Fat and Happy? Summary

Rikki McCann W131 “Fat and Happy?” Summary September 15, 2010 Fat and Fine: A Summary

Throughout his article, “Fat and Happy?” author Hillel Schwartz questions why it is such a big deal to be thin in today’s society, along with stating that in a perfect world, obese people fit in society perfectly and are happy with their size. Schwartz then proceeds to claim that the only reason fat people are insecure or unhappy is because they get ridiculed by thinner people. According to him, dieting is useless because fat people are more likely to give up on those diets, which makes him or her feel like a failure, and become even more unhappy in life. He also points out that it is not being overweight that makes a person unhealthy. It is the constant cycle of gaining and losing weight that can be a danger to one's body. Depriving the body can lead to serious health issues, and even eating disorders. In this article, Schwartz classifies fat people as a minority group in society. It is because of this, he believes, that is the reason why they get made fun of constantly. He also believes they are being discriminated in the workplace, as well.

Schwartz even goes to such extremes as to say that employers would rather hire people who are criminally insane over someone who is overweight. He also says that doctors discriminate against them as well. He believes that physicians have little patience with fat people because they are very difficult to examine, and will not cooperate with the doctor.

He argues that the only method doctors use to examine fat people is to threaten them with death and disease. Schwartz then begins to describe a Utopia, where everyone is overweight. He states that an overweight society would be the perfect society because no one would make fun of one another. He stresses his belief that no one would ever be insecure with their body image. After stating this, he then proceeds to voice his opinion of how the American society treats fat people. He believes that the current American society will not be satisfied until all fat people are removed. He thinks that fat societies would be more peaceful with less conflict. Throughout the article he states that if today's society was a fat society, everyone would be comfortable with their shape and size, eat food for pleasure, and there would be no discrimination based on size. He also believes that fat people would therefore not be found unattractive to the vast majority of people.

Everyone would be more caring of one another, and a person would be appreciated for his or her personality, as opposed to appearance. Schwartz also strongly believes that people are cannibals, in a sense, when they starve themselves they are burning their own fat, which would be similar to eating one's own self. He states that if everyone were fat, the world would be free of conflict and discrimination, which would make the world a better place.

Work Cited

Schwartz, Hillel. “Fat and Happy?”. Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Ed.

New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 367-379. Print