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Izzo Julio

Batty English 101

8 May 2018

Obesity in a Different Figure

Alex Espinoza's, Still Water Saints is a series of characters that find a way into Perla's

life- who is the owner of the Botanica Oshun, located in the outskirts of Los Angeles in a Latino

majority town called Agua Mansa. She has served the town for years offering spiritual healings

such as candles, prayers and charms. More than anything though, she offers guidance through

her mechanisms to help with these people's crises whatever their case may be. A few of her

customers include people dealing with death of a loved one, current addicts just looking for

peace and kids with disturbing, troubling past experiences.

One of the characters that Perla comes across is Rosa, who is an overweight teenager

trying to lose weight and find herself. Rosa falls victim to low self-esteem and low confidence,

and after analyzing Rosa and why she was depicted the way she was- people would argue that

being a young teenager, maybe she couldn't find herself because she's overweight or that it's an

unhealthy lifestyle to be overweight at that age to begin with. But the bigger picture Alex

Espinoza makes, is that it's more about having self-acceptance and being happy with yourself,

how you shouldn’t worry about what people think, and that there is more in life to appreciate. All

in all, the only thing that matters is that you love yourself and are happy with who you are,

because a positive mind is a healthy mind and the rest will follow behind.

In Still Water Saints, Rosa seeks help from Perla to help her deal with her obesity. It's

really her mother that implements these actions of intense workout video tapes and skipping
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meals for teas that are sold by Perla at her Botanica since it seemed to work for her. I like that

her sister Blanca tries give Rosa motivation and help her to be more confident with herself, but

Rosa is just negative and unmotivated towards herself with quotes in response like, "But it's hard

to be confident when you weigh as much as I do. When even breathing is hard." (Espinoza. 13,

Release: Still Water Saints).

Although it is understandable to be upset about being overweight, it is important to see

that society doesn’t make up what is beautiful and what is not. Much of that is mental perception

and not enough appreciation to one's self. And not being happy with how you look will never

change if you constantly have that negative mindset. You will never be where you want to be and

that will ultimately damage your body mentally and physically. Goodtherapy.org writes,

"Individuals who have a body image that might be considered unhealthy may subject themselves

to intense internal scrutiny and become fixated on perceived physical imperfections. They may

have unrealistic goals regarding weight and size and may, in pursuit of these goals, take actions

that might be considered extreme by some. These actions often include overeating, over-

exercising, starving oneself, binge eating, and purging."

Moreover, Rosa finds herself starving herself in substitute of eating and over exercising.

"I drink the tea twice- once in the morning in place of breakfast and again in the afternoon".

(Espinoza. 15, Release.) Her mother knows she dislikes this, and when asked about why she

hasn’t just taken her to a doctor, her mother's response was, "Doctors don't know anything about

this" (Espinoza. 15, Release.). I don’t know about you, but last time I heard, breakfast was the

most important meal of the day. Along with that, she is over-exercising, "I turn the tv off and sit

on the couch, breathing so hard and heavy my chest hurts. I can't even think about getting back

up now" (Espinoza. 18, Release.) With actions like that and skipping meals, that is not good for
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the body. Livestrong.com states that, "In order to burn calories, you must consume them first.

And if one is exercising at an extreme rate and not eating, that can lead to headaches, fainting

and possibly death."

Furthermore, someone dealing with weight issues are often very sensitive to words or

actions towards their weight. So when 'helping' somebody deal with weight issues, it is very

important to be careful with certain words you use and how you interpret them. Wiley Online

Library states that, "Obese individuals are highly stigmatized and face multiple forms of

prejudice and discrimination because of their weight. The prevalence of weight discrimination in

the United States has increased by 66% over the past decade. Weight bias translates into

inequities in employment settings, health‐care facilities, and educational institutions, often due

to widespread negative stereotypes that overweight and obese persons are lazy, unmotivated,

lacking in self‐discipline, less competent, noncompliant, and sloppy."

That goes to show interpretations that people deal with every day. As some may think to

'understand', it's until you deal with the scrutiny in an everyday circumstance that you can relate

to this case. Although Rosa's mother just wants the best for her daughter and is just trying to help

her achieve weight loss like she once did, Rosa reflects on her mom going on rants about, "self-

perception and men not wanting to date fat women" (Espinoza. 14, Release.), like if that’s what

she needs to hear. First of all, that’s a false statement. Second, nowhere in those words do they

spill any guidance or motivation whatsoever, especially coming from a possible role model like

her mother. Bioethics.Edu writes, "Adolescents and young adults are subject to pressure from

their environment, including parents, colleagues, and especially mass media, in order to meet

appearance standards in relation to body image.

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This pressure favors dissatisfaction with self-body image and thus can promote risky

health activities, such as development of disordered eating, depression, and anxiety, all of which

can continue to develop throughout adulthood." Furthermore, even when Miguel shows interest

in Rosa by teaching her Cumbia which is a Spanish dancing style, her mom implies that he is just

using her when she replies with, "Men like him are always up to something, you better watch it."

(Espinoza. 27, Release). Just because he is on parole he falls under a specific category, and Rosa

responds, "Just because I'm fat a guy can't like me, right? A guy like him can't find me

attractive?" (Espinoza. 27, Release). With that being said, you shouldn't care what people think

because in the end, you’re only here to please yourself, not others.

While the perception of words can have impact, understanding that there is more to life

when dealing with personal issues, that even though you are dealing with a crisis, there is

someone out there probably in a worse situation than you. In a sense, it's better to be optimistic

and look at life slightly different than normally. I take this from Miguel when he is talking to

Rosa and all she can complain about is how she is fat, and he says, "So what, you have plenty to

feel good about" as he continues to tell her about the family she has, and that it's more than he is

ever had, how someone would love to have a family. That opens eyes and hopefully some self-

realization on how to look at life.

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A lot of the time, people try to fall under the "standard" of beauty and how society relays

it. We are all different and unique in our own way, and to diminish that and try to alter our

bodies, overwork ourselves to reach an unattainable goal is self-destruction on who we are as

people. Not only that, can be unhealthy to your mind and body. In Still Water Saints, Alex

Espinoza helps us look at life a little differently, through Rosa's obesity and low self-esteem

crisis, we learn that you should, above all, love yourself and find self-acceptance no matter the

case, because how can you let someone love you if you haven't loved yourself first.

In addition, we learn how you should not feed into what outsiders are saying, because at

the end of the day you can only protect what you control, and the lack of people's intellect should

not affect you and your happiness. Rosa found herself in a battle of not only obesity, but low

self-esteem, low confidence and ultimately couldn't find herself. While some people could look

at Rosa and think, well maybe the fact that she was overweight was the problem to why she can't

find herself or being overweight at a young age was a major contribution. The real issue was that

it's more about having a happy, healthy mind and loving who you are.
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After analyzing Rosa and why used in Still Water Saints the way she was, is because the

bigger picture at the end of the day comes down to self-acceptance and being happy with

yourself, how you shouldn’t worry about what people think, and that there is more in life to

appreciate. Rosa fell victim to lack of self-appreciation and low confidence, mix that in with

negative motivation her mom gave her and unhealthy diet options, that could have led to far

worse scenarios. Alex Espinoza opened me up to realistic views of what it is of real importance

and how there is much more in life than just you, how you should find the beauty in everything,

and be optimistic when you can. The key to a happy, healthy life is to first accept that you are the

best you to ever happen, all in all, I think Kurt Cobain said it best, "Wanting to be someone else

is a waste of the person you are".

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Works Cited

• Espinoza, Alex. Release, Still Water Saints. New York, 2007.

Random House Trade Paperbacks, Novel. New York, 2007.

• Puhl, Rebecca. Heuer, Chelsea. Wiley Online Library. September 2012.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2008.636

• Nuland, Sherwin. Kanouzi, Jack. Yale University Bioethics. Self-Esteem in the hands of

Society.

https://bioethics.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/SELF%20ESTEEM%20IN%20THE%20

HANDS%20OF%20SOCIETY-1.pdf

• Katz, Shirley. Phd. Body Image: Good Therapy. August 2017.

https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/body-image

• Live Strong. Calorie Intake. July 2017.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/451656-calories-eaten-versus-calories-burned/

• Kurt Cobain Quotes: Brainy Quote.

https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/kurt_cobain