As we are all in lock down, we are all having to find other ways of entertaining ourselves. For me, I love to read and the last couple of weeks I have been ploughing through my reading list, stepping into different worlds to pass the ever extending days in isolation. Eventually, I managed to download a copy of Normal People onto my Kindle and proceeded to devour it within the space of a weekend.
If you're not familiar with the book, the story follows to young adults (Marianne and Connell) as they navigate their way through sixth form, university and the social pressures that are hidden amongst them.
The book is fast paced and contains a lot of dialogue, all of which is well written and completely gripping. However, towards the end of the book, the Marianne's character starts to develop what appears to be an unhealthy coping mechanism to deal with all the trauma and negative attitudes that she has received - an eating disorder.
It was not too hard to figure this out, it starts with comments such as “She hasn’t eaten breakfast or lunch today . . . her appetite is small this summer,” to being described as thin to the extent that other characters start pointing it out.
Normally, anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders stem from past trauma or other mental health problems, often in a vicious cycle. In my instance, I was already struggling with depression and anxiety coupled with intense perfectionism. When my boyfriend at the time pointed out that I was starting to look chubby, I started dieting and dieting hard. Similar to Marianne, it was not long before my friends and family were also commenting on my weight, worried that bones normally hidden were starting to jut out.
It would not be a huge leap to suggest that Marianne suffered from past trauma that led to the toxic coping mechanism, as we can see from this quote:
“Maybe I want to be treated badly, she says. I don’t know. Sometimes I think I deserve bad things because I’m a bad person." she already believes that she deserves to be punished. Therefore, the eating disorder acts as a form of punishment or self denial, purifying herself of any previous sins that she believes she has committed.
It is gradually revealed to us throughout the book as well that Marianne's father was emotionally abusive and towards the end of the book her brother Alan actually does become physically violent towards her.
From this, it is not difficult to deduce that Marianne is struggling with an eating disorder, however what then seems to concern me is that there is no discussion about this afterwards.
An article written by Finn McRedmond appears to be following my worries as he too notices that in Normal People and Rooney's previous book "Conversations with Friends", her female protagonists seem to be excessively thin and often starving. McRedmond then goes on to suggest that there is a recurring theme: thin women are more interesting than those who are not.
A jolt went through me as I read those lines because that is the main thought that holds me back in my recovery: "If I do not have this disorder, I will no longer be interesting or special."
Seeing that other readers are commenting on this theme within Rooney's work, it continues to concern me that there are no discussion with the author herself about this. A disorder which is so deadly that it has the highest mortality rate and the number of cases are only increasing with "The HSE said in 2017 the number of teenage girls hospitalised for anorexia and bulimia has doubled." I would expect it to be the topic of hot debate.
Why are we allowing this disorder and its aesthetics to continue unquestioned and checked within our media? Lack of conversation prevents recovery and understanding, causing these numbers to climb and individuals like me to continue to struggle.
Therefore, I leave you to wonder: how many female protagonists are described as dainty? and how often is smallness seen as a feminine ideal in our media?
McRedmond, F (2019) "Are Sally Rooney's heroines too skinny?" The Irish Times. Available at: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/are-sally-rooney-s-heroines-too-skinny-1.4021294
Rooney, S (2019) Normal People. Ireland: Hogarth Press.
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