Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies

Article Title

Distaste: Joyce Carol Oates and Food

Authors

David Rutledge, University of New OrleansFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Distaste: Joyce Carol Oates and Food

Abstract

In many of her short stories and novels, Joyce Carol Oates depicts an unhealthy relationship with food. The range of these unhealthy relationships is wide, from overeating to the point of suicide, in Expensive People, to starving oneself in an attempt to deny one’s physical nature, in “Orange” and them. Overindulgence is a means for attempting to fill that space where the soul should be; undereating is often an attempt to deny one’s place in the social world. The eating disorders she portrays are rooted in both personal and social causes. While these depictions are unique to each character, over all Oates’s depictions of food develop a critique of American values. An understanding of Oates’s theme of food must include psychological, cultural and poetic approaches.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.15867/331917.1.5

Citation Information

Rutledge, David (2014) "Distaste: Joyce Carol Oates and Food," Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies: Vol. 1, Article 5.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15867/331917.1.5
Available at: https://repository.usfca.edu/jcostudies/vol1/iss1/5