Summary

Gay begins Part II by reflecting back on her childhood through the description of a number of photographs. She explains that she uses these photographs to fill in the gaps she does not remember from her childhood, and recalls that most of these photographs represent her in the "before" period when she was happy, healthy, and "whole" (36). This recollection of her youth is then juxtaposed with the anecdote of the brutal gang rape she endured at the hands of her then-boyfriend and his friends as a twelve-year-old girl, which she describes in detail and links directly to her ongoing struggles with self-worth, body image, and hunger.

After meditating on the immediate effects the rape had on her as a child, Gay moves toward explaining why she turned to food to cope. She remembers that before she was raped, she had a healthy relationship...