Theme

At a very young age Reichl discovered, “that food could be a way of making sense of the world”(6). That surprisingly straightforward statement at the outset of the novel accurately describes how Reichl has used food in her life. She has paid attention to the way people eat, what they eat, and where they eat. With this ability, Reichl allows the reader to analyze the character presented. Reichl’s belief that food says a lot about people not only was important in Reichl’s life in the novel but it also suggests to the reader that he or she can use this expression to evaluate people’s personalities or motives. For example, Reichl writes, “...my father only cared about the company, and Mom would eat anything so long as the location was exotic”(6).  These nondescript, short statements say a lot about her parents. Her father was not a fussy individual; he usually had few opinions on family affairs. So it is natural that he would not care about where he eats as long as it was with people he enjoyed being around. He did however, love his family, and often mentioned that he did not want to leave Ruth by herself. He enjoyed being and eating with his family, and considered them good company. Reichl’s mother needed to eat in exotic places. As I have written earlier, Reichl’s mother is addicted to excitement. She loves anything out of the ordinary because it helps distract her and bring her joy. She will take any chance she gets to leave the house, for staying inside is a bore to her. It is logical that a woman like this would only want to dine in exotic restaurants that were unlike her daily life. When reading while keeping Reichl’s belief in mind it is easy to learn much more from a simple passage than one would think possible. Reichl’s style, in unison with her theme, allow the reader to infer the personality of the characters in Tender at the Bone.