Claire Davis's story, "Labors of the Heart", takes a closer look at the life of an obese man and the tensions he deals with being overweight and living in a society that does not accept obesity. Firstly, Davis uses language to confront societal assumptions of obesity. In the beginning of the story, the reader is shocked to find a lengthy sentence explaining how Pinky is "…fat. Enormous…"(78). Instead of using subtler language, Davis confronts the words used to describe obese people behind their backs. She shocks us into realizing the severity of our views of overweight people and how, because we look down on obesity, we as a culture would rather dance around the issue than confront it.

Davis also shows the idea of body as self. Our society tends to think of the physical body as the self because it is what we see. Throughout the story, Davis uses images to try and shake this assumption up. "For although Pinky knows him

self to be large…he's always believed himself small"(79). Firstly, the reader encounters a suggestion that the physical body and soul are not directly connected. Secondly, in making this suggestion, we realize the extent to which our cultural assumptions and opinions of obesity can affect the true person and make them feel small, even non-existent in a society so obsessed with outside appearance.

Atwood's story deals with the idea of woman's body being physically divided in childbirth. Women are expected to be in control throughout pregnancy, labor, birth, and the child's life. The child was once part of the mother's physical body and after birth becomes something unfamiliar. The woman has lost a piece of herself and this can be difficult to adjust to. At the end of the story, Atwood confronts some of the normal fears that bombard woman through the image of the buildings. The "second" part of the woman is fragile and the mother feels responsible to protect it against th

Some topics in this essay:
Giving Birth, Enormous…78 Instead, Davis Pinky, Davis Atwood, Firstly Davis, Labors Heart, cultural assumptions, physical body, Claire Davis's, Margaret Atwood's, woman represents, body soul, idea body, atwood's story, deals idea, traditional role, body self,