Love yourself

The author stresses the idea of self-acceptance throughout the narrative, focusing particularly on that in the “On Whether French Women Get Fat” and “Rose" section. James feels that learning to love--and thereby accept-- oneself, although challenging at times, is necessary for emotional well-being. She outlines several areas in which one must learn self-love--and therefore, self-acceptance. During her adolescent and teenage years, she struggled with the knowledge that she would never look exactly like the picture on the Simplicity sewing pattern package and the recognition that those "unfortunate scenes from [her] high school years" resulted from a disconnect between who she was and understanding who she was (100). From wearing curtains "printed with fifteenth-century sailing ships" to wearing a high school prom dress of "the precise shade of pink that would most clash with my hair," she remembers coming-of-age missteps with harrowing clarity (102-103). These missteps served...