Bidart - "Ellen West"

Women today have so many misconceptions of beauty and what is beautiful. This all starts with themselves; not having much self-esteem, self-confidence and self-assurance is a norm of today’s society. Every woman can relate to this poem somehow, even if they do not suffer from an eating disorder. I find that being a woman, and also studying the media, there are such warped views about women and how they “must” be skinny, short and tan in order to be considered beautiful. There is so much more to a person than their outside appearance, but of course this is not the value of today’s society. The hardest part of this poem to read was the ending, and throughout all the hardships, the disgust, the anguish, she still saw in her the eyes of her husband (and within herself) disappointment. The point I took away from this is that until you can accept yourself for who you are, there is no way that you can be capable of accepting others.