A Teenager's Analysis of Eating Disorders

As caring adults, we struggle to understand why an adolescent would starve herself to death. What causes a bright, healthy young girl to turn her body into a weapon?

To answer this question, I received permission from a 17-year-old girl to publish her cogent analysis of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. She uses this classic work to illuminate, in a succinct yet powerful manner, the causes and consequences of eating disorders.

Gregor the Anorexic

Today, eating disorders are a widely discussed and observed tragedy. Yet, what is not as well known is that eating disorders have existed for hundreds of years. In Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa exhibits the typical circumstances and symptoms of someone suffering from an eating disorder.

The causes of eating disorders are disputed, but there is a general consensus that pressure is a contributing factor. Gregor feels an obligation to pay his "debt to my (sic) parents" and save his family from poverty.

In addition, an eating disorder is a cry for help from someone who can't verbalize his anger and frustration. As a perfectionist and conformist, Gregor refrains from leaving his job even though he desperately wants to; as he says, "I would have quit long ago."

Of course, the most obvious sign of an eating disorder is the change in someone's physical appearance. People suffering from this tortuous disease have a twisted sense of their own appearance, and will perceive their quite ordinary looks as monstrous. Gregory's view of himself as a vermin, a bloated and misshapen creature, is an example of this shamed perception.

Secrecy is the life blood of an eating disorder. Someone trapped in this struggle will try to hide their condition for as long as possible. Initially, Gregor seeks to mask his voice and pretend he is in perfect shape. For as long as he can, Gregor tries to appear normal.

The underlying cause of an eating disorder is a lack of self-confidence. Gregor retreats under the sheet, stays in his room and doesn't fight to be understood - all a reflection of how little he believes in himself. Instead of finding the man within the bug, Gregor has spent too long viewing himself as a bug within a man.

Ultimately, as is the case with a significant percentage of anorexics, Gregor succumbs to his illness. Even more tragically, perhaps, no one bothers to mourn for him.