Review of Stearns’ Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West :: essays research papers

Wow, I mean, your sister, she’s so fat that when she wears a yellow raincoat, people shout out, â€Å"Taxi!† Your brother, gosh, he’s so fat that his driver’s license says, â€Å"Picture continued on the other side!† About your mother, well, she’s so fat that when she walks in front of the television, you miss out on three commercials! I’m tellin’ ya! Fat!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Those humorous one-liners are just a few of the many out there. In the United States today, we are obviously obsessed with weight, but how did this cultural craze with heaviness start? When and why, even? Are we the only ones? Peter N. Stearns is a Carnegie Mellon history professor and dean, and in his book Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West, he explores and compares the weight-consciousness over the past century in both the United States (arguably the most obese Western country today) and France (arguably the slimmest); he also attempts at explaining why such contrariety exists between these two countries, despite both being heavily infatuated with body and beauty. It is Stearns’ stance that this modern struggle against fat is actually very deeply rooted within our American culture, and dieting and rampant hostility toward the obese continue to become one of the underlying themes in our society today. He also notes the differences in attitud es toward the obese in both countries. He does not really believe that the French approach to obesity could so readily be adopted in the United States, but possibly recognizing a different attitude may help to later reshape the views and opinions that have been formed this past century in our society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With respect to the United States, Stearns reveals that before the 1890s plumpness was healthy and in fact preferred over frailness; full-figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s were linked to successful motherhood and were indeed quite fashionable. In the decade just before 1900, however, as we became more sedentary, fashion changed, and dress sizes became standardized, greater attention was drawn toward the more oddly shaped bodies, possibly creating a new public concern for body weight, especially for women. Fat-controlling devices like â€Å"reducing corsets†, dieting gimmicks such as Kissiengen water, and other advertisements for products to help against weight also began to spread during this time period. Morality even came into play, as obese individuals were seen to not only be lazy and weak but also on their way toward what one may call â€Å"fat hell†. Review of Stearns’ Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West :: essays research papers Wow, I mean, your sister, she’s so fat that when she wears a yellow raincoat, people shout out, â€Å"Taxi!† Your brother, gosh, he’s so fat that his driver’s license says, â€Å"Picture continued on the other side!† About your mother, well, she’s so fat that when she walks in front of the television, you miss out on three commercials! I’m tellin’ ya! Fat!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Those humorous one-liners are just a few of the many out there. In the United States today, we are obviously obsessed with weight, but how did this cultural craze with heaviness start? When and why, even? Are we the only ones? Peter N. Stearns is a Carnegie Mellon history professor and dean, and in his book Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West, he explores and compares the weight-consciousness over the past century in both the United States (arguably the most obese Western country today) and France (arguably the slimmest); he also attempts at explaining why such contrariety exists between these two countries, despite both being heavily infatuated with body and beauty. It is Stearns’ stance that this modern struggle against fat is actually very deeply rooted within our American culture, and dieting and rampant hostility toward the obese continue to become one of the underlying themes in our society today. He also notes the differences in attitud es toward the obese in both countries. He does not really believe that the French approach to obesity could so readily be adopted in the United States, but possibly recognizing a different attitude may help to later reshape the views and opinions that have been formed this past century in our society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With respect to the United States, Stearns reveals that before the 1890s plumpness was healthy and in fact preferred over frailness; full-figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s were linked to successful motherhood and were indeed quite fashionable. In the decade just before 1900, however, as we became more sedentary, fashion changed, and dress sizes became standardized, greater attention was drawn toward the more oddly shaped bodies, possibly creating a new public concern for body weight, especially for women. Fat-controlling devices like â€Å"reducing corsets†, dieting gimmicks such as Kissiengen water, and other advertisements for products to help against weight also began to spread during this time period. Morality even came into play, as obese individuals were seen to not only be lazy and weak but also on their way toward what one may call â€Å"fat hell†.

Oprah Winfrey’s 2008 Stanford Speech

This speech was about three lessons that Oprah Winfrey has come across in her professional and personal life. She talked about striving to be yourself and not anyone else and how you can grasp failure and turn it around by embracing it and finding the solution, and lastly how happiness comes when you give back to others. Her first lesson was about striving to be your own self; she talked about in the beginning of her professional career when she had a job in Baltimore as a news anchor. She was constantly holding Barbara Walters as the image she wanted to be in her career and wanted to be like.So she was always trying to talk like Barbara, look like Barbara and act like Barbara†¦ And she kept getting it wrong. She felt the need to be spontaneous and more of herself when she would read some of the headings†¦. Especially upsetting headings with disasters involved. So she would sometimes not pre-read any of headings until she was live so it would come across more realistic. She once covered a story of a horrible fire and afterwards ran to the scene and helped the fire victims by providing blankets. She never lost her empathy.She ran into some barriers during this job that ultimately helped her find her true purpose in life. The first barrier was that her boss let her know that they did not like the way she looked, and that they wanted to give her a new name that they thought would be more â€Å"friendly† and would be remembered by the public. She refused to change her name but did try to improve her looks by getting a perm that eventually made her hair fall out. She was let go from her position as the news anchor and placed on a talk show instead. It was there on the talk show that she felt she was at home and knew she had found her purpose in her life.So here she learned that she should never try to be anyone other than herself†¦ and that when you are doing something you are supposed to do you will feel right about it. She referred to it as f eeling â€Å"at home†. Her second lesson was about embracing your failures and leaning with them instead of resisting them to find the solution. She talked about some of her failures and how she gained from them instead of being devastated. She mentioned her job loss in Baltimore†¦ at first she was upset but it turned out to be one of the best things to have ever happened to her because out of t she would up on a television show and found her place in her future HUGE professional life. She talked about how your gut can tell you a lot. When you are doing something you’re supposed to be doing your gut will let you know it. When you’re doing something you probably shouldn’t be doing, your gut will also tell you. Something just won’t feel right. That there is an inner voice inside you that you must follow and that it guides you through life. She calls is â€Å"life’s whisper†. Oprah stressed that when devastation hits you, take a ste p back and ask â€Å"what is this trying to teach me? She told the story of building a school in Africa for girls and took so much effort into making sure the building was perfect for the girls. Then she found out that one of the dorm matrons was suspected of sexually abusing the girls. She expressed how devastating this was to her and that she had to take a step back and ask herself what was the lesson here? She realized she was paying attention to all the wrong things. That she built that school from outside in, when what really mattered was the inside. She also expressed that she feels you never stop learning.She was referring to the graduates of Stanford that their education journey does not end her and that looks to the earth as a huge school never ending learning experience, and that she is still learning to this day. She went over a few quotes by her father and by BB King. Her last lesson was about giving back to others. And in order to be happy you MUST give back to others. And with that comes happiness. It gives you gratitude and makes you feel good. She also said to be a part of something bigger than yourself because life is a reciprocal exchange.She expressed that giving back is the greatest lesson of all to her. She talked about how in her career how she has given back in numerous amounts of ways and gave advice for whenever you’re in a mess, you help someone else get out of a mess†¦ whenever you are in pain, help someone else in pain, whenever you have a loss help someone else with a loss†¦. She talked about how the founders of Stanford University lost their son and how they took their pain and sorrow and channeled it into grace and started the University and helped other people with children like their son.She told the students that whatever their career may be that they use their ability to help others and pass along greatness. She ended with a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote. Speech Analysis Oprah gained the audience’s at tention right away because she is a widely known influential media leader. She is the Oprah Winfrey. She started by telling the audience she had a secret and that one of the students Kirby (Gail King’s daughter) was her god daughter and gave a quick story of how she knows Kirby and how proud she was of her god daughter for graduating.This was also part of an attention getter. Oprah used good eye contact and her voice manner was very pronounced and sure of herself. She is obviously a very experienced speaker, being Oprah. She used humor throughout her speech such as saying â€Å"Stanford† with a serious tone in her voice. She kept her speech very relatable to the graduates of Stanford by talking about her professional career and all her goals she met and would occasionally talk to them specifically and give them advice about when they go out in their career how they can help, or not to give up because of failures, etc.Oprah had good body gestures and moved her arms arou nd when talking, gave great pauses for emphasis and looked around at the audience. She did not seem to read her speech word for word, but rather just glance down at her notes and just speak freely of her own experiences. She talked a lot about her college career in the beginning of her speech which also gained attention from the graduates. O Oprah’s vocal tone was as always, inviting and I think that really kept the audience engages and very attentive towards her and what she was saying even though her speech was pretty long (30 min).Oprah was never repetitive and her examples were very witty and relatable. She gave each audience member two books from inspirational writers that she claimed helped her with her own life. She joked with the audience saying she wished she could have gotten everyone cars, but couldn’t pull it off. Oprah’s speech was very inspirational, impacting and I believe left a huge impression and impact on those 2008 graduates’ lives. I loved the speech and am happy I watched it and picked this one to analyze.

The Kite Runner Essay - 1476 Words

The Kite Runner Reading for leisure provides valuable insight into the author’s imagination or prior experience giving the reader a different perspective on a certain topic or culture. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, we are introduced into a world of privilege in Afghanistan for the main character, Amir, combated with his best friend and half brother Hassan, their lowly Hazara servant. The two boys were raised together but being a Hazara is seen as an inferior race to many of the other more privileged Afghan boys, in particular a vile aggressive boy named Assef. The novel gets its name from a leisure activity known as kite fighting in Afghanistan in which Amir takes part as the main fighter while Hassan is his kite runner. Amir†¦show more content†¦Amir discovers that Hassan is actually his half brother and in an attempt to relieve the guilt he still feels for not helping Hassan on that sad day, he agrees to help Hassan’s son Sohrab despite the successful life he leads in America. When he gets to Afghanistan, Amir is forced to meet with Assef who is a leader of the Taliban and who has Sohrab under his control. A presumed fight to the death ensues where Amir is nearly beaten to death before Sohrab shoots him in the eye with his slingshot. The two are able to retreat back to America where Amir symbolically teaches the quiet Sohrab to fly kites which provides a slight glimpse of hope for the future of everyone still alive. The Kite Runner is a perfect example of how leisure reading can give valuable insight into other cultures while enjoying the stories involved. The first half of the book gives a glimpse of how some cultures contain much more rigid class stratification based on race and the status one is born into. Hassan is born a Hazara servant and even though he is Amir’s best friends and unknown to them half brother, he still does all the things a servant is supposed to do such as cleaning and cooking while remaining a loyal friend to Amir. We see that in their culture, it is not appropriate for people of Amir’s status to associate so closeShow MoreRelatedThe Kite Runner1867 Words   |  8 PagesThe main protagonists in A Complicated Kindness and The Kite Runner convey that identities are socially constructed. Identity is shaped through the following factors: parenting, conflict, culture, gender, and genetics. These factors all intertwine and are the main influencers for shaping the protagonists identity. This is formed by the people that surround a person, their cultural stereotypes, how they teach others, and how a person learns. This essay will discuss how these factor effect identityRead MoreThe Kite Runner1445 Words   |  6 PagesAs implied by the title, kites play a major role in the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. They appear numerous times within the text and prove to be surprisingly versatile in their literary function. They provide common ground for characters whose interests do not normally intersect. They are also present as a very powerful symbol, which adds an extra dimension to this already literary rich novel. Reversing the roles transcending generations, it shows itself to be a multifaceted medium. Read MoreSummary Of The Kite Runner 1269 Words   |  6 PagesThe Kite Runner is a very powerful book that deals with many complex political and personal problems. This book has changed and challenged many of my views on life. I also found this book very inspiring and I have gained a greater appreciation for the life I have in Canada. Firstly, the text communicated with me through emotions. For example, I felt sadness for Hassan because of the way society treats him as an unequal. In addition, I have learned many things from this novel such as the importanceRead MoreThe Kite Runner Analysis772 Words   |  4 PagesThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was a touching book that revolved around loyalty within a friendship. The friendship between Hassan and Am ir had some difficulties. A true friendship can be hard to find(,) but can be one of the most vital things to being truly happy. Both Hassan and Amir had proven their loyalty to each other by the end of The Kite Runner. Loyalty was a crucial part in Hassan and Amir’s friendship.   Ã‚  Ã‚   In the beginning, Hassan was not only loyal to Amir because that was his dutyRead MoreAnalysis Of The Kite Runner1078 Words   |  5 Pages The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a story of a boy as he unravels his journey throughout his life. The novel consists of multiple themes such as love, friendship, betrayal, guilt, , secrets, loyalty, and redemption. As the main character, Amir recalls his past events, all of these themes start to unravel specific events that occurred in his life. â€Å"There is a way to be good again† (Hosseini 2) is where the novel unfolds the deep dark life of Amir’s regret and guilt, Baba’s secret, and Hassan’sRead MoreAnalysis Of The Kite Runner 1016 Words   |  5 PagesAccording to the dictionary redemption means â€Å" The act of saving from sin†. The kite Runner is about two boys that goes through violence and betrayal in Kabul, Afghanistan. One of the main characters Amir decided not to help his best friend caused their conflicts to grow. This reveals the theme of redemption throughout the Kite Runner. Most importantly, there is a motivation behind why Amir battles very nearly his whole existence with reclamation and that is on the grounds that Amir s hirelingRead MoreSummary Of The Kite Runner 1196 Words   |  5 PagesNick St. Sauveur World Literature II 20 November 2015 Mrs. Hogan Kite Runner Essay Amir: Lost In Fear Over the duration of history, it has been shown that guilt not brought to light can do little in the name of personal redemption. Moreover, this is clearly connected with and related to Khaled Hosseini s fantastic novel The Kite Runner, one of which describes as well as shows the thoughts and actions of teens through the story s main character, Amir, and his many adventures as anRead MoreThe Kite Runner Analysis 1844 Words   |  8 PagesTherefore, being a father is very difficult, having to overcome obstacles and being strong for each other. A well-known saying â€Å"like father, like son† is evident in this novel by the different ties of relationship each character had. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini proves that there is need of a fatherly figure when growing up. Having a father-son bond helps the child differentiate right from wrong. The relationship which demonstrates the need of a father figure is depicted by Baba and AmirRead MoreSummary Of The Kite Run ner Essay997 Words   |  4 Pages The Kite Runner Theme Paper In the song â€Å"hello† by Adele she talks about how she wants meet to talk about everything in the past the makes her feel this guilt because the time away just didn t do enough she hasn t got over this feeling. Also in The Kite Runner, the character Baba experiences guilt so he does acts of kindness to redeem himself. No one knows why Baba did those acts of kindness till the end of the book because he thought no one would think of him the same way. In The Kite RunnerRead MoreAnalysis Of The Kite Runner 1229 Words   |  5 PagesThe Kite Runner’s plot is centered on the story of Amir, a young boy who grew up in Afghanistan with his father, and friend, Hassan. Amir was raised without a mother, and had no womanly influence in his life until he was married. This lack of women in the storyline has caused some to argue that the novel is demeaning to women (Gomez). The vulgar language and explicit themes are seen as demoralizing towards the female gender (Schaub). In the novel the women are required to remain committed and submissive