Catherine Pigott's Short Story 'Chicken-Hips'

July. 12th 2015 reading and comprehension question 4 ESSAY Catherine Pigott has gone through changes in both mental and physical ways during her days living with the Gambian people, as she writes and narrates her experiences and changes in the short story – Chicken-Hips. At first, Catherine, as a westerner, is shocked by some Gambian values. When first arrived to Gambia, she is “marvelled” (2nd paragraph) when she first heard that she is “too thin”. But she soon discovers that being thin is “no good”, (1st paragraph) and she was given the nickname- “chicken hips” due to her Gambian standard skinniness. Then the narrator quickly finds out that in Gambian society, “it is beautiful-not shameful-to carry weight on the hips and thighs, to have a rounds stomach and heavy, swinging breasts. Women do not battle the bulge, they celebrate it. A body is not something to be tamed and molded.”(6th paragraph) “Being skinny makes people sad,” (5th paragraph) because it reminds people of “poverty, drought and starvation.” (5th paragraph) The idea of being fat is beautiful has impacted the narrator. As time passes by, the narrator finds herself more and more involved with the Gambian culture of “being fat is beautiful.” She starts to accept the idea. Under the help of her Gambian friends, the narrator starts on a “diet of rice and rich, …show more content…
Through a few months of “diet”, Catherine is now a whole new person, both physically and mentally. She “felt transformed.” She finds fat desirable. Now, to her, “the European tourists on the beach began to look strange and skeletal rather than “slim.” Catherine Pigott has completely adopted the idea of fat being a symbol of abundance, fertility, health, and beauty. On the other hand, the “slim” and “skeletal” (10th paragraph) European bodies now seem to be “fragile and even ugly” (10th paragraph) She is now one of the