“The Fat Girl”

In American culture, the obese body is represented very negatively. One factor that contributes to this negative representation is the abundance of negative reactions that people display towards overweight people. It is a stigma that often taints and belittles the person, leading others to judge the individual negatively, rejecting, hating, or ridiculing him or her. That can often lead the obese person to develop sever psychological problems.

In the story "The Fat Girl” by Andre Dubus, we meet Louise who has been struggling with her weight since the age of nine. Her mother is extremely outspoken and tells her that she has a problem. She would say “You must watch what you eat”(Dubus 158).Her mother was …show more content…

He told her he would help her lose the weight but she refused she didn’t see the love in his face that she saw in Carrie’s face when she asked her to lose weight. She didn’t care if he left her. She felt his departure as a relief and went upstairs to get a candy bar. When she returned to the living room, she was surprised to see him “standing there”(Dubus 172 ).

She looked him in his eyes and takes a bite from her candy bar and walks into the kitchen and makes herself a sandwich. Richard is disgusted and runs behind her and snatched the candy bar. She fell on her knees in a bath of tears. Richard held her close and told her that he loves her and he just wants her to be healthy. Louise then looks at him and told him about her eating problem and that it started a long time ago. For the first time, Louise felt that he genuinely cared and loved her. Richard told her about diet program and she agreed to go in the morning. That night she fell asleep in his arms. The following morning, they got up and Louise went to the Doctor’s office. She was put on a diet program and she lost weight and was very happy because she understood the health risks that she was taking eating the way she was.

While some may read the ending as a defeat, it may also be understood as Louise finding herself and accepting herself. I think it may be that people seem to think that you need to be thin in order to be happy. Many people can be cruel and judgmental not really knowing what is