Grealy Character Analysis

Society imbedded in her the feeling of seeing herself as being ugly. “I was ugly, so people were going to make fun of me: I thought it was their right to do so simply because I was so ugly, so I’d just better get used to it. But I couldn’t.” (Grealy, Page 145) Man would constantly approach her because of her figure. Her face will make them openly make jokes and laugh at her. “I though I could use my body to distract people from my face.” (Grealy, Page 208) During her early years in school her peers did not seem to understand what Lucy was going through. They did not take the opportunity to know her for who she was. They just saw a girl with a disproportionate face. In college, she discovered the feeling of love towards others. “In sharp contrast to high school. I now possessed a large number of varied and decidedly wonderful friends, whom I valued immeasurably. Through them I discovered what it was to love people.” (Grealy, 195) In college she was accepted for who she was. Her face was not an impediment as it was during high school. The doctors who were involved in her case always gave her hope that her face will eventually become
In college, she somewhat finds herself and who she really is. She became infatuated with her face and how she could have her face back. Her disability was part of her identity because it was something that she saw everyday in the mirror. It was a part of her and made her who she was and how she managed herself. Her lack of confidence came from her disproportionate face, which she will hide with her hair. Over time when she is more comfortable in her own skin she cuts her hair and no longer has what protects her from the looks of others. “As a child I had expected my liberation to come from getting a new face to put on, but now I saw it came from shedding something, shedding my image.” (Grealy, 222) Through her journey she discovered that society wants you to be what they perceive as