Literature Studies: The Fat Girl by Andre Dubus Essay

The Fat Girl is a short story created by American writer Andre Dubus in 1995. On the one hand, it is an ordinary story about a girl, Louise, who has problems with her weight, and who cannot find the necessary portion of understanding with her parents and friends. On the other hand, The Fat Girl seems to be a powerful narration, where the issues of culture and identity touch upon each other and destroy child’s self-confidence.

Cultural impact on a personality is considerable indeed; and when a person, like Louis, is weak or unable to understand what she wants, her struggle and the desire to learn her identity better are equal to zero. The Fat Girl has a specific plot that helps to understand the connection between culture and identity and define the power of culture over identity through the discussions about the image of American body, its influence on the ordinary life, and the ability to create the existing norms and rules.

The story’s plot is specific that helps to understand that culture influences society more than identity itself. The Fat Girl begins with a description of relations between Louise and other people. Author’s attention to the details of how other people treat the girl helps to realize that the story is not about the girl herself; it is about the way of how other people see her. From the very first lines, the author shows how powerful the idea of cultural dependence can be.

Louise’s life is built on other people’s points of view: a drunken boy, who “jammed his tongue into her mouth and ran his hands up and down her lips” (Dubus 233), her father, who “looked at her the lights of love and pity” (Dubus 233), or her mother, who provides her with a number of hints on how to live and meet new people and says that “if you’re fat the boys won’t like you; they won’t ask you out” (Dubus 233).

It is hard to understand whether the girl ever thinks about herself independently and tries to figure out her identity without the opinions of other people. The effects of culture are clear and evident. It is not only about Louise’s inability to control her nutrition or have an appropriate body image. The respects or even a kind of dependency over culture becomes the obsession of the main character that proves her weak identity and powerlessness to get the desirable body image and correspond to the cultural norms expected.

In fact, American body image is a cultural aspect that makes many people reevaluate the idea of life and human needs that cannot be neglected. It does not have certain norms according to which it may be coined. People like to look at beautiful bodies, clean skin, and appropriate forms.

However, there are many people, who are too fat, or too thin, or too tall. It is wrong to believe that such people are bad or inappropriate just because of their body image. For example, Louise’s father explains her extra-weight as a possibility to have more body to be in love with. This is why not all people define obesity as a sign that a person cannot live with. In The Fat Girl, the author introduces a group of people, who truly believe that overweight is something unacceptable and even wrong.

Louise’s mother, high school friends, and boys do not want to see a fat girl close to them because eating is considered as “a vice that was insular and destructive” (Dubus 235). They introduce the example of how culture may prevail over identity. As a result, Louise also defines her body ugly and her life miserable. She does not like and does not want to look at her body. As people start identifying Louise by her weight, she does the same and gets bothered with what she eats and how much she weighs.

The search of an identity that is demonstrated by the main character of The Fat Girl may serve as a powerful example of how identity may prevail upon culture sometimes. When Louise gets help from her roommate Carrie and starts losing her weight, she believes that her slim body is her chance to improve her life and become a considerable part of this world. Again, her identity depends on how it is explained by another person.

Though Carrie wants to help Louise become better physically, she does nothing to her emotional state. Louise can be slim and attractive for many men. People around may be fascinated with her body. Louise gets a chance to enjoy the world around. However, Louise is not satisfied with the results she achieves even if they prove that culture influences society better than identity. She is not sure whether she likes herself being thin with a husband like it is expected by her mother.

The conclusion of the story proves that her true identity is to be “a girl whose hapless body was destined to be fat” (Dubus 235). She cannot even understand that her happiness is to be what she wants to be but not what other people expect from her. Louis is not defeated by her struggle. She has finally got a chance to pay attention to herself and follow her dreams and needs. She should not be like the others want her to be. Sometimes, it is enough to be herself and neglect all cultural norms.

In spite of the fact that identity plays an important role in human life, the role of culture remains to be crucial indeed. People cannot even guess how dependent society can be over cultural effects. They like to think that it is they, who define the quality of life, the norms to be followed, and the rules to be met.

However, they do not want to mention that culture becomes an independent body that runs the way of life. The Fat Girl is an example of how a person may be weak in spite of all those cultural norms set, how it is possible to prove the worth of personal identity, and which challenges and losses have to be expected.

Of course, it is possible to find out the identity and prove the rights to its existence. However, it is never possible to be sure about the outcomes of such an achievement. Like a lottery, there is always a chance to win a lot or to lose everything.

In general, The Fat Girl is a kind of explanation of how people should identify themselves in regards to culture and society they have to live in. Though it is believed that it is correct to follow some cultural norms to become a respectable part of society, people should never forget about their own needs, interests, and demands.

Culture and identity are not always compatible, and people can do nothing with this fact. Dubus’ story helps to understand that culture influences human life more than identity. In spite of all Louise’s falls and rises, her meetings and partings, she stays alone with her identity and shows how powerless in front of culture that creates its own rules for people to be followed.

Works Cited

Dubus, Andre. “The Fat Girl.” Selected Stories. New York, NY: Vintage, 1995. 233-247. Print.