Gay's Childhood Home

As she reflects on how her upbringing may have affected the person she is now, Gay often includes anecdotes from her childhood that took place in the house in which she grew up. For Gay, the house represents her life "before" her brutal rape, and is often the cite of familial communion and shared meals. The house is first celebrated as a place of domestic bliss where she, her parents, and her brother would gather to enjoy Haitian cuisine in moderation. However, after Gay starts school at Phillips Exeter Academy and begins gaining weight very rapidly, the house becomes a site of stress and anxiety as Gay's parents pressure her to diet and lose the weight while she quietly suffers the affects of her trauma.

Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy is a prestigious boarding school located in Exeter, New Hampshire. Gay attends Exeter academy...