When applying to colleges, one of my application questions asked: What piece of literature or artwork has changed your life?
Jesus. What a self-important question to ask an 18-year-old trying to make a good impression.
But at 28, that question becomes a little more intriguing. A little less ridiculous. While I can’t say that any book has changed my life, I can think of several that have seriously changed the way I think about things. That I reference in my thought process.
This whole line of thinking came up when watching Hamlet on Sunday watching an over-done Ophelia go mad. It is catalyst for a book that did alter my perspective. Reviving Ophelia.
Reviving Ophelia takes a look at the way adolescent girls lose themselves in their need to please others. How do I describe this without coming off as an Amazon book review? At a time when I was depressed and leaving for college (probably because I was applying to places that asked me pretentious questions), the book helped me understand a bit better the chaos around me. That the cultural expectations placed on females can be unattainable and unhealthy.
The book opened my eyes even at a time I didn’t realize they were being opened. The stories of depression, suicide, eating disorders, abuse and sexual assault made my little word bigger and more cognizant. When my friend’s boyfriend broke her car dashboard in anger, the book put it in context. That is wasn’t just an “incident.”
It shed light on the negative hidden messages in advertising and general mass culture about women and their bodies. And even if I could recognize those negative messages in the advertisements then, it would take years not to buy their bullshit. I remember fitting into size six jeans in college and feeling an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. If growing up in the nineties, you ever read Sweet Valley High, you might recall that Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield were described as the perfect size six. A book series mind you that is geared for sixth graders.
One of the most poignant examples in the book to me was looking at how we answer questions about our abilities. Ask a preschooler if they can sing, dance or paint, and they will enthusiastically raise their hands. The older we get, the less our hands go up. The older we get, the less we believe in ourselves. How hard you have to work to destroy that negative voice. How narrowly we define ability.
I haven’t picked up Reviving Ophelia since college. But I’m thankful for a book that it brought a little understanding into my life.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
This is one of my all-time favorite books, though I haven’t read it in years. What’s unfortunate is that it seems like the pressure has only gotten greater for adolescent girls since the book was written, so the issues it addresses are as relevant as ever. The Body Project was pretty good, too.
Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield can take their size six jeans (though the books have probably been revised to make them size four) and disappear in their Fiat.
But they can only disappear after they take out Bruce Patman in his Porsche and Lila Fowler in her lime green Triumph.
The books HAVE been revised to make the twins a size four. They did a news release about it last year. Makes me really sad for American culture.
Are you serious? I was joking. That is outrageous.
http://gawker.com/5004617/random-house-proudly-promoting-eating-disorders
Do you know what’s weird, I was just thinking about this book recently and how I should re-read it.
Sweet Valley High always made me want to be 5’6″. It’s the one thing my dad always told me was really not possible. I got pretty close though!!
Damn that Frances Pascall and her unreasonable expectations for women.