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Beauty In Fat Girl And The Birthmark

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What is beauty? Who is beautiful? It is very difficult to answer these types of questions. Beauty has different meanings in different people, different cultures and different countries. It also changes throughout time. However, many of us judge beauty only in terms of physical appearance. We can see similar scenarios in the stories “Fat Girl” by Andre Dubus, and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Judging beauty in terms of physical appearance is not the best way to describe beauty. Without looking perfect, a person still can be wonderful with his or her great virtues. So, a human being with a good heart, kindness, intelligence, love and happiness is beautiful. Therefore, beauty varies from person to person. Physical structure can be …show more content…

According to the Oxford Dictionary “beauty” is a noun, meaning, “a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.” In the article “On Beauty” by Lindsay King-Miller mentions Taylor’s explanation that “Beauty exists; standards do not. Beauty is undefinable, is subjective, is intrinsic to humanity." If a group of people is asked “what does beauty mean to you?” they will most probably reply the dictionary meaning. However, if the same group of people is asked individually what kind of shape, color and form constitutes beauty, each one of them will come up with a different answer. Some like based on hair, some like based on skin color, some like based on height etc. This is because there are a lot of types of shape, color and form, and everyone has a different preference for the shape, color and form. For this reason, Georgina from “The Birthmark” was regarded beautiful by most of the people except her husband, who didn’t like the birthmark. The husband thought Georgina would be perfect if the birthmark were removed. Aylmer says, “dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection"(Hawthorne 305). So, Georgina’s husband and other people had different opinions about her birthmark. Aylmer’s assistant Aminadab says "’If she were my wife, I'd never part with that birthmark’” (Hawthorne 305). Since everyone can’t agree on whether a person is beautiful or not in terms of physical appearance, it can’t be the only factor of beauty. On the other hand, if beauty is judged in terms of values of a person like that of kindness, manners and other behaviors than everyone will be able to come to the same conclusion. That is because, a person is simply either kind or unkind and well

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