Being happy casts a sad shadow… That is what I think of every time I read this quote from the short story “Eight Bites.” Machado wrote “Eight Bites” so people could see the effects of harsh body standards and how they play a role in people’s mental and familial health. This quote, in my opinion, serves a great deal in showing how a tattered thought process can affect one’s life. Just because the narrator got bariatric surgery doesnt mean she’ll be happy. Freud said that those who once had repressed thoughts will always have repressed thoughts, “But the repressed wishful impulse continues to exist in the unconscious” (Freud 2215). This idea means that even if the narrator found a way to solve her problems, it doesnt always mean that it was the best solution and will always come back to haunt her. Due to the bariatric surgery, the narrator lost half her gut, lost her sanity, and soon lost those who meant family to her.
Sources:
Machado, C. M. (2017). Eight bites. Gulf Coast Magazine. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from
http://texas.gulfcoastmag.org/journal/29.2-summer/fall-2017/eight-bites/
Freud, Sigmund. Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. W.W. Norton & Co, Inc., 1961. Semantic Scholar.
