Basilio 1

Bryant Basilio
Professor Beadle
English 113B
3 April 2016

Physical Appearance Matters

Physical appearance plays a big role when building a relationship with a person because
of the western standard of beauty. The media decides what is beauty and who is beautiful by
portraying an unrealistic standard of beauty that can have a powerful influence on the way
people view themselves and others. The media is full of images of ideals bodies who fulfill these
unrealistic standards, making it seem as if it is normal for people to live up to these norms that
the media puts. In the novel Every day by David Levinthan, the protagonist A is introduced to the
reader as person who constantly changes bodies every day. Rhiannon, As lover, plays a big role
in the book and in As life. Throughout the book A tries to build a relationship with Rhiannon but
fails to do so because of the western standard of beauty that has impacted her thoughts of
physical appearance. Every day A is randomly put in another body despite of the sexuality or
race. A believes that beauty comes within, in other words, he believes that morals and personality
is what creates beauty. However, A is conflicted by this when he encounters rejection by
Rhiannon because of the physical appearance. Although A believes that physical appearance is
not as important as the internal, Rhiannon cannot love a person who is constantly changing
bodies everyday. Therefore, physical appearance plays a negative role in As life when it comes
to building a relationship with Rhiannon because of the standard of beauty in the western culture
declares the definition of attractiveness.

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The change of physical appearance negatively affects A when building a relationship with
Rhiannon because she cant adapt to different body changes every day. There is a scene in the
book where A is in the body of a guy named Vic. This person is biologically a boy but is a girl. In
this scene A has lunch with his lover Rhiannon through the body of Vic, the boyish girl.
Rhiannon is quite not pleased at looking at A because of the physical appearance. In fact,
Rhiannon indirectly rejects him that day by saying I guess I need to work on my piece more.
Theres too much going on. And you being here- that adds to the too much (Levinthan260). She
later sends an email to A saying today was awkward, but I think thats because it feels like a
very awkward time (Levinthan263). A feels rejection by his lover Rhiannon but that is because
men from the perspective of the media, are portrayed as brave, adventurousness, wise, and strong
muscular individuals. Vic contradicts what the media implies, by showing some feminine traits
instead of masculinity in his physical appearance. Rhiannon knows that As physical appearance
doesnt match the medias image of beauty in men therefore she rejects him. In the article Ideal
to real: What the 'perfect' body really looks like for men and women the article talks about the
role of men. It is important to understand that the media play a big role on influencing people to
live an unrealistic standard of beauty. Rhiannon rejected A for being a boyish girl because the
media portray men as dominant strong people. Recently however, the media has directly
targeted men by defining the ideal (yet unattainable) male as youthful, masculine, successful, and
attractive. (Brian Alexander). In fact, A is aware that he doesnt meet the medias requirements
of a beautiful physically appearance so he tends to hide behind Rhiannon when they get off
school grounds. As belief personality and morals is the central beauty of a person but he was
proved wrong when he gets rejected, showing that because of the western standard of beauty,
Rhiannon cannot accept him for his physical appearance of a girl. This affects A because the

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media influences Rhiannon to believes an unrealistic ideal image of men in which A cannot
physically look like. Therefore, As physically appearance affects his relationship with Rhiannon.
Another way western standard of beauty plays a negative role in As relationship with
Rhiannon is through the body of Finn Taylor. Finn Taylor is a 300 overweight individual that A
categorizes as a lazy and carelessness person. In the beginning of the chapter A is embarrassed to
meet up with Rhiannon because of his size. As the story progresses they meet but right away she
is surprisingly shocked at the physical appearance. She spots me right away; it is not like she
can miss me. The recognitions in her eyes, but its not a particular happy one(272). A is aware
that she is unpleased because of Finns appearance so he tries to smooth things out by saying,
Dont look at the package. Look at whats inside(273). A is still believes that the inner self can
outreach the outer so he tries to convince Rhiannon to not focus on the outside but on the inside.
However, Rhiannon replies to A by saying that is for you to say. I never change do I?(273).
This indicates that A believes what he believes because she never changes appearance, he sees
the same exact women through the same eyes but she does not see him with the same eyes. She
deals with different people every day and this is a problem to her because she cant deal with it.
In the article Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize
the Ideal Beauty Standard, the article talks about how female are portrayed in media and how
women see the ideal beauty standard. Furthermore, since women are most likely to be targeted
by the media. Women tend to have more judgement about the western standard of beauty for
both genders. Unrealistic media images of men are so prevalent that it seems that males who
fulfill such a standard are more the norm than the exception. Cultivation theory argues that
images that portray men who match the sociocultural ideal of beauty are extremely prevalent in
popular media (Serdar). The media now shows this standard of beauty more as a norm than a

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beauty. Meaning if an individual is not on the same category as what the media portrays, then
they are considered ugly to the media which then later influences others to think the same way
about the person. In the article My hips, My caderas by Alisa Valdes, the author mentions that
she had big hips which was a cursed and a blessing in her life. For the most part she was always
denied from her mom side of the family because of her hips. In English, hips are something
women try to be rid off my mothers people hate my hips (Valdes75). The author of this
article is going through the same situation as A. However, she is a woman and because of that,
standard beauty has a different way to categorize her. She mentions that the American people
hate her hips because the western standard of beauty portray women as thin individuals. The
article Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize the
Ideal Beauty Standard, shows what women are supposed to look to be considered beautiful.
Images in advertisements, television, and music usually portray the "ideal woman" as tall,
white, and thin, with a "tubular" body, and blonde hair (Alexander). All these traits places a
woman on whether or not she is considered pretty. However, A being Finn Taylor who doesnt
match muscular toned body affected the date with Rhiannon because she felt like he is not the
ideal guy that the media shows to be. Towards the end of the chapter A wanted to kiss her but he
knew he couldnt because it was just not right due to the physical appearance. Later on in the
novel Rhiannon rejects A by telling him that she cant deal him changing bodies everyday. I
mean, you are a different person ever day. And I just cant love every single person you are
equally. I know its you underneath. I know it is just a package. But I cant, A. Ive tried. And I
cant(278). Rhiannon cant deal with body changes every day because sometimes the physical
appearance A is put in is not pleasant to her. This creates a conflict because now A cant build a
relationship with her due to her definition of what beauty is but in reality she gets the thoughts

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of the beauty through media because nobody is born knowing what is beautiful, people learn it
through media, advertisement, tv, etc. All these things influences and shapes peoples mind on
what beauty is.
The protagonist A, changes bodies every day despite the race and sexuality. This creates a
conflict between himself and the relationship with Rhiannon because of the physical appearance
that the western standard of beauty has influenced in the life of Rhiannon. Nobody is born
knowing what beauty really is but through the media people are influenced of what categorizes
beauty. A believes that the inner self is what is considered beautiful but Rhiannon believes that
the physical appearance matters too because most of the time when A was in a body that the
media considered ugly, she would be mot be please to see A because of the Physical appearance.
In fact, she would reject and be embarrassed of him, A understood and felt the same way she did
about his physical appearance. He tried to convince her that the outside is just a package, she
should focus on the inside, but this lead to use of her still not wanting to be with him because the
physical appearcance.

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Word Cited

Alexander, Brian Ideal to real: What the 'perfect' body really looks like for men and women.
Today health & wellness. 31 march 2016.

Levithan, David. every day. New York: Random House, 2012. Print

Sedar, Kasey. Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Wome
Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard. Westminister.

Valdes, Alisa My his, My caderas. MSNs underwire. April 2000