While completing our class readings, I became intrigued by Connie Porter's essay, "Beauty and the Beast." This intrigue stemmed not only from this piece's reference to a childhood fairy tale, but also from its attempt to redefine the notion of "the beast." Porter states, "I had bowed down to the great beast of fashion..."(177), "The beast was no match for me. I had defeated it again" (178), Remembering those struggles is not just stopping to gaze at some embarrassing moments in my quest to please the beast"(179), and "It is easy to blame the beast, to hate it"(181). What is the beast? Is it the societal constructs which dominate the minds and actions of women--especially in their youth? Is the beast a metaphor for the unattainable expectations and standards which seem to swallow women's individuality and encourage them to disappear? Is the beast representative of how our society places too much emphasis on appearance and outer beauty, diminishing the beauty of the soul? This question of what comprises the "beast" is not something that I can answer--perhaps it is not meant to be answered. But it has spurred me to question what "beasts" dominate my definitions and standards of femininity working in my own life.