EAT ME (Agbabi)
● Relationships
1) Negative self-image as the result of an abusive relationship
- ‘His desert island after shipwreck./ Or a beached whale on a king-sized bed/ craving
a wave. I was a tidal wave of flesh.’- In ‘Eat me’, Agbabi suggests how a negative self
image can result from abusive relationships. Agbabi, with the use of sea imagery,
connotes size through the words ‘whale’ and ‘tidal wave’. This hyperbolic imagery,
including the reference to a ‘king-sized bed’, helps to create the impression that the
persona dehumanises herself through exaggerating her size and comparing herself
to an animal through zoomorphism. This is due to her partner’s abuse, which is
suggested through the possessive pronoun ‘his’ emphasising the persona as a
possession.
- ‘Too fat to leave, too fat to buy a pint of full-fat milk,/ too fat to use fat as an emotional
shield,/ too fat to be called chubby, cuddly, big-built.’- Agbabi presents abusive
relationships as a cause of negative self image. The use of the word ‘leave’ is
polysemic- it both suggests that the persona is literally too large to move, but it also a
metaphor for the confinement that victims of abusive relationships feel. As a result,
the anaphora of ‘too fat’ helps to create the impression that the persona believes her
size renders her useless and weak. For instance, the word choice of ‘full-fat milk’
connotes size through the fricative alliteration of ‘full-fat’, which is ironically
juxtaposed with the fact that the persona, being ‘fat’ herself, cannot buy it. This
negative self-image is developed further through the asyndetic tricolon, reflecting the
idea that she has no redeeming qualities, for instance the word ‘cuddly’ is a term of
endearment, but the persona sees herself as undeserving of this title.
2) The control of one individual over another
- ‘Eat me. And I ate, did/ what I was told. Didn’t even taste it.’- In ‘Eat Me’, Agbabi
explores the relationship dynamic where one individual has control over the other.
The caesuras following ‘eat me’ and ‘told’ emphasise the imperative, and establish
the man in the relationship as the figure of authority. Accordingly, the persona
remains compliant and passive, shown through the absence of personal pronouns on
the phrases ‘did what I was told’ and ‘didn’t even taste it’. This absence of personal
pronouns suggests that she has no agency in her actions, and creates the
impression that she gains little satisfaction from the relationship dynamic, which is
emphasised through the lack of gustatory imagery in ‘didn’t even taste it’, removing
the pleasure of tasting food from the action of eating it. This is because it centres
around the pleasure the man gets from controlling the persona, not the persona’s
own personal pleasure.
- ‘Then he asked me to get up and walk/ round the bed so he could watch my broad/
belly wobble, hips judder like a juggernaut.’- Agbabi, shows the control of one
individual over another through suggesting that the object of the man’s desire is the
persona’s body, whose size is fetisised. Agbabi creates this impression through the
semantic field of anatomy- ‘belly’ and ‘hips’- which he desires to ‘watch’. This
persona’s size is emphasised through the plosive alliteration of ‘broad belly’ and the
reference to a juggernaut (an immovable force). Therefore, through his order to ‘get
, up and walk round the bed so he could watch’ he seeks to control the persona
through dictating her actions, all for his own satisfaction.
3) The change in power in relationships, through retaliation
- ‘Soon you’ll be forty…he whispered, and how/ could I not roll over on top. I rolled and
he drowned in my flesh. I drowned his dying sound out.’ - In ‘Eat Me’, Agbabi creates
a shift in power dynamics as the persona retaliates to the man’s imperative. The
persona here breaks the cycle of abuse, as in response to him saying ‘Soon you’ll be
forty’ she dominates him instead of responding passively. The rhetorical device
used in the repetition of ‘drowned’, as well as the possessive pronoun in ‘my flesh’
suggests that the persona uses her body- the very object of his desire- against him,
in order to establish her control over her body and him as a result. The end focus as
she ‘drowned his dying sentence out’ establishes the end of the abuse, as he loses
the power of his voice, which prior to this has been used to command and dictate her
actions.
- ‘There was nothing else left in the house to eat.’ - The end focus of the word ‘eat’ is
polysemic as it suggests literally that there is no more food left, but it could also
suggest that the absence of food is her regaining her power- the lack of food shows
how it no longer has power or control over here in the absures absence.
● Human capacity for abuse, violence, aggression,
1) The human capacity to attain control over another individual
- ‘Eat me. And I ate, did/ what I was told. Didn’t even taste it.’- The caesuras following
‘eat me’ and ‘told’ emphasise the imperative, and establish the man as the figure of
control. Accordingly, the persona remains compliant and passive, shown through the
absence of personal pronouns on the phrases ‘did what I was told’ and ‘didn’t even
taste it’. This suggests that she gains no satisfaction from the relationship dynamic,
which centres around the pleasure the man gets from controlling the persona.
- ‘Then he asked me to get up and walk/ round the bed so he could watch my broad/
belly wobble, hips judder like a juggernaut.’- The semantic field of anatomy- ‘belly’
and ‘hips’- suggests that the object of his desire is the persona’s body, whose size is
emphasised through the plosive alliteration of ‘broad belly’ and the reference to a
juggernaut (an immovable force). He seeks to control the persona through dictating
her actions, all for his own satisfaction.
2) The human capacity to regain control through violence .
- ‘Soon you’ll be forty…he whispered, and how/ could I not roll over on top. I rolled and
he drowned in my flesh. I drowned his dying sound out.’ - We see a shift in power
dynamics as the persona retaliates to the man’s imperative. The persona here
breaks the cycle of abuse, as in response to him saying ‘Soon you’ll be forty’ she
dominates him. The rhetorical device used in the repetition of ‘drowned’ suggests the
persona using her body, the very object of his desire, against him, in order to
establish her control over her body and him as a result. The end focus as she
, ‘drowned his dying sentence out’ is symbolic as it reflects the end of the abuse- by
losing the power of his voice, he loses the tool which he would use to command her.
- ‘There was nothing else left in the house to eat.’ - The end focus of the word ‘eat’ is
polysemic as it suggests literally that there is no more food left, but it could also
suggest that the absence of food is her regaining her power- the lack of food shows
how it no longer has power or control over here in the absures absence.
3) The potential for destruction by humans
- ‘Juggernaut’- The word ‘juggernaut’ is adapted from Sanskrit word Jagannath, a title
given to Krishna, meaning "lord of the world". Therefore, the persona’s capacity to be
destructive is emphasised through the connotations of size, strength and an
overwhelming force.
- ‘My globe of a cheek’- accordingly the use of ‘globe’ corresponds with the meaning of
juggernaut, with both ‘globe’ and ‘world’ falling under the same lexical set. Overall,
emphasising the persona’s size hyperbolically, which shows her capacity to
dominate.
- ‘Swell like forbidden fruit’- The simile used can be interpreted as a biblical allusion,
referring to the fall of Adam and Eve, a story synonymous with the destruction of
human innocence and in turn showing the persona’s capacity for destruction.
- ‘Tidal wave of flesh’- The metaphor shown through the natural visual imagery
conflating the persona with the elements, reflects the persona’s size and potential to
unleash her power.
