‘Fat or Thin? A Discussion of Cultural Perceptions of Body Size in Fatty Rati and The Fattening Hut.’

Obesity in childhood and adolescence is an increasing problem in Western culture. Perceptions of ‘the ideal’ body vary culturally, with being overweight perceived as a negative and unattractive in affluent societies, whilst in poorer societies the culture would see being thin as a negative state. Fatty Rati (1997) by Angela Jariwala and The Fattening Hut (2003) by Pat Lowery Collins present two oppositional aspects of cultural perceptions of body size. Fatty Rati is a British Asian novel about a teenager who has to confront the problems of being overweight and racism which becomes associated with her body size whilst The Fattening Hut is a deeply moving story of a young African girl being prepared for marriage and having to gain weight. This paper will discuss cultural perceptions and the implications of body size in relation to the subjectivity of the teenager.