Falling From My Pedestal By Chhaya Summary

1246 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What does family influence

The tenth case study, “Falling from My Pedestal” explores the troubling family life of a girl named Chhaya. Her story details how her relationship with her family influenced and affected her identity and later her health. In the case, Chhaya adopts an identity in order to please her parents and gain their love while saving her parents’ toxic relationship. All the while, the fake persona causes her not to develop a real one of her own. When Chhaya fails to uphold her perfect child identity, she feels as if her perfect identity was factitious all along and that everyone would find this out. Despite that, Chhaya manages to lose a few extra pounds which causes her to believe that her body weight is the only thing that she can control and perfect. …show more content…

Gradually, she began to show symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa but the disease got worse over her summer break as she started skipping meals and creating elaborate lies to cover her unhealthy habits. At first, Chhaya started watching what she was eating in order to become healthier. When she was finally able to lose weight, she was elated that she was able to be successful at something for once in her life. Her obsession and accomplishment of losing weight replaced her obsession of academic success in order for her to establish self-worth. Over time, her new thin identity led to a self-destructing cycle in which she lost weight to bring satisfaction and fulfillment to her life while gaining weight signaled that she was losing control of her life. When Chhaya returned to school, all of her peers and teachers were shocked at how much weight she had lost, so she tried to cover her behavior by saying that she was sick. Chhaya had lied to others stating that an illness caused her to lose weight, however, her lie was actually the truth for she obliviously possessed a mental …show more content…

The program also provided the opportunity for her family to address their issues in order to become the loving unit that she always desired. Despite the opportunity, her family was not healed from the years of turmoil and conflict, for their problems were too immense to be handled during the one-hour therapy sessions. Ultimately, Chhaya realized that she could not be the rescuer that would mend her family’s broken relationships. Although she later relapsed and slipped into depression, she once again got the help that she needed to develop the security in herself and happiness that she longed for and

Show More
Related

  • Book Summary: All Fall Down By Ally Carter

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Truman book I chose to read for the first quarter is All Fall Down by Ally Carter. I enjoyed reading this book because the plot was very interesting and I liked seeing how the events would turn out. All Fall Down is about a girl named Grace Blakely who has grown up in Adria, a European nation. She finds out her mom has died. Grace remembers an old man with a scar who was at the sight of where her mom died when it happened. Grace thinks he is the killer. She calls the man the Scarred man. Grace meets some people on the way including Megan and Noah who help her with her search to find the person who killed her mom.

    Read More

  • Never Fall Down By Patricia Minh Character Analysis Essay

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    A keen perception of reality is an integral component in one’s life as it dictates the reaction of an individual in the most distressing times. In Patricia McCormick’s Never Fall Down, an accurate perception of reality stems from the loss of innocence. The author uses text, setting, character and conflict to vividly illustrate that loss of innocence breeds emotional strength.

    Read More

  • Summary On The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Ann Fadiman

    1884 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down by Ann Fadiman is a very interesting book. It’s amazing how difficult it is for Americans to understand other cultures because the United States is such a diverse country. However, as an American, I understood the frustrations that Lia Lee’s doctors’ felt when trying to diagnose and treat her properly. In this book both the American doctors and the Hmong peoples faced many hardships and barriers when trying to communicate with each other. After having read this book I can understand where both groups were coming from and reasons for their actions. I could only imagine the level of difficulty and anger that the doctors and Lia’s parents must have experienced over that time period.

    Read More

  • Anorexia Nervosa in Stick Figure A Diary of My Former Self

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through her self-conscious mother, maturing friends, and her friend’s mother’s obsession with dieting, she becomes more aware of her body and physical appearance. Something that once meant nothing to Lori. Now is her entire world. She started off by just skipping breakfast on her family vacation to Washington, D.C., soon to escalate to one meal a day, and eventually hardly anything other than a few glasses of water. Lori’s friends at school begin to compliment her weight loss and beg for advice on how she did so.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    While her mother may intend this pressure for good, to help her daughter mature into a wonderful woman, her mother’s method’s generate nothing but negative attitudes within the mother-daughter relationship. After a study conducted at Tel-Hai Academic College, this was concluded: “The current research findings emphasize the importance of the mother-daughter relationship and the mother’s emotional support in forging a positive body image. They also show that the girl’s perception of her body image significantly affects her sense of wellbeing” (Walter 555). Connie’s mother provides no emotional support and degrades Connie’s prettiness, which would lead to negative effects on Connie. All of the reproach Connie faces induces exasperation leading her to wish, “her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over” (Oates 422). The pressure Connie faces to conform to her mother’s will adds to her internal conflict and further demonstrates the lack of respect she

    Read More

  • Defining Moments in Life in Margaret Atwood’s Short Story, Weight

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout a person’s lifetime there are a few defining moments that determine the kind of person they become. In Margaret Atwood’s Weight marriage, careers, and children play significant roles in the lives of Molly and her friend the narrator. The narrator’s flashbacks provide insight into the highs and lows of her own life along with Molly’s. Weight is an enjoyable short story because the struggles and triumphs of the characters may resonate with the reader’s own life. Atwood’s Weight is an effective and thought provoking short story. A complex plot, point of view, setting, theme, and characterization deliver mechanisms to stimulate thoughts and feelings in the reader.

    Read More

  • The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman Analysis

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    Union between two quarrelsome objects can be the most amazing creation in certain situations, take for instance, water. Originally, water was just hydroxide and hydrogen ions, but together these two molecules formed a crucial source of survival for most walks of life. That is how marriage can feel, it is the start of a union that without this union the world would not be the same. A Hmong mother, Foua took it upon herself to perform a marriage ceremony for the author of “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, Anne Fadiman. In this miniscule event, two cultures with completely conflicting ideas came together to form a union. In this union, an American was celebrating an event in a Hmong way, truly a collision of two cultures.

    Read More

  • Esperanza's Adolescence In The House On Mango Street

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    “I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees” (11). Adolescence brings on many changes in one’s life and is the time when a person is shaped into who they will be forever. Sandra Cisneros shows the experiences one may go through while growing up through this book. A child, especially during their adolescence, is a very moldable person. The situations they go through and their position socially can greatly impact who they become. Cisneros touches on the importance of friends, life at home, and experiences in the real world that can influence a child’s life. In The House On Mango Street, Cisneros uses strong descriptive words, first person point of view, and suspense

    Read More

  • Family Crucible Reflection

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eventually, David and Carolyn are able to relinquish the triadic relationship with their daughter, Claudia. This restructuring in the family essentially alleviates many of the problems that were the cause for the family to seek therapy in the first place. Claudia is able to break free from the well worn routines of arguing with her mother and her unwanted behaviors diminish. After removing the pressure placed on Claudia to be their source of intense emotion, David and Carolyn are left to face the daunting task of exploring and eventually reorganizing their relationship with one

    Read More

  • Falling From Grace Summary

    1734 Words  | 4 Pages

    Falling from Grace Task 2 In Falling from Grace, the entire book is written from Kip and Annie’s point of view but there are three cases where it is written from Grace’s point of view. The writing style of Grace’s chapter is to write the bare minimum but just enough so we are kept in anticipation and in hope as well, now that we know that Grace is alive. An example of this writing style is on page 117 where Grace says, “ I can’t look at my leg.”

    Read More

  • Rayona’s Growth in A Yellow Raft In Blue Water

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a teen, Rayona is in a confusing period of life. The gradual breakdown of her family life places an addition burden on her conscience. Without others for support, Rayona must find a way to handle her hardships. At first, she attempts to avoid these obstacles in her life, by lying, and by not voicing her opinions. Though when confronting them, she learns to feel better about herself and to understand others.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Must race confine us and define us?’ The story The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, written by Heidi W. Durrow, revolves around the protagonist Rachel, who has bi-racial parents. After her mother and two siblings plunge to their deaths from a Chicago building, young Rachel Morse survives and is sent to Portland. Furthermore, part of her story is learning about how she conform into the world while dealing with her ethnicity. Additionally, when Rachel’s moves in with her grandmother, she is faced with racial expectations at home and at school.

    Read More

  • Eating Disorders and Image in Girl, Interrupted

    2092 Words  | 5 Pages

    Daisy constantly compared her appearance and weight to those of TV actresses, women in the media and models, and found herself to be repulsive. Daisy constantly tried to hide her anorexia from friends, family, nurses and doctors. She soon saw herself developing a very severe case of major depression disorder because of the negative feelings she felt about herself, her life, and her relationships. Daisy’s eating disorder was much more apparent to others, that it masked her major depressive disorder that she was also currently struggling with. Throughout this paper I will discuss the following topics:

    Read More

  • Foucault, Femininity, And The Modernization Of Patriarchal Power By Sandra Bartky

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a woman of color who has always been a big girl, I started struggling with my body image when I reached my adolescence years. Growing up, I did not realize that my body was abnormal and unacceptable. I saw myself just like other peers and age group. My experience of body dissatisfaction first started within my own family. I got teased about my size by family members. My parents, especially my mother, reminded me constantly about how obese I was. Reaching a certain age, she started controlling my food intake and she made sure I ate no more than three times a day. With all those disciplinary actions from my mother and the pressure I felt from family, I started noticing of external standards of beauty and body image. In this lens, one can see that body image is influenced by many factors and my mother became a structure that carried out directives. This example demonstrates that feminine body is socially constructed and taught to us. When this ideal body image or feminine body gets inculcated in us at a young age, it becomes internalized discipline that enables one to distinguish herself from other

    Read More

  • What Is Beauty?

    756 Words  | 2 Pages

    In addition to planting false hopes in the minds of easily persuaded young girls, this appalling view of “beauty” now booming in western cultures is shockingly leading to high rates of low self-esteem and eating disorders. In a National Report on the State of Self-Esteem issued by the Dove Self-Esteem Fund (June 2008), it was reported that a self-esteem crisis is prevalent in the Uni...

    Read More

More about Falling From My Pedestal By Chhaya Summary

Open Document