You Re Ugly Too Analysis

The Professional Woman and a Maladaptation to Being Alone
Feelings of insecurity frequently derail women, even those who progress well into their career professions. So often, it is these feelings of insecurity that causes single, professional woman to rely on society’s critiques and expectations of themselves, which intensifies their solitude. In the short story “You’re Ugly, Too,” writer Lorrie Moore testifies on the issues of insecurity and self-image. Through her train of thought, we are able to see that the story’s protagonist, Zoe Hendricks, is preoccupied with her shortcomings, both in her appearance and in her social relationships. The incapability of Zoe, as a career woman in her thirties, to be married is pushing her into a Point …show more content…
To start off, Zoe lives in an Illinois town, ironically named Paris, where she teaches history at a small liberal arts college with the equally ironical name, Hilldale-Versailles. The only reason she was hired, was to avoid a sex-discrimination suit. Being one female within a circle of male professors does not establish respect and fair treatment from her colleagues as well as from her students. In class, Zoe sings “Getting to Know You” and relentlessly cracks jokes with utter disregard for her audience. Her students fail to understand her “gently layered and sophisticated” irony and insisted on calling it “sarcasm”. In the Midwest for its lack of diversity, conformity, and conservative values which conflicts with Zoe being characterized as outspoken and sarcastic. Being a product of their environment, Zoe’s students are unaccustomed to being in the presence of such an eccentric and opinionated person as herself. In her student evaluations she is criticized in their comments about her. “Professor Hendricks has said critical things about Fawn Hall, the Catholic religion, and the whole state of Illinois. It is unbelievable” (655). They find her jokes obnoxiously unpleasant and can hardly catch their punch lines. Once one of her students asked “What is your perfume?”, “Room freshener”, she replied. “”She smiled, but he looked …show more content…
She is alone and finds herself in unfulfilling relationships; she longs for a long-lasting romance, but finds that the real-life alternatives she comes in contact with fall disappointingly short of her ideals. The first man was obsessive about the quality of his car and only wanted her to be a Barbie doll. The second man was an art enthusiast who bored her with his endless litanies about art. And the third man was a man whore who used her as a cover to flirt with married women. All three men seemed to care less about her un/femininity; eventually however “she came to realize that all men, deep down, wanted Heidi. Heidi with cleavage. Heidi with outfits” (655). She holds her own truth of femininity. She refuses to be downgraded to a "Heidi", a woman who would "lug goat milk up the hills and not think twice" and who would never complain. In a broader sense, her failures in passion and intimacy are simple indications of a larger sense of dislocation – her sense that she will always be an outsider. Love is something she thinks that inevitably ends for her in disappointment and