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. …show more content…
At the beginning of the novel, Judith ,as a woman, begins to describe herself, using words such as “short” and “squat toad of a woman.” Judith’s auburn curls surround her round face, her shoulders wide, her upper arms are big, and her belly juts out. Judith has pig eyes, stubby eyelashes, enlarged pores, a thick upper lip, and bad teeth. However she is fat, predominantly fat. Due to looking like ths, “[Judith] hates [herself]. [She has] almost hated [herself]. [She has] good reasons for hating [herself], but [it is] not for bad things [she has] done... [She hates herself] because [she is] not beautiful. [She hates herself] because [she is fat]” (Moore 7). Judith reveals her relationship with herself, she hates herself. Seeing that Judith thinks she is not beautiful, she has no self-esteem or self-love for herself. The perception of herself is distorted and reflects her self-esteem, which can be appointed to her childhood experiences and traumas. As well as the mother of Judith, Kathleen, whom she calls Mama. While living with Kathleen in New York ,before the summer of fourth grade Kathleen makes Judith strip down to her underwear and step on the white scale, the scales reads 124 pounds. Kathleen is furious and forces Judith to go on a starvation reducing diet, because “ [Kathleen says] it can not] go on, [ Judith] being fat as a goddamn pig. She [says] she [does not] even want to be seen in public with [Judith]” (Moore 113). Kathleen is ashamed of her daughter. Although her mother wants to help Judith and save her from further embarrassment, she is contributing to the lack of self- esteem within her daughter and substantially only thinking of how it affects more of herself rather than Judith. The relationship between Judith and her mother is toxic, not like any other mother- daughter relationship seeming more like a relationship between a bully and a child. Kathleen does not love her daughter as she should, verbally abusing her and bullying her because of her weight. Life at home for Judith is worse because , “truth [is] that [Kathleen is beginning] to beat [Judith] on a regular basis. [Beating Judith is beginning] to seem like part of a day’s work” (Moore 120). Further revealing her mother’s true colours: selfish, ruthless and detached. Also it shows the conflict between Kathleen and Judith, which is physical and verbal abuse. The abuse originating from the distaste Kathleen has for her daughter and her weight, signifying the lack of love Judith receives from her mother. Therefore, Judith’s childhood is difficult because she is not given the love she needs from her mother due to what she looks like. This damages her self-esteem and self-worth growing up without the love everyone deserves to grow.
Secondly, the motifs that Moore uses help to depict the struggle with a childhood being deprived of love and affection.
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
side.
The narrative perspective of the novel is the final component that shows how the absence of love contributes to her personal growth. The novel is written in first person; Judith is the main character and author. The experiences and traumas are written from her point of view. Judith sees a picture taken, without her known of it, on the wall. She believes that she looks good in the moment, but her confidence disappears. As Judith is accustomed to her body, “[she] often [does not] realize that [she is] fat, or how fat [she is]. When [she is] by [herself she does not] tend to think about how [she appears]. [She thinks] about what [she is] doing” (Moore 42). This allows the reader to feel empathy and sadness for Judith. Usually one who is fat only thinks about their weight, but Judith thinks past it when she is alone. Though the scarce love she receives reflects the fact that she considers her weight only when with other people and in different surroundings than ones in which she is comfortable. In addition, after Judith meets her dad for the first time in fourteen years at the age of eighteen she tries to have a relationship with her father. Though Judith and her father start to meet regularly she admits that, “[she is] never able to love him the way daughters can love fathers... [She feels] almost nothing other than dismay and grief and loss and shame about what [has] gone on between [them]” (Moore 190-191). Judith tries to have a relationship with her father but it is too difficult due to past experiences with him. He abandons her when she is four and does not try to connect, reflecting the lack of love she gets. Moreover, on the last page Moore addresses the reader and comments on her story saying, “[does not] want [the reader] to feel sorry for [her]. [She does not ] feel sorry for [herself]. [She is] what [she is]. [She is] glad [she] wrote [the book]” (Moore 196). Growing up without the critical affection in her young years, helps Judith become who she is, and she is proud of this woman.
Judith Moore has created an absence of love in Fat Girl through the use of the literary elements: character, motif and narrative perspective, resulting in her own personal development as a person and woman. Not only does character helps the reader to relate, motif allows the theme to be known and narrative perspective gives insight into how the character may feel or act in specific situations, while this all is present in the novel it also helps to portray a common theme. Although it is the struggles and obstacles one has to overcome to become stronger as a person, it is “the distance they [are] [traveling] from the point where they have started” (Beecher) that measures how far one has come in their journey.
To begin, the character revelations that are portrayed throughout the story help to advance the theme of absence of love. …show more content…
At the beginning of the novel, Judith ,as a woman, begins to describe herself, using words such as “short” and “squat toad of a woman.” Judith’s auburn curls surround her round face, her shoulders wide, her upper arms are big, and her belly juts out. Judith has pig eyes, stubby eyelashes, enlarged pores, a thick upper lip, and bad teeth. However she is fat, predominantly fat. Due to looking like ths, “[Judith] hates [herself]. [She has] almost hated [herself]. [She has] good reasons for hating [herself], but [it is] not for bad things [she has] done... [She hates herself] because [she is] not beautiful. [She hates herself] because [she is fat]” (Moore 7). Judith reveals her relationship with herself, she hates herself. Seeing that Judith thinks she is not beautiful, she has no self-esteem or self-love for herself. The perception of herself is distorted and reflects her self-esteem, which can be appointed to her childhood experiences and traumas. As well as the mother of Judith, Kathleen, whom she calls Mama. While living with Kathleen in New York ,before the summer of fourth grade Kathleen makes Judith strip down to her underwear and step on the white scale, the scales reads 124 pounds. Kathleen is furious and forces Judith to go on a starvation reducing diet, because “ [Kathleen says] it can not] go on, [ Judith] being fat as a goddamn pig. She [says] she [does not] even want to be seen in public with [Judith]” (Moore 113). Kathleen is ashamed of her daughter. Although her mother wants to help Judith and save her from further embarrassment, she is contributing to the lack of self- esteem within her daughter and substantially only thinking of how it affects more of herself rather than Judith. The relationship between Judith and her mother is toxic, not like any other mother- daughter relationship seeming more like a relationship between a bully and a child. Kathleen does not love her daughter as she should, verbally abusing her and bullying her because of her weight. Life at home for Judith is worse because , “truth [is] that [Kathleen is beginning] to beat [Judith] on a regular basis. [Beating Judith is beginning] to seem like part of a day’s work” (Moore 120). Further revealing her mother’s true colours: selfish, ruthless and detached. Also it shows the conflict between Kathleen and Judith, which is physical and verbal abuse. The abuse originating from the distaste Kathleen has for her daughter and her weight, signifying the lack of love Judith receives from her mother. Therefore, Judith’s childhood is difficult because she is not given the love she needs from her mother due to what she looks like. This damages her self-esteem and self-worth growing up without the love everyone deserves to grow.
Secondly, the motifs that Moore uses help to depict the struggle with a childhood being deprived of love and affection.
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
side.
The narrative perspective of the novel is the final component that shows how the absence of love contributes to her personal growth. The novel is written in first person; Judith is the main character and author. The experiences and traumas are written from her point of view. Judith sees a picture taken, without her known of it, on the wall. She believes that she looks good in the moment, but her confidence disappears. As Judith is accustomed to her body, “[she] often [does not] realize that [she is] fat, or how fat [she is]. When [she is] by [herself she does not] tend to think about how [she appears]. [She thinks] about what [she is] doing” (Moore 42). This allows the reader to feel empathy and sadness for Judith. Usually one who is fat only thinks about their weight, but Judith thinks past it when she is alone. Though the scarce love she receives reflects the fact that she considers her weight only when with other people and in different surroundings than ones in which she is comfortable. In addition, after Judith meets her dad for the first time in fourteen years at the age of eighteen she tries to have a relationship with her father. Though Judith and her father start to meet regularly she admits that, “[she is] never able to love him the way daughters can love fathers... [She feels] almost nothing other than dismay and grief and loss and shame about what [has] gone on between [them]” (Moore 190-191). Judith tries to have a relationship with her father but it is too difficult due to past experiences with him. He abandons her when she is four and does not try to connect, reflecting the lack of love she gets. Moreover, on the last page Moore addresses the reader and comments on her story saying, “[does not] want [the reader] to feel sorry for [her]. [She does not ] feel sorry for [herself]. [She is] what [she is]. [She is] glad [she] wrote [the book]” (Moore 196). Growing up without the critical affection in her young years, helps Judith become who she is, and she is proud of this woman.
Judith Moore has created an absence of love in Fat Girl through the use of the literary elements: character, motif and narrative perspective, resulting in her own personal development as a person and woman. Not only does character helps the reader to relate, motif allows the theme to be known and narrative perspective gives insight into how the character may feel or act in specific situations, while this all is present in the novel it also helps to portray a common theme. Although it is the struggles and obstacles one has to overcome to become stronger as a person, it is “the distance they [are] [traveling] from the point where they have started” (Beecher) that measures how far one has come in their journey.