nights at the circus x spectacle of her gluttony

Reading The Spectacle of her Gluttony was really interesting to me because while I was reading Nights at the Circus, I did take note of Fevvers monstrous appetite and the gluttony with which she devoured everything ut in front of her. I can definitely see how this is meant to make her seem stronger and more confident as a woman than if her character just stuck to eating salads or if there was really no mention of how much she ate. It is clear that her bad manners and large appetite are her way of showing that she doesn't need anyone and doesn't give a shit about what anyone thinks either. However, after reading the article, the part when they are lost in the woods and Fevvers refuses to eat becomes more significant.

"They gave us hot tea and ardent spirits and offered us cold roast, I think, moose, but I could eat nothing, I was overcome by silly weeping at the sight of food, which Liz said, then, was the effect of shock, but afterwards assured me that to see me off my feed was the first real cause of concern I'd given her since I was a baby."

At this point in the story, we know that she and Jack Walser both have feelings for each other that each are also unaware of, and with Jack missing in the Russian wilderness, she is finally acknowledging her emotional dependence on someone other than herself. Before this, both Fevvers and Liz were both very Feminist characters in the fact that they were adamant that they didn't need men, like the woman murderesses who escaped from there prison, but after the separation from Jack, Fevvers takes on a new form of Feminism. Instead of becoming the maiden in distress who waits to be rescued by her prince, she decided to reverse the roles and set out to find Jack and make him hers. This, I thought, was a good way for Carter to end the book on a note that would be satisfying to the reader (Fevvers and Walser get together), but would not compromise the Feminist message of the novel by having Sophie melt in the arms of a handsome man at the emd.