In Stick Figure by Lori Gottlieb the main character Lori is trying to make her legs look skinnier. Visiting her family in Washington,DC she talked to Katie the girl her age. Katie and her mother never ate much just like Lori's mother. After the visit Lori began to notice things about her size and how some body parts looked more than usual. She is beginning to miss meals but her parents, especially her father is getting upset with her. They feel like she is just playing around. Although, Lori's mother sort of set the idea of this "diet" in her Lori's head just from living with her and by her to be saying that it's just a little game that she is playing is hypocritical and makes no sense.
Lori never gets to say what she wants to say, her perspective is always missing. Whenever she wants to say something it is either not important enough to listen to or they could care less about it. For example when her family and her are back at the hotel, Lori's mom compliments her on being such a lady at their family's house. Then Lori starts to talk about if Katie's mom stuffs junk food in her mouth like her mom did but then her mom told her she wasn't being a lady anymore. Her mom kind of guilted her to stop talking. Maybe what she was saying was a bit rude but it doesn't mean she should feel bad because she was wondering about something.
This lack of attention and carelessness is going to make her worse. They are already oblivious to the fact that she is skipping meals on purpose. They won't notice that she is becoming thinner and thinner and doesn't feel comfortable with her body. If they gave her the strength to be confident in everything she does she wouldn't be skipping meals and thinking that she was a little on the heavy side as an eleven year old.
I really liked reading your blog post! I think the points you made were really strong, especially that the lack of attention is going to make the character worse. I completely agree with you, that it is completely unfair that someone is silenced at the times when they really do need to speak. In my opinion, having a voice and being able to vocalize your problems is one of the most important things when you are going through something serious like Lori clearly is in your book. Do you think that if her parents were really aware of how serious everything going on was, that they would help her? Or do you think it's just their characteristics and personalities that they are blocking Lori out unfairly-- just because they don't care, as opposed to honestly being unaware?
ReplyDeleteYour blog post is very good. I really find it interesting how its the main characters point of view that is missing. Usually it is a secondary character. what i am wondering is how her lacking point of view influences the actions of the characters in the story? Does she ever get to speak out later in the story? Or does it stay the way it is?
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