Fat Girl
By Brendan Gill, first published in The New Yorker
A young woman who is overweight explores her sexuality by dating many different men, but when a photographer falls in love with her and wants to keep her body to himself, he develops an extreme and dangerous jealousy.
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Plot Summary
Jeanne is a young woman working in an office who is overweight. She likes her body, which is confusing to those around her. She has one friend in the office, Archer, whom she always buys a coffee in the morning. He is frustrated when she repeatedly comes back from lunch drunk but does not confront her about it. He sees himself as being in a fatherly position and does not notice the fact that she naps during work; he even gives her dating tips. Jeanne goes on many dates with men anywhere from twenty to sixty, after which she sleeps with them. She even dates married men, though she doesn't want to take them from their wives, as she does not have the ambition for this. Still, she is touched when she hears the men call their wives on the phone to lie to them about where they are. One day, a young photographer named Ross falls in love with Jeanne; even Archer approves of him. He is devastated when Jeanne reveals that she is still willing to sleep with other people, as she does not want to be exclusive and she doesn't appear to love him back. Regardless, he soon moves in with her. She offers to pose for him, but he refuses, wanting to keep her body to himself. Eventually he begins to resent her. At the office, Archer pushes Jeanne to work harder, but she is eventually fired. Archer is also pushed to retire early. The two drink and commiserate together, but end up going back to her apartment so she can make them a meal. She undresses him and tells him to take a nap while she cooks. She also undresses and embraces him, and that is when Ross comes home. While Archer runs away, Ross kills Jeanne out of jealousy.