comment on Self-acceptance

The crux of Eliana’s coming-of-age story is focused on her journey toward self-acceptance and finding a way to love herself enough to make up for the lack of love in her family and social visibility. Eliana finds herself moving from scene to scene, always pretending to be okay with the way people ignore or disparage her for her weight because the alternative – finding pride and comfort as a fat girl and the familial and community exclusion that follows – was simply too painful. To initially avoid the difficult work of self-acceptance, Eliana rejected the prospect of therapy in order to appear “normal” to her mother and siblings. Eliana thinks to herself how she has always longed to be accepted and find a way to undo the “whale-sized rift between my parents” that she feels guilty for causing (99). Once Eliana admits to herself that she does not want to be fat, but she is also yearning for acceptance as she is, she is ready to utilize therapy to move forward.