The Welfare Mother and the Fat Poor: Stereotypical Images and the Success Narrative in Sapphire's Push

Abstract

This article explores how Sapphire's novel Push (1996) operates and complicates stereotypical images about the poor—Welfare Mother and Fat Poor—for simultaneously propagating and criticizing the success narrative it employs. The article introduces the image of the Fat Poor, discusses Push as a success narrative, and analyzes the novel's use of the image of the Fat Poor limiting this narrative.