Judith Moore Fat Girl Summary

“I am fat” (Moore 1) the first line of the first page." I am what I am” (Moore 196) the third last line of the last page. One hundred and ninety five pages separate these statements, yet divulges into her personal truth. Judith reveals her story through her eyes, experiences and overcoming herself, and her relationships with food; it is through these conflicts that she becomes comfortable in her own skin. In Judith Moore’s “Fat Girl”, the author uses literary elements to emphasize the absence of love resulting in her personal growth. The most effective literary elements include: character, motif, and narrative perspective.

To begin, the character revelations that are portrayed throughout the story help to advance the theme of absence of love.
While talking about other girls and their relationship with food Judith recounts that some girls see the buffet table and square their shoulders but to Judith “food is the enemy. Food is also the mother, the father, the warm-hearted lover, the house built of red brick that not even the wolf can blow down” (Moore 9). Judith often resorts to food for comfort. Although food is the enemy as it makes her gain weight, it is the only thing that comfort her in times of need. Food is represents her family: mother and father. Food is her family and is always going to be there for Judith. In the same way as Judith goes to food for comfort while living with her Grandmother, Grammy, in Arkansas on a forty-acre farm. Judith sits with her elbows on the table, “ [she eats] Grammy’s fried chicken and Grammy’s cobbler because they [taste] good and because [she is] trying to fill up the grave [her] father and [her] mother [are digging] for [her]” (Moore 77). Judith starves for love and affection from both of her parents, but the homemade food from Grammy comforts her. The fried chicken and cobbler give Judith warmth, family and a sense of belonging. Eating this food fills the void left by her parents by being unloved; her mother abuses and her father left. Similarly, there is a part of Judith that is comfortable the way she is, fat. Recalling her childhood to the point where she is now, Judith states that “[she is] what [she is]” (Moore 196). Judith realizes that she uses food as a blanket instead of loving herself despite her appearance. Being fat is not the end of the world, Judith uses this to mature and grow as a person. She becomes a new person with a rejuvenated self-confidence about herself. Judith develops a new persona all in a matter of manipulating food to fill the hole left by the absence of love on her parents