Riola Haya Nur
Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia

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Reading Self-Directed Psychopathy: Mental Killing in Meg Cabot's Size 14 Is Not Fat Either Riola Haya Nur; Ardiansyah Ahmad; Muthia Amalia Syahrir
GLENS: Global English Insights Journal Vol. 3 No. 3 (2026): GLENS, August 2026
Publisher : PT. Global Research Collaboration

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.66314/glens.v3i3.895

Abstract

Societal beauty standards inflict significant psychological distress, conditioning individuals to perceive their appearance as a deficit requiring constant modification. This behavior triggers “mental killing,” a literary analytical framework conceptualized here to describe narrative processes of identity erosion, self-erasure, and internalized psychopathic conformity. While existing literature associates psychopathic characteristics with outward, sadistic predation,  this study investigates how these characteristics manifest intrapersonally through a psychological literary analysis of the novel Size 14 is Not Fat Either.  Textual data—comprising dialogues, interior monologues, and semiotic signs—were extracted via purposive sampling across ten targeted chapters and processed using thematic framework alongside Triarchic Model and characterization techniques. Through this textual evidence, Heather Wells can be read as showing internalized psychopathic traits, as follows:  disinhibition operates as impulsive self-estrangement­–driven by idealized body standards; meanness functions as an inward predatory logic treating self-worth as prey; and boldness acts as a stoic mask suppressing trauma for social functionality. This text-based analysis demonstrates that negative self-perception reinforces self-erasure, complicating the classic “killer” archetype by framing violence as an invisible act of inward social conformity.