This section of text from Marya Hornbacher’s 1998 memoir, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, is a first-hand account of her experiences with eating disorders throughout her life. This depiction of her on-going battle with anorexia and bulimia for over fourteen years establishes her familiarity with the topic while appealing to the emotions of the audience as they experience the perspective of a person who has struggled with negative body image, eating disorders, and insecurity. Furthermore, by detailing some of her own experiences—many of which from when she was a child—without establishing a definitive opinion on the implications of negative body image, Hornbacher allows the reader to arrive to their own conclusions about the real-life dangers of the over-glamourized standard for the “perfect” body and the addictiveness of the quest for thinness.
Hornbacher’s memoir was originally published nearly two decades ago, illustrating her experiences with eating disorders through the age of twenty-three; however, the content of her book is just as …show more content…
When this piece was published, it had personal relevance to the author; however in modern society, it divulges one of the many virulent aspects of society’s impact on body image, beauty standards, and the health of large populations that the general public frequently turns a blind eye to. What is perhaps the most unusual aspect of Hornbacher’s argument is a lack thereof. She does not explicitly state or outright establish a positon on the impossible expectations surrounding the ideal female body; however, she focuses the reader’s attention on her own childhood experiences with eating disorders and appeals to their emotions to successfully establish an implicit argument and prompt the audience to adopt their own views on the realities of eating
Hornbacher’s memoir was originally published nearly two decades ago, illustrating her experiences with eating disorders through the age of twenty-three; however, the content of her book is just as …show more content…
When this piece was published, it had personal relevance to the author; however in modern society, it divulges one of the many virulent aspects of society’s impact on body image, beauty standards, and the health of large populations that the general public frequently turns a blind eye to. What is perhaps the most unusual aspect of Hornbacher’s argument is a lack thereof. She does not explicitly state or outright establish a positon on the impossible expectations surrounding the ideal female body; however, she focuses the reader’s attention on her own childhood experiences with eating disorders and appeals to their emotions to successfully establish an implicit argument and prompt the audience to adopt their own views on the realities of eating