Monica Woods - Disappearing (Overview - Business Office 4)
If you lot want to read an introduction which includes a link to the story, a curt biography of the author, the setting of the floor every bit good every bit the characters that interact inwards it, click here.
Part 2 deals with the plot in addition to the "growth" procedure through which Wood intimates how destructive others tin hold upwards in addition to how -- every bit traumatizers -- they tin permanently stunt evolution (to read that, click here).
Part 3 close the story's indicate of sentiment in addition to symbolism tin hold upwards establish here.
For literary analyses of poems in addition to other stories, click on the icon below.
Monica Wood - Disappearing
Themes
- body image
- modern man’s fixation on external appearance
- the narrator mentions exterior characteristics related to those only about her but never anything close their personality
- epidemic of trunk shaming which says sth close people’s lack of empathy + honor towards others
- extreme preoccupation with someone’s outside features rather than the person’s truthful character
- comment made close who is to blame for people’s obsession with the trunk (vs. the mind):
- the media?
- advertising?
- family (lack of proper moral upbringing)?
- peer pull per unit of measurement area (e.g. blondes at the swimming pool)?
- the fashion industry?
- Wood too ties the number of how nosotros consider our bodies with how nosotros experience close ourselves in addition to how nosotros consider our future
- in her search for acceptance, the narrator disregards her wellness
- ironically, though the narrator is fixated on how she looks, she doesn’t consider what she is letting herself larn every bit she wastes away
- this disregard of herself reflects society’s disregard for her (her husband’s, Lettie’s in addition to swimming instructor’s indifference towards the destination of the story)
- the narrator wishes to larn invisible / to disappear because she wants to negate her ain image: since gild is in addition to then bent on placing value only on one’s outward appearance, the narrator snubs her olfactory organ at gild past times invalidating its veneration of the body
- therefore, the narrator’s determination to comprehend anorexia is the deplorable trial of traumatic experience but could too hold upwards seen every bit the only (tragically) brave reaction to society’s norms
- assistance
- this floor stresses the absence of empathy + populace back upwards mechanisms to heighten populace awareness in addition to assistance those suffering from eating disorders
- criticism falls on random individuals, theatre unit of measurement units every bit good every bit communities
- the inquiry asked is: where tin such people plough to for help?
- the narrator has no assist from
- her immediate surround (her husband, her boy who isn’t fifty-fifty mentioned, her daughter-in-law)
- her friend Lettie, who abandons her completely in addition to calls her “uppity”
- her community: the redhead teacher should conduct maintain asked to a greater extent than questions to observe out who this adult woman she says she knows from somewhere is; she should conduct maintain seen her daily puddle visits every bit an obsession
- another inquiry is: how practice nosotros realize it’s fourth dimension to inquire for assist when nosotros are experiencing difficulties?
- the narrator’s occupation was non only the bullying she barbarous victim to, but too her inability to plough to someone for help
- she repeats that her hubby in addition to Lettie “don’t believe” her when she says she’s non doing it only to lose weight, but she doesn’t explicate to them what the existent argue is:
- she says Lettie “couldn’t imagine” pregnant she doesn’t explicate anything to her
- she tells her hubby close “other men inwards the water” instead of what she feels inside
- therefore, though Wood is telling us that nosotros every bit a gild or every bit individuals are to blame, those who are experiencing eating disorders experience such shame (after beingness set downward past times everyone) that they would rather stay invisible (even if this way dying) than seek the assist of others
- silence
- the notion of quiet acts almost similar a motif throughout the story
- silence of the narrator who doesn’t tell anyone close her truthful goal
- silence of those only about her who don’t intervene to assistance her
- silence of a failed marriage: the hubby only lies inwards bed in addition to “could hold upwards dead he’s in addition to then far away”
- silence of watching men on TV for in addition to then many years in addition to non beingness noticed past times those only about you
- silence of lowering yourself in addition to swimming inwards the puddle (without noisily splashing) which becomes a longing the narrator has
- silence of non beingness able to tell “no” to her husband
- silence of the puddle people whom the hubby calls after he says he’s going to set the narrator inwards hospital
- silence of the puddle the 24-hour interval earlier a holiday:
“It was echoey quiet only me in addition to the silent empty puddle … I lowered myself in addition to then wearisome … but non a ripple non i audio in addition to every bit I was nether inwards that other quiet, in addition to then tranquility some tears got out …”
- note that the narrator says “that other quiet”: in that place is tranquility inwards a higher house H2O because in that place is no existent communication occurring which is likewise reflected nether the water’s surface
- the tragedy of the situation: living with people in addition to non beingness able to communicate meaningfully with them, living inwards quiet for in addition to then long that nosotros larn used to it in addition to long for it after some time
- acknowledgment / recognition vs. beingness invisible to others
- people demand to belong, hold upwards accepted: disorders arise when this isn’t possible
- sooner or subsequently the narrator is pushed aside or altogether ignored past times everyone she comes into contact with: her husband, Lettie, redhead instructor, blondes at the pool, men she meets, puddle lifeguard, her daughter-in-law, her boy who is non fifty-fifty mentioned inwards the story
- why is the demand for recognition in addition to then strong?
- being acknowledged affirms one’s identity + sense of existence
- if others process you lot every bit invisible, you lot don’t experience you lot be
- a person’s sense of identity originates from his/her beingness accepted past times others
- acknowledgment creates a bond betwixt 2 people, fifty-fifty a casual, superficial i which way some shape of communication is present
- if I admit you, it way you lot affair to some extent: this makes you lot experience worthy, esteemed (to a greater or lesser extent depending on who the individual is in addition to the character of their attentions towards you)
- being acknowledged only for your appearance is a way of devaluing a person’s existence
- the narrator inwards Wood’s floor non only has to bargain with people who alone consider her superficially in addition to spend upwards to recognize her every bit someone who has a personality in addition to a heart, but too with people who mock her outward appearance
- in other words, the narrator is stripped of her essence and, left with only her trunk to concern human relationship for her worth, is humiliated for her obesity (she is devalued inwards 2 ways, hence -- hence her want to larn invisible)
