Carmen Maria Machado’s “Eight Bites” is a lyrical story told by a woman who has become dissatisfied with her body, and she decides to follow her sisters by having bariatric surgery. She wants to be “normal” like her mother had been, although her mother was not normal, as we see by her taking only eight bites of food. “She always said eight bites are all you need, to get the sense of what you are eating.” (pg.151) Society has pressured women into believing they must look a certain way, weigh a specific amount, and wear a particular size to be attractive. Many women will go to extreme measures to live up to these expectations, from fad diets, bulimia, and anorexia to bariatric surgery. These actions, in reality, are usually empty and unsuccessful in finding the happiness that is being sought.
A body ruined from childbirth and her daughter’s lack of involvement in her life have diminished the narrator’s self-worth and prompted her grief. “When did my child sour? I didn’t remember the process, the top-down tumble from sweetness to curdled anger. She was furious constantly; she was all accusation.” (pg.158) Relationships between women, whether it be mothers, daughters, sisters, or female friends, influence who women want to become and how they should look.
One might think that the fantastic is the presence that has occupied — or once did — the homes of the sisters. I would have to disagree. My reasoning is that addictions, whether food, alcohol or drugs, are lifelong struggles that can haunt a person and are a common occurrence for those who suffer and struggle with dependencies. However, I believe the bizarre is that women seek happiness by the standards set by society only to realize that we must find ways to love ourselves as we are.
The narrator envisions her entity staying with her to walk her off at her death. She states, “She will outlive my daughter, and my daughter’s daughter, and the earth will teem with her and her kind, their inscrutable forms and unknowable destinies.” (pg.167) This statement implies that the chain will not break, and society will continue to control the expectations of what makes a woman beautiful.
I agree with this in every sense. I think that not just society is an influence but also the people in our lives. It was her older sisters’ images that inspired her to get the surgery. Everything can have such an impact on women that men just don’t understand and never will. That’s why women are dating in “Real Women Have Bodies” and not men.
Wendy,
I really enjoyed reading your approach to this story and I completely agree. Especially when you write:
“My reasoning is that addictions, whether food, alcohol or drugs, are lifelong struggles that can haunt a person and are a common occurrence for those who suffer and struggle with dependencies. However, I believe the bizarre is that women seek happiness by the standards set by society only to realize that we must find ways to love ourselves as we are.”
I feel as if constant validation of the physical appearance for women can also be addictive or a dependency.