Cirrus@Austlit

Frugtneit asserts that 'the character of Teresa Hawkins [in For Love Alone] displays many of the physiological and psychological symptoms of anorexia. She starves herself in her quest for love, a form of self-abnegation by which she gradually denies sustenance to both her body and mind.'

Frugtneit concludes: 'In the autobiographical For Love Alone Teresa Hawkin's self-starvation in her quest for love reveals how food, desire and identity are inextricably linked ... Ultimately [Theresa] is empowered and she demonstrates her empowerment by reconciling the psychological conflicts that affected her physically through writing the self. Her debilitated body strengthens as she recognises the profound way in which she has achieved independence and sexual liberation. In For Love Alone Teresa's anorexia is a testament to the paradoxes and dilemmas that confront women and their quest for identity.'