If I was in Cannie’s place, I would be furious at the fact that someone that I had a relationship with before wrote an article that was so humiliating. Bruce Guberman’s article “Loving a Larger Woman” reflects on sexual relationships with overweight woman, but his word choice comes off as extremely rude. Lily, another overweight woman who Cannie meets at the clinic, loves the article because she as well could connect with the “large” part of it. Cannie does not agree with this at all due to the fact that she believes the article was one of the most humiliating things she has ever read as she had a relationship with the author, and she also felt like it was aimed at her. Although Cannie has every right to be mad because she has a much stronger connection with this article than Lily, Lily is also right that Bruce “gets it” because she as well can connect to this article.
Cannie and Lily interpret the article completely differently then each other, but that is why I believe that they are both right in the way they feel. Cannie has to deal with all the emotions that come along with the article because the “larger woman” that Bruce is talking about is her. He harshly talks about her body and it’s something that is very personal to Cannie. If you read something that describes you as “definitely bigger than any of the woman I’d ever dated before” (14), you take that personally and that’s why Cannie has every right to be upset and embarrassed.
Lily is also right that Bruce “gets it” because she doesn’t have to take any of this article personally. What Lily see’s in Bruce’s article is something that is very thoughtful and loving to larger woman. To Lily, there is nothing bad or humiliating coming out of this article, so she thoroughly enjoys reading it and thinks that its so “great” (45).