Wasted By Marya Hornbacher: Analysis

Almost fifteen percent of Americans are suffering from a serious eating disorder according to mirasol.net. The memoir Wasted written by Marya Hornbacher is the brutally honest story of a young girl that has both anorexia and bulimia and the story of how she went through life. She goes through everything from being called fat by her own grandmother at age 6 to relapse into anorexia much later in life. Overall Marya Hornbacher is an insecure and impressionable yet independant person that can serve as a model for what not to do for those with eating disorders.
One of the many traits that has contributed to Marya’s eating disorders is her massive insecurity with her own body image. At the age of four marya states in the memoir “I remember telling them, barely able to get the sour confession past my lips: I’m fat.”(Hornbacher 21) This really shows how deep the roots of her insecurities go which aren't helped by her mother's constant self starving. The fact that she is only four and truly believes that she is fat is indicative of deep psychological scarring …show more content…
Her independence is demonstrated early on in her life by how she acts. “My first memory is of running away from home for no particular reason when i was three.” (Hornbacher 18) This is a clear indication that she has a very independant mindset which is present throughout her life and really comes into play when she fully develops her eating disorders. Her eating disorders actually is partly caused by her determination to be independant. she tries to solidify this independence through anorexia. “Anorexia was my Big Idea, my bid for independence, identity, freedom,savior, etc” This is an indication that she tries to use anorexia as a way to prove to the world that she doesn't need anyone or anything, she wants to prove that she doesn't even need not depend on