Eat, Pray, Love : Confronting and Reconstructing Female Identity

EAT, PRAY, LOVE: CONFRONTING AND RECONSTRUCTING FEMALE IDENTITY
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through the process of confronting and reconstructing her identity, we also see how she enacts a 
personal spirituality that considers a universal identity and demonstrates a sense of 
interconnectedness with Wayan, as well as others that she encounters on her journey. Foss and 
Foss’ (2011) paradigm of constructed potentiality describes this process of enactment as “acting 
in alignment with a selected interpretation” (p. 221). By embody
ing the identity she interpreted 
and constructed as a result of her journey, Gilbert arrives at the final stages of her transformation, 
and her achievement of a new identity. 
At the end of the novel, we learn that Gilbert, transformed by her experiences with 
Wayan, comes back frequently over the years to Bali to visit her in her new home while living a 
very non-traditional 
–
but far happier 
–
life that rejects U.S. domesticity in favor of traversing 
between four continents with her new love, Felipe. 
CONCLUSION 
This study has examined how Eat, Pray, Love reveals how women confront their 
identities under the influence of postmodernism and third wave feminism, and how choosing to 
reframe and reinterpret their circumstances can help them reconstruct more authentic identities 
moving forward. In addition to these insights, we have explored how stories act as vehicles for 
presenting women with new identity possibilities as well as new ways of thinking and being in 
the world.
Even though the trip that Gilbert sets out on to re-create a new identity for herself may 
not be one that “rings true” with most women, the exigence that prompts it (i.e. a failed 
relationship and resulting identity crisis) is perhaps more relatable. Despite the fractured 
identities, contradictions and multiplicities that have been ushered in by postmodernism and third 
wave feminism, due to the ubiquity of relationships in every 
woman’s
life, as well as the inherent 

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EAT, PRAY, LOVE: CONFRONTING AND RECONSTRUCTING FEMALE IDENTITY
23 
social, biological and cultural need to understand and defin
e one’s self, Gilbert’s story passes 
Fisher’s test of narrative probability (Fisher, 1987) as one that can ring true for many. However, 
since not every woman 
shares or relates to Gilbert’s value system or interpretations of 
herself or 
the world, the exten
sions of Fisher’s paradigm help us understand
how readers might relate to 
some of her discoveries about a universal identity and an interconnectedness with others that 
brought 
her a sense of peace and purpose in her life. As Stroud (2002) asserted, “stori
es that 
include co-existing and conflicting value structures can expose audiences to new values and 
ideas….and still offer good reasons for belief and/or action” (p. 371). This idea is certainly 
supported by the fact that Eat, Pray, Love went on to become an international best-seller and 
resonated with millions of women across the globe, pointing to an important cultural moment in 
the postmodern, third wave era. 
While critical scholars may view 
Gilbert’s “cherry
-
picking” of the Yogi teachings during 
her visit to India as an appropriation of an ancient Eastern spirituality by a white Western 
woman, we must be reminded of the words of Jean Elshtain (2003) who said 
that “k
nowledge of 
the world is not a form of violent appropriation, but an appreciation of the i
ntegrity of things” (p. 
100). And as Alice Walker (2006) said, “this is a time when teachings of all traditions are 
available to us” (p. 42) so why not open ourselves up to the possibilities that other perspectives 
can offer us? As Foss and Foss (2011) explain, this symbolic collaboration need not come at the 
expense of one person or culture: “routes to change that emerge from a posture of openness may 
include encountering others who serve as resources, who offer ideas for accomplishing an 
objective….these
collaborators, however, are not cooperating because an individual has laid out 
a plan and persuaded them to participate in it. Instead, the collaborators’ own actions, taken on 
behalf of their own objectives, happen to align with the objectives of the individual who 

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