Stick Figure Lit. Essay

Leila Henry 805

In the book “Stick Figure”, the main character, Lori develops and eating disorder called anorexia. The disease spirels from not eating breakfast one day, to not eating at all in just a couple of months. Lori’s reasoning for not eating any more is flawed because she is blinded by the stereotypical skinny women and wanting to be exactly like them. Lori could have gotten better faster if her family, in particularly her mother, and friends were more understanding and aware of Lori’s situation and Lori as a person.

If Lori’s mother understood Lori more as a child from the beginning, Lori might have never begun dieting in the first place or at least had a speedier recovery.  Lori’s mother was constantly on a diet and never ate that much at all. She did this in front of Lori so it was obvious that Lori might pick up on a few of her mother’s habits. Though her mother probably didn’t even need to start dieting, it was different for her because it was less dangerous. Her mother was clearly a grown adult and it is safer to diet when your body has fully grown because when you are a kid you need more food. However, her mom still hardly ever eats, it is possible that she also has an eating disorder because she is constantly thinking about what she eats and eats the bare minimum. In addition, she was commenting on everything that Lori ate, or didn’t eat. Lori never seemed to trust her mother’s judgement thought because her mother was old and didn’t understand the new trends.  In addition, her mother had never really been supportive of Lori at all. For example, “But now all of my friends are starting to get curious about wearing makeup, so now even my mom thinks I’m unique because I couldn’t care less about the whole thing.” If Lori’s mom understood Lori better and talked to her as more of a friend and less like a daughter, Lori would have felt less alone. In addition, Lori’s mom was a bad role model for Lori. For example, she always had magazines around that left a bad impression on Lori. For example, “One of Mom’s magazines says that if you have “dishwater brown” hair, you should take that “boring” hair and make it more “exciting” by dyeing it red or platinum blonde.” Lori had brown hair so this made her feel worthless and boring.

At school Lori almost had no friends because she was a “nerd”. It was almost as if Lori started to eat less because she wanted attention from the girls at her school who were also trying to lose weight. The girls at her school only reinforced the stereotype of being a really skinny women even more. Those girls make Lori believe that she can always be a little skinnier.  Lana and Lindsey were one of the main reasons Lori stopped eating her lunch because one day, Lori noticed that “Lana and Lindsey have started to throw away their lunches”. This made Lori think that maybe if she also threw away her lunch she will finally be skinny and pretty and people would like her more. Lori is never skinny enough for herself because she is always comparing herself to her peers.

Throughout the book, all of Lori’s actions just show that she is so sad and lonely and she just needs to impress her friends and family to be accepted. Though her body shape is changing on the outside, her mind is not. She believes that as long as she is weighing something, she can always lose something and it is not healthy and this issue could have been solved earlier if the people around Lori understood her more.