ABSTRACT
The next scene is a hospital bed, where the first woman lies with an unsightly incision running vertically down the length of her abdomen. She is in obvious pain, but smiles bravely. Although she now suffers from flatulence as a permanent side effect of the surgery and later devel ops a stomach ulcer, she still has no reservations. The operation has completely transformed her-from a housewife with no interests out side her family (“just a fat frump”) to an active and attractive woman with a new permanent, contact lenses, and a brand new wardrobe. She announces that she is no longer prepared to devote herself to her fam ily (“I was stuck in the same old rut”), but has her own life and is going to “put herself first from now on.”
