“Cement block of Flesh”
Attenberg writes, “Little Edie Herzen, age five: not so little. Her mother had noticed this, how could she miss it? Her arms and legs, once peachy and soft, had blossomed into something that surpassed luscious. They were disarmingly solid…She was a cement block of flesh.” The allegorical cement depicts the weirdness of Edie’s body. Her solidness could be attributed to the abnormal eating habits. The firmness is an indicator of her abnormal weight and adulthood obesity.
Queen
Attenber elucidates, “Her Mother (Edie’s), not so thin herself. Nearly six feet tall, with a powerhouse of a body, she was a lioness who had a shimmer and a roar to her thick, majestic self. She was believed she was a queen among women.” The figurative queen underscores Edie’s mother’s influence among women. Her queenly status implies that the womenfolk reverence her.
“Insane man”
Attenberg expounds, “As a much younger man, Abraham had escaped serving in Russian army during the war with Japan by puncturing both eardrums. He had won hearing aids since. All her father’s friends respected him for his subversive behaviour…but Edie thought that was the act of an insane man.” The allegorical insanity alludes to Abraham’s irrationality which is irreparable. He deliberately harms himself with the intent of fleeing the army job. His deed is imprudent because it blights hearing for perpetuity (a self-inflicted condemnation).
