Eating disorders are a scary
concept. The phrase, eating disorder,
can point your mind in so many directions. Body image, starvation, puking, afraid,
illness, are all words that come to mind.
When I read “The Hungry Self,” by Kim Chernin, that phrase was mentioned
many times. However, when she wrote
“eating disorder” none of the reader’s minds were thinking body image,
starvation, puking, afraid, illness, they were focused on her clear definitions
of what an eating disorder was.
In
the book, “The Hungry Self,” the overall focus of the text was to help people
understand what an eating disorder is.
Chernin wrote about its roots to its side effects, she wanted us to have
an in-depth meaning as to what it’s like to confuse eating and identity.
Chernin gave us direct examples of many women
in an eating crisis. One woman she
described was a woman named Anita.
Anita’s story included not only background to her life but her present
condition and situation. This shows that
Chernin was genuinely interested in getting her reader to see the big picture,
as I mentioned above. In addition to
Anita’s story we also got a glimpse of Chernin’s own struggles and problems. Chernin had gone through an eating problem
herself and explained how this helped her empathize with victims and the
readers.
The
author wants the reader to find comfort in her book. “The Hungry Self,” was written to help women
understand the balance of body image and eating, and all the examples and
details given can help the reader better their view of eating disorders. When I
read “The Hungry Self,” I though that it was essentially the truth about the
way women see themselves and the world. Chernin
got me to feel that way through various craft moves. First, the author wrote a general statement
about women and their habts. She wrote
in one chapter, “When women look at themselves in the mirror, they begin to
believe that their body defines them…” Whether you agree or disagree with the
last statement, Chernin wanted to back it up.
She then went into how a woman might feel when looking into that mirror,
after that example I immediately agreed. Why? Because the example was so
general and specific at the same time that anyone could empathize. This technique was used many times over the
course of the book when any controversial claim came up.
“The
Hungry Self,” has taught me many things. It
has taught me the dangers of eating disorders, so I now want to better the
relationship between who I am and how my body looks. The book also shaped my thinking of eating
disorders. I used to think that it was a
temporary sickness that could easily be treated medically, but now I know that
an eating disorder never really goes away because at one point it consumed
you. After reading this book, I now want
to know more about the specific treatment people receive. I want to research therapeutic methods or the
special type of psychological counseling they must do.
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