1998

20.3

Linda Wedwick
The Last Accepted Prejudice: Fat Characters in Children’s Series Fiction
 

Fatty, fatty two by four,
can’t fit through the kitchen door.

This familiar children’s rhyme, or one similar to it, is heard in countless homes and schoolyards every day. My mom sang it while she was growing up; I sang it while I was growing up, and my son will undoubtedly sing it, or hear it, while he is growing up. I can’t remember how I learned the rhyme, and I won’t teach it to my son, but he will still know it. If my mom didn’t teach the rhyme to me, then how did I learn it? How will my son learn it? Why do so many of us have this and other similar rhymes about fatness in our repertoires? How do we learn prejudices against fat people? If we are striving to be politically correct and free of prejudice, then why are the prejudices against fat people accepted by a large majority of society?

The experiences of the culture are reinforced and reproduced in a number of different ways which continuously interact. The prejudices against fat people, for example, are reinforced through literature, television, film, fashion, and the workplace—all of which interact to reproduce the prejudices and reinforce them as acceptable.1 The portrayal of fat characters in children’s literature, while interacting with other common experiences, helps perpetuate the what Stuart Hall calls the "social process: the giving and taking of meanings, and the slow development of ‘common’ meanings—a common culture" (612), which develops into an acceptable prejudice against fat people. We do not learn that fatness is an acceptable prejudice from one source; rather, we internalize the stereotypes we experience from our common experiences, and we project the prejudices, which demonstrates our cultural values. Most people might internalize stereotypical imagery of fat people from their common experiences and then outwardly demonstrate prejudice. Breaking the cycle of the reproduction of this prejudice requires us to find those experiences where the stereotypical imagery exists. One common experience for many readers is children’s series fiction.

Children have begun to internalize fat stereotypes long before they begin reading series fiction; however, children’s series fiction plays a role in reproducing and reinforcing the prejudice against fat people. Children reading series fiction may unknowingly internalize fat stereotypes since they are repeated again and again in each of the series books they read. These stereotypes become common knowledge, and prejudices against fat people become part of the culture’s values. Internalizing fat stereotypes and perpetuating what is supposedly common knowledge about fatness occurs all too often when children read series books. In turn, these children as adults reproduce the prejudices.2

Many series books popular from the early 1900s through the present day have a recurring fat character or fat characters who periodically show up in the series. Whatever the format, the fat characters always possess the same stereotypical negative traits. Stereotypes are duplicated in each of the fat characters from the Stratemeyer Syndicate’s Nancy Drew and other early series books to more recent series books, including Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High and R.L. Stine’s Fear Street. Not even Little Women, "the most famous series," according to Faye Kensinger (24), escapes the temptation to reproduce the stereotypes against fatness.3 In a study by Harris, Harris and Bochner, results support the hypothesis that obese people are "stereotyped as less active, intelligent, hardworking, attractive, popular, successful, [and] athletic . . . than persons of normal weight" (511). Therefore, I will first examine girls’ series books that perpetuate the stereotypes of female obesity as cowardliness, an obsession with food, laziness, insecurity, and unpopularity; then I will examine how boys’ series books define obese characters as unkempt, nurturing, less successful, less intelligent, comedic, and unhealthy.

Bess Marvin in the Nancy Drew series is a recurring character who reluctantly helps Nancy solve mysteries. Bess was introduced into the Nancy Drew series in 1931 and eventually transitioned into the fat character. However, even before Bess became the fat character, she possessed many fat stereotypes. According to The Nancy Drew Scrapbook, Bess’s description as a "plump, jolly girl" as early as 1946 (Plunkett-Powell 93) appears to follow the historical trends of the slender craze after World War II. Bess possesses many of the common stereotypes of fat people: an obsession with food, insecurity, and cowardice. She is portrayed as cowardly because she would rather stay at home than confront any possible dangers. Bess’s negative characteristics are undoubtedly a way to show Nancy’s positive characteristics. According to Mildred Klingman, "[w]hen a thin and a fat person seem to be good friends, the thin person is often using the fat person as a backdrop against which he [or she] can look better" (24). Bess’s character provides a "backdrop" for Nancy. James Jones in Nancy Drew, WASP Super Girl of the 1930’s describes Nancy as "clever, capable, popular, athletic, unusually pretty, friendly, attractive, skillful, kind, modest, good, brave, poised, keen-minded, plucky, self-reliant, unforgettable, distinctive, forceful, wise, splendid, observant, healthy, responsible, remarkable, and amazingly, normal" (707). Conversely, a reader can interpret Bess as sluggish, inept, unpopular, lazy, plain, cowardly, timid, dependent, weak, and plump. Bess’s negative characteristics clearly reinforce Nancy’s positive characteristics. In The Invisible Intruder (1969) Bess is "slightly plump [and] blond" and is "a good sport but inclined to be a bit timid" (4). As the fat character, Bess’s cowardliness is reinforced when she sees what appears to be a ghost. Nancy explains that it was probably a joke. ‘"Joke!" Bess exclaimed. "Aren’t you going to take that warning seriously?" Nancy puts an arm around her chum and replies, "Not until I find out who or what was responsible" (20). Bess may be cowardly, but Nancy is always there to protect her.

One stereotypical trait reproduced through Bertha Larsen in the Cherry Ames series is that fat people have an apparent obsession with food. Klingman notes the stereotype that fat people have food on their minds almost all the time. Just as they finish one meal, they begin to think about the next meal (9). In series books, fat characters spend a majority of their time either eating or cooking, and Bertha is no exception. She is constantly in the kitchen and often cooks for the other members of Cherry Ames’s friends in the Spencer Club. For example, in Visiting Nurse (1947) Bertha is extremely upset with the apartment Gwen rents because the kitchen is too small: "The blue door jerked open and a large, plump, fair girl glared at Gwen. ‘The kitchen is little and I am big. You knew I would be the cook’" (18). The fact that Bertha would be the cook appears common knowledge to the members of the Spencer Club. Because of Bertha’s obsession with food she is also expected to be able to easily identify ingredients in food in ways that no thin person could. For example, in Visiting Nurse, while the Spencer Club is enjoying an evening out, Bertha is expected to guess the ingredients of their meal: "Never in her life had Cherry eaten such magnificent food as came out of Mama Mediterraneo’s kitchen. What went into it even Bertha could not guess, beyond pure olive oil, fresh mushrooms, and the best Texas beef (65; emphasis mine). This quotation is equally significant because the narrator shows Cherry in a positive light, makes the above comment about Bertha, and quickly shifts to positive traits of other minor characters in the book. The juxtaposition further supports the notion that fat characters are used as backdrops.

Helen Cameron in the Ruth Fielding series clearly demonstrates the stereotype that fat people are lazy. Ruth’s hard work is often compared to Helen’s lack of work. In Clearing Her Name (1929), Ruth Fielding is portrayed as a workaholic while Helen is a person who does not work much at all. For example, Ruth has acquired an enemy, Mrs. Craven-Spitz, who is out to ruin Ruth’s career in the movie industry. Although Helen does not make an appearance until midway through the story, she immediately feels contempt toward Mrs. Spitz. Helen vows to keep her eye on Mrs. Spitz and tells her boyfriend, Chess Copley, that watching Mrs. Spitz "will be [her] job!" (101). The chapter immediately following Helen’s decree opens with Helen’s standing on the deck of the yacht that Ruth’s film company has rented to shoot scenes for her latest picture. Not only has Helen quickly dismissed her decree in order to travel to Catalina Island on that yacht, but she also never actually follows through on the job at all. In fact, Chess is the one who keeps an eye on Mrs. Spitz and eventually solves the mystery: "Chess Copley had declined to accompany his friends on the Catalina Island trip for a very particular reason, and that reason he had confided only to Helen Cameron. ‘If it’s to be proved that Ruth is innocent of the charge made against her by Mrs. Spitz, someone must get busy,’ he had told Helen" (121).

The lazy stereotype is subverted, however, because the reader does not find out that Chess is doing Helen’s job until twenty pages after she makes the decree, allowing readers the opportunity to forget Helen has shirked something she originally claimed as "her job."

Fat people are also stereotypically portrayed as insecure in many series books. In Betty Gordon in Washington (1920), Libbie Littel is the fat character. Libbie has a two-track mind: she thinks only about food or marriage. Libbie’s insecurity about never finding a groom causes her to obsess about getting married. Food provides the comfort for her insecurity. After spending the entire day in the city with her cousins and Betty Gordon, Libbie reveals that the most memorable sight of the trip was seeing a bride and groom. Later the same evening, the five girls are unable to sleep and "Libbie could not keep her mind off the bride" (121) she saw earlier in the city. Libbie wonders how she would look in a veil and announces to her cousins that, "It must be lovely to be a bride" (121). At first Libbie is "scolded" for reading too many silly books, and then her cousin Bobby chides her: "Anyway, Libbie, you’re too fat to look nice in a veil. Better get thin before you’re old enough to be married, or else you’ll have to wear a traveling suit" (121). Not only does this teasing fuel Libbie’s insecurities, but it also implies that Libbie’s fatness (and presumably all fatness) is unattractive, which again provides a backdrop to make the main character, Betty Gordon, that much more attractive.

Even though many early series books have been revised to eliminate racial and social stereotypes, the prejudices about fat people remain. For example in both original and revised versions of Carolyn Keene’s The Scarlet Slipper Mystery (1954 and 1974), negative stereotypes about Bess Marvin exist. In both versions, Bess’s cowardliness is evident when she becomes "too shaken by the threatening message Nancy had just received" to drive the car (94, 115 respectively). Bess begs Nancy to give up the case, but Nancy says she is not scared: "Writers of anonymous notes are always cowards, and I don’t intend to be frightened by one" (94, 115 respectively). Bess is also obsessed with food in both original and revised versions. Before beginning her dance class, Bess "whispered that she was simply famished" and wanted to "run out for a soda. ‘But how about the calorie count?’ Nancy reminded the plump girl with a laugh" (79, 94). The descriptions and characteristics of Bess are identical in both the original and revised versions, implying that stereotypes of fat people are still socially acceptable.

Even the most recent series books such as The Nancy Drew Files, Sweet Valley High, and Fear Street perpetuate the stereotypes of fatness, which supports the claim that fat prejudices are still socially acceptable. For example, in Deadly Intent (1986) from The Nancy Drew Files, Bess is still cowardly: "George was always eager to jump right in and help her on a case, no matter how dangerous, but Bess usually had to be coaxed. Unraveling mysteries scared her, and she was the first to admit it" (2). Moreover, she is still obsessed with food: "Bess looked longingly at the scalloped potatoes and cheese omelet. ‘I wish I could put away a breakfast like that and not gain any weight,’ she said. ‘You don’t know how lucky you are, Nancy’" (33). And she is still plumper than Nancy and George: Nancy is described with "long, lean legs," and George is wearing "the simple black jumpsuit that hugged every line of her athletic body" (6-7), but Bess is merely complimented on how nice her "turquoise shirt [goes] with [her] blond hair" (7). Even then, Bess asks if the shirt "makes [her] look too fat" (7). Thus, even in the contemporary series, Nancy still needs the fat character as a backdrop. No matter how much Bess has developed as a character since the 1920s, her fatness and the stereotypes associated with her character are casually accepted and understood.

In another contemporary series, Sweet Valley High, fat people are usually less popular than normal weight people, and in Power Play (1983) Robin Wilson’s fatness unquestionably makes her less popular. The most popular girls at Sweet Valley High are in a sorority called Pi Beta Alpha. Robin’s dream is to be a member of that sorority. Although one member agrees to nominate her for membership, the other members conspire to keep her out, presumably because she is overweight and therefore socially unacceptable. Pi Beta Alpha members tell Robin she must pass a few "loyalty tests" before she can become a member, and they make the tests outrageous, assuming Robin will never accomplish the tasks. Unaware of this conspiracy, Robin believes that she is close to membership:

An ecstatic Robin closed the door and headed straight for the kitchen. Pulling a whole cherry cheesecake from the refrigerator, she began eating to calm her nerves. At last! She, Robin Wilson, was actually going to be a Pi Beta Alpha. She was going to be popular. All she had to do was get through pledging. How hard could that be? (25)

Although the Sweet Valley High books clearly define a contempt for fat people, most recent series books use euphemisms in an attempt to subvert the stereotypes and prejudices. Klingman demonstrates how often euphemisms for fatness are used: "Fat people aren’t fat—they’re chubby, overweight, a little heavy, plump, portly, heavyset, large-boned, wide-hipped, broad shouldered, or zaftig" (5). While Robin Wilson is referred to as "Fatso Wilson," Trisha McCormick in R.L. Stine’s Halloween Party (1990) is simply "a short brunette with wiry hair and a bit of a weight problem" (6). These euphemisms, however, do not change the fact that fatness, regardless of what one calls it, is still fatness and culturally unacceptable.

Stereotypes, prejudices, and euphemisms are not just limited to female characters in series fiction for girls. In the study conducted by Harris, Harris, and Bochner "there [was] no evidence to support the widely held belief that unattractiveness in general, and obesity specifically, would be viewed even more negatively for women than for men" (511). Evidently, "the public view of obesity is so negative that it is not differentially sensitive to further manipulations of a person’s status" (511). The common value in our culture is thin. The stereotypes and prejudices apply regardless of one’s gender, and we see this reinforced in the many fat male characters found in boys’ series fiction.

Ricky Schorr, an overweight male character in R.L. Stine’s Halloween Party (1990), is the epitome of the stereotypical image suggesting that fat people are unkempt and lacking self-discipline. The narrator supplies the following description of Ricky:"Ricky was an obnoxious practical joker, and some people considered him the biggest dweeb in the whole school. Ricky’s thick black hair was uncombed as usual, and as usual he was wearing a tacky T-shirt no one else would be caught dead in. This one was stained with orange juice and said ‘Kiss Me, I’m a Martian’" (11). Unlike Stine’s Trisha McCormick, Ricky Schorr is a recurring character in the Fear Street series. However, Ricky’s role is so minor that one is led to believe that the only significance of his character is to reinforce a stereotype and reproduce a prejudice.

Chet Morton is a similar recurring character in the Hardy Boys series. Chet is a friend of the Hardy boys who accompanies them on many adventures. He is often described as good-natured, and since female characters are often absent from the storylines, he is often portrayed as the nurturer. Many fat characters, male and female alike, are portrayed as nurturers or motherly figures. The nurturer stereotype is especially degrading for males, however, because, as Mildred Kingman ovserves, "[f]at men are [seen as] passive and not capable of behaving in masculine ways" (22). Chet cooks and nurtures the Hardy boys presumably because he cannot measure up to their masculinity. In The Clue of the Screeching Owl (1962) the Hardy Boys and Chet are in the woods searching for the source of a scream. Joe Hardy accidentally falls into freezing water. The brave Frank Hardy rescues an unconscious Joe, but Chet takes "charge" of the treatment, rubbing "Joe’s body briskly with his big woolen shirt" (22). Once Joe regains consciousness, Chet gives the Hardys a firm command: "Never mind your clothes. Just put that shirt on to keep yourself warm. You Hardys are going straight back to the cabin to dry out by the stove" (22). Early the next morning while the Hardys are still asleep, Chet begins to make a large breakfast for the boys: "Chet Morton appeared in the doorway pounding on a metal pan with a big wooden spoon. ‘Breakfast, gang! Up and at ‘em! It’s almost ten o’clock!’" (23). As the nurturer, Chet comforts and feeds his chums. Chet Morton is also less successful than his chums, which represents another fat stereotype. In Mystery at Cabin Island (1929), Chet and his chums go ice fishing, but Chet only manages to catch a "battered pail" and a fish "about four inches long," or a "sardine" as Joe calls it (114). Chet is also less successful at steering the ice-boats that the Hardys and Biff Hooper own. Chet attempts to manage Biff’s craft but meets with little success: "Chet soon found that steering was not the simple thing it had seemed. He was in difficulties before he was more than a few hundred yards away from the island. Then, essaying a sharp turn, he almost upset the boat" (119). Chet gets the ice-boat so out of control that Biff is thrown out, and Chet nearly collides with the Hardy craft several times. But Frank Hardy is always able to "maneuver his craft" out of the path of the runaway craft (120).

One stereotypical image exhibited by Bob Baker in the Motor Boys series is that he is less intelligent than his normal weight friends. In The Motor Boys Under the Sea (1914), the boys see a whale go under the water, and after ten minutes Bob wonders why the whale has not spouted yet. Bob’s friend, Jerry Hopkins, replies, "You’re off on your natural history, Bob" (3). Jerry then proceeds to give Bob a lesson about whales and how often they need to spout. To this natural history lesson Bob grumbles, "That’s it! I’m never right" (3). The reader can easily infer that because Bob is fat, he is stupid. Bob’s lower intelligence is again reinforced when he asks, "What are periscopes?" (20). Immediately the narrator informs the reader that Bob "usually didn’t take such an interest in mechanics [which all boys should have an interest in] as did his chums. When taunted with this Bob used to say it kept him so busy cooking for Ned and Jerry that he had no time to brush up on the latest inventions" (20). Of course, Bob receives another lesson, this time an explanation of a periscope. Obviously, the author wants to inform the reader about submarines, mechanics, and inventions, but why does the fat character have to be the one who is less intelligent? Again, the reader can easily infer that because Bob is fat, he is not expected to know the information. And, again, the fat character takes on the nurturing role of cook instead of the masculine role of mechanic.

Stacy Brown, who is nicknamed "Chunky," travels the West with three other young boys and a chaperon in the Pony Rider Boys series. According to Klingman, "[f]at is a joke. Fat people are comedians; they play quirky off-beat characters, secondary or ethnic roles" (20). Chunky undoubtedly fulfills this stereotype. Chunky, too, takes on the role as the nurturer since there is an absence of female characters, but the most prominent stereotype is that Chunky is consistently the object of jokes and pranks. In fact his friends’ pranks are often cruel to the overweight boy. In Pony Rider Boys with the Texas Rangers (1920), Chunky sustains minor injuries but the other boys only laugh at him. For example, a bullet grazes his head (on two separate occasions) and the other boys laugh (26, 42). Chunky is again the object of a prank when he falls asleep in his saddle and the other members of his group stop to make camp. Instead of waking the sleeping boy, the boys unpack the supplies, eat dinner, and pack the supplies back up. The other boys watch as Chunky’s horse slowly makes his way to the creek:

The cool water completed the awakening process for the horse. It drank freely then started for the other side, Chunky still sleeping. All at once the pony stepped into a deep hole in the creek. The animal went down on its nose with a mighty splash. Stacy shot over the disappearing head, then boy and pony vanished under the waters of Delaware Creek while the others of the party howled with delight. (16)

George Cole in Little Men (1947) of the Little Women series is another fat character who reinforces fat stereotypes. The following narrator’s description of George, also called Stuffy, demonstrates the stereotype that fat people are unhealthy: "George Cole had been spoilt by an overindulgent mother, who stuffed him with sweetmeats till he was sick, and then thought him too delicate to study, so that at twelve years old, he was a pale, puffy boy, dull, fretful, and lazy" (25-6). Even though the proprietors of Plumfield do not allow many sweet foods and require a lot of exercise, Stuffy Cole never outgrows the stereotypes established in the beginning of the story. He is consistently shown as both fat and unhealthy.

The obsession with thinness that is perpetuated in children’s series fiction can have several negative effects on young children. One such effect is that children are dieting at very early ages. Roberta Seid’s 1986 study "reported that 50 percent of fourth-grade girls—that is, nine-year-olds—and close to 80 percent of ten- and eleven-year-old girls . . . had put themselves on diets because they thought they were ‘too fat’" (4). Unfortunately, these girls were probably average weight girls who because of the interaction of common experiences thought they were fat. The dieting craze is not just limited to children, either. Seid also refers to a 1985 survey which indicates "that the vast majority of us—90 percent—think we weigh too much. On any day, 25 percent of us are on diets, with another 50 percent just finishing, breaking, or resolving to start one" (3). Socialization into culture begins from infancy. By the time one is an adult, the common social meanings are deeply inscribed in us, which may explain why so many of us believe we are overweight. Invariably children believe that being thin, active, intelligent, hardworking, attractive, popular, successful, athletic, and healthy, as they ae for the heroes and heroines in their literature, are critical traits for their happiness.

Davis and Schleifer’s discussion of cultural studies suggests that a cultural critique is one way to "understand and locate knowledge as a phenomenon that is conditioned not by an individual subject but by a social world. It is against this background of knowledge . . . that, when fully instituted, will appear to be inevitable and ‘natural’" (601). For example, my sister was an overweight child, and other children, including me, teased her all the time. Not only did she have to hear others singing the refrain "fatty, fatty, two by four," she also had to endure myriad other rhymes about fatness every day. Now thinner and a mother, my sister has an overweight child whom she frequently teases. My sister teases her son not only because she has internalized some of the prejudices she experienced as an overweight child, but also because she has become part of the social world whose so-called natural response to common experience is to maintain and reproduce negative attitudes towards fat people. The "natural" and "inevitable" position in our culture seems to be an obsession with thinness. However, by exploring and understanding where some of our prejudice against fat people comes from, and how that prejudice is perpetuated, we can begin to change and improve culture. We can learn to accept fatness as an acceptable difference just as we accept culture, race, and gender differences. Increasing children’s awareness of these prejudices and how they are developed during the social process is the first step in preventing the reproduction of the last accepted prejudice.

Linda Wedwick
Illinois State University
5330 Curriculum & Instruction
Normal, IL 61790-5330

1Fat was more fashionable in the West far into the nineteenth century; however, between 1950-1960 slender became le dernier cri. Roberta Seid’s investigation of the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature revealed that "the number of articles on ‘corpulence’ (obesity) rose to ten immediately after the war, and between1949-1951 it rose to fourteen. But in the following two years, it suddenly zoomed to fifty—four" (103)

2A Study conducted at the University of South Wales found that "the populations studied could be expanded to include people whose power to make decisions implies that their stereotyping will have important consequences for others, such as personnel directors or directors of admissions to education institutions" (Harris,Harris, and Bochner 512).

3I include Little Women as a series not only because Kensinger defines it as such but also because it folows Gary Schmidt’s definition of the second form of the series. This form is defined by character. Little Men is indeed an extension of the Little Women books because

Jo is a central character, and Little Men "offers the reader a kind of vision into [Jo’s] growth" (164).

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Clayson, Dennis E., and Michael L. Klassen. "Perception of Attractiveness by Obesity and Hair Color." Perceptual & Motor Skills 68 (1989): 199-202.

Davis, Robert Con, and Ronald Schleifer, eds. "Cultural Studies." Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies. New York: Longman, 1994.

Dixon, Franklin W. The Hardy Boys: The Clue of the Screeching Owl. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1962.

- - -. The Hardy Boys: They Mystery of Cabin Island. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1929.

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Schmidt, Gary D. "’So Here, My Dears, is a New Oz Story’: The Deep Structure of a Series." Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 14 (1989): 163-165.

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