Eating disorders are becoming a prominent illness in our society. More and more cases have been recorded every year since 1930, as reported by the National Eating Disorder Association or NEDA. The NEDA also reports that in 2011 there was 20 million women and 10 million men have by diagnosed with, dealing with, or recovering from an eating disorder. This is becoming more and more relevant to modern day society. Themes related to this illness are present in the books The Art of Racing in The Rain by Garth Stein and Still Alice by Lisa Genova. These themes are how illnesses affect personal relationships, how society does not know how to react to being diagnosed or just dealing with an illness, and how support groups impact recovery. Whether …show more content…
positive or negative, illnesses make an impact on personal relationships of those affected by the illness. Over the course of our unit, we have been introduced to two separate novels which discuss an illness. Although they discuss different illnesses, they both have textual evidence of how personal relationships change due to illnesses. In The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, the daughter of a cancer patient is forced to grow up faster than normal. In one part of the book, Zoe, the daughter, is playing with a doll and proceeds to cut off all of the dolls hair and draw a scar on her skull. Zoe then wraps up the doll's head and lays her down before saying “Now she can go to heaven” (Garth Stein, pg. 112). Although this is unusual for a child to say, it shows that the bond between the mother and daughter is strong enough for Zoe to let her mom go peacefully. In our other book Still Alice by Lisa Genova the protagonist is diagnosed with alzheimer's. Due to her lack of memory, many of her relationships within her family are going downhill very rapidly. In one portion of the book, Alice is trying to get John, her husband, to talk about what happens when her memory completely fails. John replies with “I don’t know if I can” (Lisa Genova, pg. 100). Shortly after this, John contemplates moving away from Alice in order to pursue his career. Although it is a selfish thing to do, John is showing signs that he has given up on maintaining a relationship with his wife due to her illness. Throughout the book, Alice continuously forgets her daughter Lydia is actually her daughter. This has lead Lydia to be bitter towards her mother, which results in Alice feeling guilty for her illness. This is another example of how people tend to push away those who are ill, rather than watch their health decrease. Overall, this theme is relevant to our project because it shows how necessary outside help is. The people who you have trusted for the majority or your life may one day decide they cannot handle seeing you in pain, and that’s when a support group will step in and help guide you towards a better future. Illness is and will always be present in the human race, if it weren't there there would be far too little space in the world for everyone.
Though illness is an important step in the development of the world society tends to react, oddly to illness. Whether said illness is physical, mental, or a mix of the two, people just don't know how to react to the issue of sickness. This is present in both class books in multiple ways. In The Art Of Racing On The Rain by Garth Stein one of the main characters is diagnosed with brain cancer, as a result the protagonist Denny has to deal with this in lots of ways, and it doesn't help much that when people are told of his struggle they awkwardly remove themselves from the situation. When Denny waits for the bus with Enzo and Zoë to go to school another father befriends him, but it finally gets to the point when the man asks about Denny's wife, he replies, ‘“She's recovering from brain cancer.” The man dipped his head sadly upon hearing the situation. After that day, whenever we went to the bus stop, the man made himself busy talking to other people or checking his phone,” (Stein 131). In Still Alice by Lisa Genova, the main character Alice has to resign as a researcher and professor of Harvard as she is diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's. As a result all the people she worked with previously had found out and one person in particular said, “Are you sure? You don't look any different.” (Genova 184). People always tend to believe illness entails that a person will somehow look different, obviously not always true, especially with mental illness. People always expect something to be different or something else to happen and that's not always true. Another part in The Art Of Racing In The Rain Eve finally comes home from being in the hospital and Enzo interprets it as, “I didn't like any of this, all the new furniture, Eve looking limp and sad, people standing around like Christmas without presents.” (Stein 118). All these
examples have similar parts that have to do with misconceptions on what it's like to have some sort of disease and disorder in life. With eating disorders people often think these are only 80 lb white girls who never eat, and it's much bigger than that. Men and women of all races suffer from illnesses, whether it be Alzheimer's, brain cancer, or an eating disorder, everyone can suffer and it's not always easy to notice. The best thing to do for these people suffering is just being there, not assuming the fake movie version of illness. Support groups can be very influential with any illness. In Still Alice by Lisa Genova the main character is greatly impacted by support groups. On page 223, it says “Alice felt unedited and truly heard. She felt normal.” Alice felt like this after her first support group that she constructed. She made this support group when the social worker told her that there was only support groups for caregivers. “We have a support group, but it's only for caregivers… I'm afraid we don't have the number to justify the resources it would take to get that kind of group up and running” (Genova, page 209). After finding this out Alice was disappointed and still lost. Whenever the social worker emailed her and told her the names of her potential support group “she began to feel the wondrous excitement…” (Genova, page 214). This overall shows that supports groups can have a powerful effect on those who are going through an illness. This theme connects to eating disorders because support groups are very important with this illness. It is very important to have support groups for each stage. This connects to the book because you can not just have a support group for caregivers, but also for the diagnosed. Overall, support groups are critical and to actually help they need to be directed toward the specific stage of the person’s illness. The themes connect to our topic because both of the books talk about how illnesses impact personal relationships. For Alice, in Still Alice, her family wasn't ready for receiving that news because they didn’t understand what was happening. They did not like it and did not know how to support her and deal with what she was going through. In The Art of Racing in The Rain, you can learn how illnesses can change how others think about you. The “twins” just wanted to prove that Denny was responsible for Eve’s death. To them, it was his fault and they tried to punish him for it. The same situation also showed us how the relationship between Denny and Eve became stronger. It also shows the effect on society it has by showing how people you don’t know can push you away. They feel bad for those with an illness and don't know what to say to them. They tend to just ignore them. Relationships can get stronger and you can see who actually cares for you by gaining their support. The last theme we found in the reading is how support groups impact recovery. By looking at groups they can help someone going through something stay informed about their illness and what kind of help they can get, and as Alice stated it gives people a since or normality. With these themes, we were able to realize that eating disorders are a form of an illness. They can get out of hand and potentially lead to death. We want to help whoever is in this situation and try to guide them through the road to recovery. Our goal is to get people to join our support group blog we started on Tumblr. It is good because most of these people are afraid of getting help and this is a simple and anonymous way for them to get help.
The Art of Racing in the Rain is, by far, the best book I have ever read. The story takes place in Seattle, Washington. It is told completely through a dog’s eyes. This special dog, Enzo, is adopted from a small farm in Washington when he is just a puppy. His view of life is interesting; Enzo only has gestures. He cannot communicate like humans can. Life is very humble and simple through the eyes of a dog.
Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a life-altering event. During this time, life is not only difficult for the patient, but also for their loved ones. Families must learn to cope together and to work out the best options for the patient and the rest of the family. Although it may not be fair at times, things may need to be centered on or around the patient no matter what the circumstance. (Abbott, 2003) Sacrifices may have to be made during difficult times. Many factors are involved when dealing with chronic illnesses. Coping with chronic illnesses alter many different emotions for the patients and the loved ones. Many changes occur that are very different and difficult to get used to. (Abbott, 2003) It is not easy for someone to sympathize with you when they haven’t been in the situation themselves. No matter how many books they read or people they talk to, they cannot come close to understanding.
Bordo creates a harrowing argument in her essay. “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” shows its greatest strengths when supported by the essayist’s emotional appeals, personal observations, and statistical evidence. In her keenness to employ real facts and statistics, paired with her rhetoric, Bordo grants relevancy to her claim. Providing clarity on the recent development of eating disorders, Bordo shows her ability to argue as she voices her deep concern. Indeed, Bordo’s use of many of the components of a strong argument in her essay accomplishes its goal. Ultimately, Bordo’s selection provides its audience with enough reason to consider or reconsider their stances. Suddenly, the globalization of eating disorders has become global in a new way—in the awareness of men and women all around the
The hit musical "Singin' in the Rain" may possibly be one of if not the greatest musicals of all time. With it's tale of the film world of the mid 1920's and its creative underlining love story between Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), it provokes the interest of someone who would not generally be attracted to a musical. It is a classic masterpiece that set the standards that musical films of today will be judged by. It is a classic performance by the great Gene Kelly and displays outstanding performances by Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor. As well as starring in this brilliant movie, Gene Kelly teams up with Stanley Donen to make their mark in film history.
Eating Disorders (EDs) are a series of often life-threatening mental health disorders which are commonly used as coping mechanisms or as ways to mask one’s problems. The causes of these illnesses are still being researched, and the effects they have on a person’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing can often be as long as the sufferer’s life.
Eating Disorders are on a rapid rise in the United States today, they sweep the halls of Junior High School, High Schools, College Campuses and even Elementary Schools. These disorders are often referred to by professionals as the “Deadly Diet,” however you may know them as Anorexia or Bulimia. Eating disorder effect more than 20% of young females and males in today’s society. Ranging in age from thirteen to forty. It is very rare for a child of a young age to not know someone who is suffering from an eating disorder or symptoms that are associated with one. Statistically it has been proven that one out of every five young woman suffer from serious issues dealing with eating and or weight. (Bruch, 25)
Eating disorders have been a part of the world’s culture ever since people began recording history. These disorders were first recorded in Egypt, where the Egyptians would partake in a monthly purge that would last anywhere from an hour to as long as two weeks. The Egyptians thought the purge showed their gods how faithful they were to them, and would often purge weekly if they had thought they had done something to displease the gods (Epstein 33). Though there are many individual specialized eating disorder conditions, three main disorders affect the majority of society today. These three disorders are anorexia n...
Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.
In civilized societies, there are continuous prizing of thinness than ever before. Occasionally, almost everyone is watchful of their weight. Individuals with an eating disorder take extreme measures to concern where they ultimately shift their mode of eating, this abnormal eating pattern threatens their lives and their well-being. According to Reel (2013), eating disorders are continually misapprehended as all about food and eating. However, there is more to that as the dysfunction bears from emotion concealing a flawed relationship with food, physical exercise and oneself. Persons with eating disorders convey fault-finding, poor self- esteem and intense body discontent. This can lead to extreme distress of gaining weight,
An eating disorder is a disturbance in a person’s eating habits, it can be from eating extremely to having a strict diet where one consumes tiny amounts of food. People with eating disorders are not satisfied with their body shape or size. They use food to try to control the way they look by overeating or not eating at all. Studies have shown that females are affected by eating disorders more often than males, but there still is a 10-15% of men that are affected by these disorders. (Eating Disorder Statistics, 2014)
Mankiller, Wilma. "Eating Disorders." The Reader's Companion to Women's History. N.p.: n.p., 1998. N. pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
The Globalization of Eating Disorders by Susan Bordo was a powerful article addressing the subject of eating disorders. The purpose of Bordo’s article was to bring the issue of eating disorders into a new light. Bordo proposes the claim that the increase of eating disorders is attributed to the images and media surrounding us. She provides specific examples and evidence of this to be true. She also not only shows the spread of this epidemic in women, but men as well.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness; 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from eating disorders and only 1 in 10 of those 24 million are treated (ANAD). Eating disorders do not discriminate; all ages, genders, ethnicities and races can be victim to this mental illness. It’s important to be aware of the impact eating disorders have on societies across the globe and how the media plays a role if we want to fight the source and promote prevention and/or rehabilitation. I’ve known many people in my life who have some sort of eating disorder, whether it’s anorexia(not eating enough), binge eating(eating large amounts of food rapidly), bulimia (throwing up their food) or just struggling with an unsatisfying self-image. Becoming aware of eating disorders and how they are developed is important to me because in a perfect world, I would like to see this illness become less common or diminished completely among those that I love and anyone else in today’s society. Eating disorders hit home for many people, including myself. Raising awareness may decrease the rate of eating disorders by informing the population of the harm this illness causes and hopefully promote prevention and/or rehabilitation. With the 3 theoretical approaches used by sociologists, Eating disorders can be understood which will better inform society on how to raise awareness, prevent this illness and help those who suffer from eating disorders.
The video call what is So Funny about Mental Illness? Presented by Ruby Wax on TED talks said that “How come every other organ in your body can get sick and you get sympathy, except the brain?” When the person coughing or bleeding everybody would pay attention and help them, but when they cannot see the illness or when it is about feeling people and society can be very insensitive and see it as a weakness or
In today’s world anorexia is a highly known eating disorder that people have several assumptions about. It is no secret that Anorexia is spreading through our society like wild fire. The statistics have increasingly soared through the last decade and more people are becoming concerned with the dangerous issue. “It is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men”, and that “One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia” (DMH). Many suggest that anorexia is a disease that can be passed down through generations, but others like, Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber, author of “The Spread of the Cult of Thinness”, argue that this is an eating disorder that is a result of self infliction. There are several different approaches when considering how to label Anorexia that should be brought into consideration. Findings show that anorexia nervosa should be categorized as a type of an eating disorder, not as a disease.