Huang 1

Xiaotang(Tom) Huang
Professor Patterson
WRT 102.37
10 March 2014
Growing Pain
Do you feel ashamed of yourself sometimes? Maybe you are too short. Maybe you are
heavier. Maybe you have small breasts, so on and so forth. Particularly, teenagers in puberty
have more such problems. They like competing with each other. Some young people hit puberty
earlier, so the others falling behind become very anxious. In her essay, Shaping Up Absurd,
Nora Ephron tells stories about how her under-developed breasts bothered her when she was a
young girl. Ephron uses humor, hyperbole and provocative language, reflecting in anecdotes and
dialogues, to demonstrate her low self-esteem and sensitivity during her adolescence and its
impact on her adult life.
The essay by Nora Ephron, from beginning to the end, provides a humorous tone with
many interesting anecdotes and dialogues. For example, when Ephron requested buying a bra to
her mother although she had not shaped up yet, they had a hilarious conversation:
I want to buy a bra, I said to my mother one night. What for? she said.
Why not use a Band-Aid instead? she would say. I am too old to wear an
undershirt. Screaming. Weeping. Shouting. Then don't wear an undershirt, said
my mother. But I want to buy a bra. What for? (17)
Ephrons mother is a very sarcastic woman because she suggested her daughter using a Band-Aid
instead of a bra. She was unwilling to buy bras for Ephron because she was very hateful about
bras, as Ephron describes, she had never even had to wear a brassiere until she had her fourth

Huang 2
child(17) and she, yet, was proud of it. Later Ephron went to a bra store with her friend alone.
The fitter asked her to lean over first so she leaned over, with the fleeting hope that [her] breasts
would miraculously fall out of my body and into the puffs. Nothing (18). The imagery is very
vivid. Ephron expected she would have big breasts, but the truth disappointed her. The word
nothing is simple but powerful, and it creates humor here, luring the reader bursting into
laughter. Her friend comforted her, saying When you get married, your husband will
touch your breasts, and rub them and kiss them and they'll grow (18). The sexual language
creates a sense of humor and the readers must find it very hilarious because of the authors
diction.
Ephron also demonstrates womans competitiveness to each other by providing an
anecdote about her first boyfriends mother. The mother suggests, Always make sure you're on
top of him so you won't seem so small. My bust is very large, you see, so I always lie on my
back to make it look smaller, but you'll have to be on top most of the time(21). She is very
unfriendly and bitter. Her nasty sexual tip to Ephron reveals her arrogance and prejudice. She is
so proud of her big breasts that she believes they can bring men happiness. Her aim has reached,
which is to shame Ephron that her breasts are small. While Ephron thinks, that was her way of
being cruel and competitive under the guise of being helpful and maternal(21). This also
reflects, from the other side, womans protectiveness to her son when she encounters her
potential daughter-in-law.
In her essay, Ephron also uses hyperbole to help readers understand her anxiety and
embarrassment due to her under developed breasts. For instance, she believes no one would
ever want to marry me. [She] had no breasts. [She] would never have breasts(18). The use of
hyperbole reflects the girls naivety and immaturity. Her low self-esteem is revealed, implying

Huang 3
her sensitivity in the future. When she found out her best friend Diana also shaped up after a
summer backing to school, she says my best friend has betrayed me(19). It is another example
of applying hyperbole. It seems not to be a big deal to other people, but the change of her friend
is a big strike to her because her friend has gone ahead without [her](19) and shaped up(19).
The use of hyperbole exaggerates the authors emotional feelings. Although the word betrayed
is a little bit harsh, the diction is close to a young girls true thoughts and feelings.
When the author writes about her adult life, she uses a lot of provocative language. She
tells an anecdote of an incident that occurred at a party. A woman teased her in front of a man,
saying Look at the two of us, the two of us together couldnt fill an A cup(21). This
intended or unintended joke provokes Ephron in a negative manner. She was very angry, which
can be seen by her reaction:
Why does she say that? It isn't even true, dammit, so why? Is she even more
addled than I am on this subject? Does she honestly believe there is something
wrong with her size breasts, which it seems to me, now that I look hard at them,
are just right? Do I unconsciously bring out competitiveness in women? In that
form? What did I do to deserve it? (21-22)
Ephron uses very colloquial and provocative language to express her dissatisfaction. The readers
can see the impact of adolescent trauma in her adult life- she becomes very sensitive and even
annoying. Her provocative language is a way of expressing her anger towards the womens
competitiveness. She hates to compete with others or let others compete with her because small
breasts are always her pain, her growing pain.

Huang 4
Later on, Ephron reveals more about peoples obsession with breasts, which indicated in
her provocative language. She points out that the true reason behind this breast worship(22)
thing is due to social stereotypy. She writes:
I grew up in the terrible Fifties -- with rigid stereotypical sex roles, the insistence
that men be men and dress like men and women be women and dress like women,
the intolerance of androgyny -- and I cannot shake it, cannot shake my feelings of
inadequacy. Well, that time is gone, right? All those exaggerated examples of
breast worship are gone, is gone, right? Those women were freaks, right? I know
all that. And yet, here I am, stuck with the psychological remains of it all, stuck
with my own peculiar version of breast worship. (22)
Ephron demonstrates that people had breasts worship because of serious social stereotype on
women, but the obsession with breasts still exists till today. She describes women as freaks,
which indicates she is fed up with breasts worship. Further, she shows us how her girlfriends
show off that they have big breasts. For example, her girlfriends exaggerate, Their bra strips
were snapped in class, they couldnt sleep on their stomachs (22). The use of hilarious and
ironic diction shows these womens arrogance. At the end of the essay, Ephron says, I think they
[are] full of shit (22). The word shit is really inappropriate, but we can accept that because
provocative language is one of most important devices she uses in her essay. The inappropriate
language reveals that she was provoked by her friends. It was her instinctive reaction because she
had small breasts in a young age. Although she had shaped up, she was still sensitive with a low
self-esteem because the adolescent trauma lasted for a long time. The use of provocative
language also creates humor, which assures the humorous tone consistent.

Huang 5
Throughout the essay, Nora Ephron stresses on how social stereotype shapes people in
their way of thinking and that society places certain expectation on what is considered beauty
and perfection. The use of humor, hyperbole and provocative language demonstrates that the low
self-image makes Ephron very sensitive with a low self-esteem. Although she develops her
breasts as she ages, the childhood trauma continues affecting her even to her adulthood. Ephrons
high literary attainment makes her essay very interesting and readable.

Huang 6
Work Cited
Ephron, Nora. "Shaping Up Absurd. Life Studies: An Analytic Reader. Ed. David Cavitch. 7th
ed. Bedford/St. Martins: 2001. 16-22. Print.