How does Eight Bites explore themes of body image and transformation for women?

In the story Eight Bites, Machado writes about the protagonist’s experience with weight loss surgery. While the surgery is exciting for the protagonist at first, it becomes more of a burden as she deals with the aftermath both physically and psychologically. Through the surgery, ghostly figure, and interactions between the women in the story, Machado explores how body dissatisfaction can lead to choices that may not be empowering or entirely our own want. 

Early on in the story, the protagonist reflects on where her body image issues arose. She mentions growing up in a family where her own thin mother encouraged her daughters to eat small portions and that eight bites were enough, reflecting her enforcement of restrictive eating. She mentions not remembering being an overweight child, but since giving birth to her daughter she noticed her body changing and it didn’t help that her sisters had surgery to become thinner. Her sisters encourage her to get the surgery and present it as something ordinary, which reinforces the idea that it’s expected to alter your body as a woman. When the ghostly figure is mentioned once the protagonist gets the surgery, her sister says “My former shame slunk from shadow to shadow, as it should have. It will go away, after a while. You won’t even notice and then one day it’ll be gone” which comes off as brushing off this haunting experience as just a minor inconvenience. Machado uses this light exchange between the women as a way to parallel everyday conversations between women while highlighting the sinister nature of the protagonist’s situation. The ghostly figure is representative of the shame and sacrifices women make to fit society’s ideals of what they should be. 

This also reflects Machado’s ongoing thoughts about certain behaviors and expectations being passed between women of all generations, even when they don’t necessarily intend to. Like the protagonist often comparing herself to her mother, sisters, and even women in church, she unintentionally hurt her own daughter’s feelings once she got the surgery. After a period of distance, her daughter called her and asked “Do you hate my body, Mom?” and says “You hated yours, clearly, but mine looks just like yours used to, so—”. What may have just been desperation to simply change her own body, this section explains how her daughter is affected as she internalizes her mother’s struggles. Despite never openly discussing it, Machado hints at fatphobia being something that is inherited and how one’s feelings toward themselves is inevitably absorbed as those around them, especially as women who are often taught to compete with one another. 

Towards the end the protagonist says “A new woman does not just slough off her old self; she tosses it aside with force” when discussing all the changes she experiences after the surgery was a success. The quote presents her transformation as an aggressive and forceful process, not one filled with compassion and patience. Despite her excitement for these new changes in her life, there is the appearance of this ghostly figure and even this fantasy of her being seventy nine years old where she’ll show if this was all worth it in the end. This raises the question where her own transformation was one of empowerment or societal pressure. When discussing the surgery at first, she never mentions having health complications due to her weight but mentions having cried when she ate more than eight bites which alludes to a troubled relationship to food and her body, yet she chose to get the surgery for aesthetic reasons.

Online I’ve seen this idea discussed that transformation is done in two parts, physically and mentally. In this case, the protagonist chose to undergo surgery despite her unhealthy relationship to her previous body and food in general. The lingering and return of the ghost shows a disconnect between her mind and body where she is physically “better” in her eyes, yet she spends the rest of her life having to adapt to her new diet and living with this ghost. What was initially exciting left her uncertain and even regretful as she describes herself as a poor caretaker of her past body. I think this reflects the idea of physical transformations and weight loss being seen as immediate successes without acknowledging the physical and mental toll involved.

Machado explores the idea of transformation not always being empowering or truly a personal goal, but rather something women are influenced into wanting whether by society or the women around them. The protagonist’s decision was not driven by health concerns but by a deep-seated dissatisfaction with her body, revealing how societal pressures can push women toward irreversible choices rather than genuine self-acceptance. Being in a society that constantly pushes women to change themselves, it seems almost impossible to consider if true self-acceptance is an option as a woman when everything feels so urgent.

Media:

“Fasting” by Hisashi Eguchi

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This is a short horror manga about a high school girl’s extreme attempt to get her crush to like her back. Similar to Eight Bites, it critiques the idea that physical transformation alone leads to happiness which highlights the disconnect between appearance and mental well-being. What she sees as self-improvement results in an absurd consequence outside of her control.