Uncovering In Andre Dubus The Fat Girl

Marie-Claire Blais’s Mad Shadows explores the complex relationships within the dysfunctional family of Louise, her son Patrice, and her daughter Isabelle-Marie. Louise’s obsession with Patrice’s beauty causes Isabelle-Marie to be an outsider in her own family, which she cannot escape even as she gets married and has her own child, Anne, who strongly resembles Isabelle-Marie in circumstance and appearance. Mad Shadows incorporates a cycle of familial violence spurred on by jealousy and neglect; despite Isabelle-Marie’s attempts to break the cycle of violence in the final scene of the novel, her actions and destructive urges are already apparent in Anne, ensuring the continuation of violence in the family.

Everyone has their own idea of a healthy body. That also means everyone sees their own body in a different way. Thus everyone deals with discomfort and or dislikes of their body image in a different way as well. In the article “My soul to Keep, My Weight to Lose” by Alice Randall and the article “One May Explains Why He Swears by Wearing Spanx” by Kevin Fanning the authors talk of how they view and feel about their body in respect to their weight. By reading and analysing them I will be able to compare their views and come to a decision on which author I believe describes their body with the healthiest view.

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.

Is this what media finally comes to? To profit and acquire fame, while throwing into the back the importance of wellness and confidence of women young and old alike? In this age many women around the world are heavily influenced by the prevarication of the modern culture's "perfect female body". Evidence of this ubiquitous illusion is prevalent in the texts "My Body Is My Own Business" an essay by Sultana Yusufali and the short comic "My Body" by Vicky Rabinowitz. The example of the crushing influence of beauty by the media are explicated by both texts. In the essay by Yusufali, she boldly writes: "[By] reading popular teenage magazines, you can find out what kind of body image is "in" or "out"' (page 52). By this, Yusufali explains how women

As Charlotte moves, and goes into a new school, she realizes that “[she] was anonymous”(76); she could blend in with her peers to hide her drawbacks. As a result, she starts to dress according to a 10th grade girl: “hair curled, makeup intact”(75). Additionally, she was easily influenced by peer pressure. Although she loved Miss Hancock and was shocked when people started making fun of her style, she nonetheless joins in, “[snickering] fiercely”(76). It takes courage and confidence to act against the majority. However, she does not. Willing to discard her attitudes and beliefs to conform with her group demonstrates Charlotte’s insecurity, and her lack of pride for her

Every individual is different and unique in their own way, may it be their body size or the color of their skin. No individual is similar, which is precisely the point that Cheryl Peck makes in her essay “Fatso”. The essay portrays Peck’s view of the conflicts that she goes through in her life as an overweight person. She makes a point by point contrast to her imaginary life, repeating the phrase “I have never”, and her real life where she faces discrimination because of her weight. Peck’s use of tone and word choice highlights the purpose of her essay, which is to raise awareness about discrimination against overweight people to audiences who are thin and have not experienced any judgment from others.

The author Andre Dubus takes the reader inside the life of a young child whose mother has convinced her that she was destined to become heavy. This becomes apparent when her mother remarks, “You must start watching what you eat, her mother would say. I can see you have my metabolism” (134). The mother unwittingly thrusts her own negative food issues onto her child. She further perpetuates this eating disorder by including her child on a strict diet that she herself adheres to. In order not to displease her mother, but still satisfy her hunger, Louise begins sneaking food when no one is watching. This eventually leads to hoarding food such as the hidden candy, which she will later eat alone in her bed in the dark.

In the short story “Mrs. Buell”, Kate learns that everything is not as it seems through a series of events. When one considers certain factors such as abrupt personality change, encounters with unexpected people, and changes in first impression, it can be seen that there are many things to be discovered that may change our impression of one’s being.

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.

She believes that Louise is very fragile because of her heart condition. As a result, she gently informs Louise of her husband’s death. When Louise locks herself in her bedroom, Josephine shows concern and worry for Louise because she believes she will make herself ill from extreme grief and keeping to herself. Josephine assumes Louise is highly emotional and distraught is reflective of typical Victorian female views on how women react and feel when faced with tragic news, especially news about the death of a husband. However, Louise contradicts the gender norm of Victorian society as she sits in her room “drinking the elixir of life” rather than grieving for her husband. She is engulfed with joy because she is happy to be free from

The way one portrays his or her self can very quite differently from person to person. Clothes, makeup and jewelry are all superficial ways one can depict one’s self. In contrast, one can portray him or herself on a deeper more intimate level. Establishing the way a person wants to be portrayed is like learning to walk, it takes small productive steps to gain the strength and knowledge to get to the desired destination. Trials and tribulations illustrate and shape one’s true self. Setting, income, and love can also indicate why a person is the way he or she is and the portrayal of him or herself. Throughout Legacies by Jan Zlotnik Schmidt and Lynne Crockett the theme of self-portrayal is laced through almost every fiction and nonfiction story.

Literature is frequently comprehended by most people as a mass of writings. In particular, it refers to those reckoned to have the aptitude of being inventive and rational, or which deploy languages which departed from the common usage. Global literature, on the other hand, has two different definitions where the first one explains it as the summation of all literatures of the world, including personal and nationalized work. The second definition is, global literature consists of the world’s classics, or the most sought after works that are read across time, ethnic and language borders in which they were produced and become the intercontinental patrimony of civilization. (Gafrik, 2009, p. 28) Global literature penetrates deep into cultural

A defining moment is the point at which a situation is clearly seen to start to change. There were defining moments in both the stories “Roots” and “I Want to be Miss America.” These defining moments also come along with problems the characters must face. In Roots, the main issue discussed is defiance against America’s whack color game, while in I Want to be Miss America, the main issue discussed is the image of America. Understanding the difficult and confusing situations the characters face, will help in understanding their defining moments and how they relate.

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

The society we live in functions as a whole so conforming is essential in our lives as human beings. If we are scared and don't know what to do, we will often follow the steps of others so that we can be accepted and feel safe. Conformity is the result of people being pressured to fit in. There is a fine line between conforming and becoming an individual. Unfortunately, becoming an individual in certain situations can have bad consequences. Individuality makes you stand out from the crowd and can leave you feeling isolated. In Phillip Gwynne’s ‘Deadly Unna?’, conformity and the individual is shown through the main character Gary Black, other wise known as ‘Blacky’. In the book we discover how Blacky changes from being a conformist to becoming