Beauty is a social construct. And it is a powerful one.
Grealy’s piece attests to this. In her piece “Mirrorings” she speaks about the multiple cosmetic surgeries she has had over the years and how much she craved, how much she needed to be beautiful. She qualified beauty with happiness and fulfillment. At times, when she was by herself or with her horses, she would be able to convince herself otherwise. That the world was crazy and that honestly, what mattered was what was inside.
This one passage exemplifies her point perfectly. “On one level I understood that the image of my face was merely that, an image, a surface that was not directly related to any true, deep definition of the self. But I also knew that it is only through appearances that we experience and make decisions about the everyday world, and I was not always able to gather the strength to prefer the deeper world to the shallower one” (87).
People try to not think about the materialistic nature of the world we live in. Grealy attacks it head on because in her life, it has attacked her over and over again. Reading her piece was heartbreaking and I wish the way that the world thinks could be changed.
Everyone has times that they feel ugly and everyone always says to “dress to impress”. Looking good or presentable is something that is ingrained in our culture.
I remember when I was young and I was in Korea I saw this ad in the subway.
At first I thought it was just emojis, but then I realized it was an ad for plastic surgery. And this one was one of the much more subtler ones. All over the subways there were before and after pictures of people who had plastic surgery. I was so sad and shocked that this was the reality that we live in. But at the same time, it is the world I live in and partake in so it is something that is also deeply ingrained in me and judging based upon appearance is something that I am just as guilty of.
Grealy went through a really difficult time growing up. This essay she wrote is just a small snippet of the hardships that she has gone through. Her writing style and her message are raw and genuine. She is an inspiration.
The Personal Essay 