Fat Girl

Alina Haseeb
Mrs. Smith
AP Lang 11-2
4 December 2012
Fat Girl; A True Story Raymond Hull once wrote, “He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away”. Never change to satisfy another. The way other people voice their opinion should not matter, be true and be live happily. It is nearly impossible to please everyone. In Fat Girl; A True Story, Judith Moore tells her story. She tells an epic story about how she overcame fear of being herself. Sometimes it is not about fighting diseases and going through tragedy to overcome self-consciousness, sometimes it is what it is and there is nothing to do about it. Judith Moore uses quite a bit of rhetorical strategy throughout her novel. Her most effective strategy had to have been ethos. She is telling her story. Her story is not fun, it is not happy. There is no happy ending; it makes the reader feel sorrow and pain for her. “Mama said this was it, this was the final straw how fat I was. I would be going on the strictest diet ever. By then I was eleven and I had been on many diets” (Moore 178). This is a story on how an eleven year old girl was being bullied by her mother because she was a little over weight. She is being put on diets at the age of ELEVEN. This does so much harm mentally to such a small child. Moore is appealing to the emotions of the reader, she is making them feel hurt for her, and it does. The argument Moore made was that, no matter how hard someone tries to fight it, no matter how much they diet or attempt to please everyone, it will never happen. Just be happy with who they are. Personally, the argument made is very valid. It is impossible to please everyone that judges the individual person. There is no point in trying too. As the reader, feelings towards the author’s argument have been agreed with all throughout. The opinion made while interpretation the beginning of the novel is exactly how it is towards the end. Judith Moore had a effective point in saying that people will never be happy, so just be true. To ever be able to write the way Judith Moore does would be incredible. She has such a strong voice, and such a good story to tell. If being eligible to write with such fascinating rhetorical strategies in writing would be great. The way she uses ethos really draws the reader into her writing. She uses logos very well too, because she knows what she is talking about. She has experienced it, her story is very confirming. Using her writing effectively would make pieces of writing much stronger and add better purpose to the piece.