The Fat Girl

What factors besides Louise’s mother contribute to the development of her body image issues, secrecy, and troubled relationship with food and eating? Use evidence from the text to support your position.

Throughout the text, Louise’s relationship with food (especially candy bars) is compared to pornography, sex, and infidelity. What is the significance of this, and how does this add to your understanding of Louise? Use examples and evidence from the text to craft your answer.

Carrie is probably Louise’s closest friend who is mentioned in the story. How does the text frame her decision to put Louise on an extreme diet? Use textual evidence to develop your answer.

On the day before Louise starts her diet, Carrie allows her to eat whatever she wants from the dining hall. No one notices the large amounts of food on Louise’s plate, and she feels there is a message in this that she can’t grasp. What do you think the message was? Does Louise learn it by the end of the story? Use evidence from the story to support your response.

Louise’s mother and Carrie both want Louise to lose weight so that she can experience romantic love. When Louise loses weight and marries Richard, do she and Richard ever truly love each other? Explain using evidence from the text.

When Louise loses weight, she feels different (mentally, not just physically), and others also treat her differently. To what extent is Louise actually a different person when her body is thin versus fat? Use evidence from the text to support your argument.

Many traditional stories with “happy endings” conclude with a marriage, whereas this one concludes with an impending divorce. However, Louise seems quite content at the end of the story. Does this story frame Louise’s ending as a happy or sad one? Use examples from the text to explain your position.

How does the experience of motherhood change Louise? What is the significance of her having a child, in light of the story’s broader themes? Use textual evidence to develop your essay.