywhere we look we see stunning models. Models that are incredibly thin and can look good in anything. Our society is obsessed with how perfect they look, yet at the end of the day women everywhere looks in the mirror and doesn’t see the body of the girl she sees on social media. Even though women come in all shapes and sizes in nature, the expectation to have a skinny, perfect body just seems to be the expectation for our society nowadays. Society puts too much pressure on females to have the perfect body. The emphasis for a girls ideal body to be perfect, thin, but curvy at the same time affects women emotionally and causes them feelings of, body dissatisfaction, can cause eating disorders, and major psychological issues.

In Andre Dubus short story “The Fat Girl” it follows Louise from age nine until the time she became a mother. Louise faces the negative outlooks society has on food addictions and its affection on women. Louise’s mother is ashamed of Louise’s weight problem as she constantly mentioned Louise’s possibility of being attractive to males will be unlikely. Louise’s mother tries to monitor her food intake, but that only made Louise stash snacks in her bedroom or sneak into the kitchen when her mother was sleep or not paying attention. On the other hand, Louise’s father feels as if Louise should not be limited to what she eats. Even with the unconditional love of Louise’s Father, Louise finds it hard to overcome his sympathy and the verbal abuse from her mother and friends.