Gotta Keep things Going

So here is a very old examination I did of a piece of poetry.


The Hymn of a Fat Woman
The poem by Joyce Huff, “The Hymn of a Fat Woman”, is an interesting poem if examined part by part. The poems six stanzas work together to convey a message that only in that order would work. The first stanza works as an introduction to the story; it makes an interesting observation. The second stanza and the third further develop and support the claim that is stated. The stanzas that follow are used to back up her claim, they further explain her claims. “The Hymn of Fat Woman” is a poem that is loaded with controversy; it is not a simple poem that alludes to many biblical passages. Huff makes the daring claim that fat people; women in particular, break the standard for what we claim to know as normal. What is normal to us is prescribed everyday by not only the media, but also by society which is supported by our religious icons.
“All of the saints starved themselves
Not a single fat one
The words ‘deity’ and ‘diet’ must have come from the same
Latin root.” (Huff lines 1-4.)
The author makes a statement that all saints are always thin. If one actually thinks about it, this statement can be seen as true. The question then becomes, how so? And why is this in any way pertinent to the title? Huff seems to be trying to prove something that is evident in today’s society. Saints are typically the most venerated and respected holy figures right after God. They are figures that represent love and worship, figures of ultimate good. There are no fat saints, as she said; it is as if in order to be a saint a qualification is to be skinny. A bit of humor then instills when she uses the play on words of the words “deity” and “diet”. Ultimately, the goal of this stanza is to set plant the seed of doubt. Huff gets the readers to question “Why really is it that all saints are thin? And if taken the joke seriously, “Really, how similar do those words sound?” In the following stanzas Huff, guides us to think more about the subject of physical complexity and its constant use to represent ultimate good and beauty.
“Those saints must have been thin as knucklebones
or shards of stained
glass or Christ carved
on his cross” (Huff lines 5-8.)
The choice of words such as “thin as knucklebones” brings to the readers mind the image of a skeleton-like individual. Huff, still continues on the observation that all saints coincidentally are all skin and bones. The imagery that is used to describe these saints as shards of stained glass corresponds with the whole “holy” ideal. These saints, the thin-starved saints are all fragments of glass that ultimately correspond to the image of a Christian church; its glass-stained windows. In this church, the symbol of Christ, the cross is the main theme. Christ’s symbol, the cross, is a universal sign for the religion. Huff, again, compares the thinness of the saints to the thin shards of glass as well as the complexity of Christ carved on his cross. This stanza helps the readers visualize and relate to the idea of being thin such as the widely recognized Christ on the cross. Stanza three contains more visual images that appeal to the idea of saints and its physical complexity. “Hard as pew seats/ Brittle as hair shirts” (Huff lines 9-11.) Still, with the image of the church Huff further constructs on the picture of the religious and what it represents. By describing the thin saints as hard as pew seats, one can almost picture these saints entirely made of pew seats. Pew seats are of a material so hard, yet brittle and with a weekly old smell that is almost familiar. Pew seats if you have ever been to a church are very distinct, and are an article of use in a place in which everything is of holy use, the seats are the only things that have no sort of holy value. The brittle hair shirts were shirts made entirely of hair that were made to be worn by people who were in the idea of penitence. These images; the pew seats, the hair shirts are necessary to instill the image of discomfort. This distinct image of discomfort so accessible to the reader, the choice of words lets the readers understand that somehow being thin is something displeasing. Huff then narrows down the subject at examination; women’s role in religion and the norms they must abide to which is written by the scriptures.
“Women made from bone,/like the ribs that protrude from his wasted wooden chest./Women consumed by fervor” (Huff 11-14.) Huff seems to try and explain that women themselves are made from skin and bones. Like a clay model, women have been shaped from the bone that was taken out of Adams rib. Having no other choice but to obey to the shape that they were molded into, women must be seemed normally thin. Religion, now enforces the idea that women must be seen naturally thin; that to be thin is normal. The “ribs that protrude from his wasted wooden chest” which Huff mentions could possibly be the ribs of the Christ carved on the cross. Huff reminds us again that according to Genesis, women are made out of the ribs of man. The cross is for always a constant reminder of what beauty and good is; the physical attribute although sometimes looked over is very influential. Huff, in the last sentence of the third stanza and in the fourth stanza digs deeper into the role of women and faith as well as the physical requirements.
“Women consumed by fervor” is a statement that is surrounded by controversy. She talks about women who are consumed by extreme passion towards Christ. And who hasn’t seen this? They are everywhere, extreme fanatics who take to heart what the scriptures say, women who follow the role of the obedient women. Again, Huff mocks the way that women are trained to live as things and not living beings. They are made to follow the rules that are set by religion and society. In stanza three this same mockery and observation continues.
“They must have been able to walk three or four abreast
down that straight and oh-so-narrow path
They must have slipped with ease through the eye
of the needle, leaving the weighty
camels stranded at the city gate.” (Huff lines 15-19.)
Huff takes on a Biblical story approach to mocking how women might act in those times. She sees those same thin “Crazy” women being able to walk three or maybe even four side by side down a straight narrow path. The path that she seems to be talking about is. She uses the Bible verse of Matthew 19:24, “And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Huff uses this bible verse to show that these woman, supposedly free of sin and skinny would be able to walk in the city three or four abreast. She makes it seem so easy for these skinny women to walk into the city in which only sin-free people walk in. They would leave the fat camels at the entrance and simply walk in the glamorous city. Within this city only skinny beautiful women would walk around happily. However, Huff being a fat woman herself, feeling like the “odd-apple” she does not see herself amongst the paradise city. In the last two stanzas of this poem she makes her point clear.
Huff continues to use biblical references to make a strong ironic point.
“Within the spare city’s walls
I do not think I would find anyone like me
I imagine I will find my kind outside
lolling in the garden
munching on the apples.” (Huff lines 20-24.)
This city, the “Kingdom of God” is heaven for Christians, this place, Huff argues, would be inaccessible to her kind. Fat folks like her would not be able to pass the gates, being so small as a needle eye, as well as being a place for non-sinners. The sin that is apparently keeping them out is gluttony, and perhaps its not only sins that keep her kind out; it is that they do not meet the requirements. Inside the city there is only thin individuals, it seems that Huff tries to argue that these “saints”, some not sin-free, are capable of accessing the city because of their physique. Ultimately, not being thin, is the biggest sin that fat people have; therefore they cannot and will never gain saint-hood. Her kind would in fact do more sinning in the eyes of the religious. Her kind would be in the Garden of Eden and survive from the original sin; eating from the forbidden tree. Huff seems to laugh and defy the religions principles and rules; she no longer cares about such ridiculous ideas that ostracize her. She would much rather live happily and sinfully than die a hypocrite and unhappy. Huff’s poem at the end, is purely combative, she will not take any more of the rules and with her observations she proves so.
But her observations are far more than simple observations; they are truths that transcend into our society. What Huff is trying to make clear to the readers is that what we are doing is wrong. We have permitted religion to dominate and mandate our everyday lives, religion has gone so far as to telling us what beauty is. The images of what is holy, i.e. the saints, are our model of good along with the image of Christ on the cross. Religion, in this case Christianity is used to dominate lives. In Christianity the roles of women are clearly outlined, they must obey and conform. If they do not conform they are sinners and will face the consequences. To be fat is to be sinful. Huff points out these examples of how Christianity intrudes into our own personal life. Saints and Christ are made to look thin and beautiful only to make us feel different. We must look like them if we want to be “Saved” too; we must starve and be crucified in order to be saved. Fat people are the epitome of evil and sin; they are the exact opposite of what it is to be holy. The Hymn of a Fat Woman is the cry of a woman who no longer lets herself be classified as “Evil” by society or religion. Huff decided that her people, the fat, needed a hymn, an ode to their being. Because, if for being physically wrong means being morally and entirely wrong; then so be it, for there many of them. They will not be in the city; they will be enjoying themselves in the garden devouring all the food that is available. Huff creates a strong poem that makes the bells go off in the church. She starts with a serious claim, the follows it with a little humor to catch the audience. Then she goes on to describe the saints and Christ’s appearance, which then extends to the church setting. She pokes fun of those women who follow the norms of the church and society. Excludes herself from the herd to make her own species; a guilt-free happy pack. In overall, Huff’s poem is more than a poem; it is a Hymn like she titles it; a flag that is used to wave the freedom that is involved with her physique. For they, the fat ones, although not appealing to the standard are free of sin and have now cast the first stone.