Reviving Ophelia

"Early adolescence is a time of physical and psychological change, self-absorption, preoccupation with peer approval and identity formation." (Pipher 23) The text of the novel Reviving Ophelia, by Mary Pipher, demonstrates reality through young girls' real life problems and their stories. The author, a psychologist, uses her patients' stories to help the reader understand how the problems that adolescent girls encounter are common in all levels of society. Pipher uses actual case studies to realistically show that the behaviors of these girls are based on the ways they try to fit in with their peers and deal with other immediate issues in their lives. These examples of troubled girls' problems teach parents how to deal with what is common in their daughters' lives.

Yearning for acceptance can lead to immoral decisions that adolescent girls make when they need support and don't know what to do. Pipher uses the story of a bulimic girl to demonstrate the problems teenagers face as they experience peer pressure and anxiety about weight gain. When Heidi, a sixteen-year-old girl, reaches puberty and begins to gain weight, she notices how unhappy she is with her physical appearance, and decides to take action. Heidi becomes bulimic; she eats large portions of unhealthy foods, and then regurgitates what she eats. She purges as a means to be thin and therefore fit in with the other girls. This desire results from feeling self-conscious and wanting to be just like her contemporaries. Bulimia changed Heidi's life; she became exhausted all the time, no longer enjoyed family dinners or social functions where food was served, and hated being around people who ate normally. Although binging made her stomach "feel like it [would] burst," she continued her addiction as a way "to run from pain" (Pipher 167). The narrator explains that through therapy, Heidi would need to learn new ways to deal with her psychic pain and control her eating habits. She would have to realize that binging only makes her feel bad physically and ashamed mentally.

Heidi's authentic story exemplifies the horrible effects of bulimia and discourages this addiction; furthermore, it demonstrates the intense longings of teenage girls to fit in, and that other ways to deal with pressure exist. Pipher's inclusion of this story and many similar ones about other patients makes her argument powerful because it is an actual depiction of reality.

Pipher demonstrates reality through reporting teenage girls' discussions about their troubles, and analyzing the many issues that pre adolescent and adolescent girls face ranging from their own self-image, and family issues including divorce and sibling problems. In addition, she discusses the social and cultural aspects of the ways women have been treated historically, as well as exemplifying issues such as sex, drugs, and violence. Having the teenage girls speak