What are some important quotes from Hunger by Roxane Gay?

Fat shaming is real, constant, and rather pointed . . . It’s a strange civic-minded cruelty.

In the above quote, Gay describes her problem with fat-shaming. She argues that well-meaning people often fail to realize how hurtful their comments can be. Gay contends that fat-shaming comments often make her angry, rather than ashamed.

She writes that well-meaning medical professionals, family members, and friends often assume that morbidly obese people are intellectually detached from their physical conditions....

Fat shaming is real, constant, and rather pointed . . . It’s a strange civic-minded cruelty.

In the above quote, Gay describes her problem with fat-shaming. She argues that well-meaning people often fail to realize how hurtful their comments can be. Gay contends that fat-shaming comments often make her angry, rather than ashamed.

She writes that well-meaning medical professionals, family members, and friends often assume that morbidly obese people are intellectually detached from their physical conditions. Gay argues that this couldn't be further from the truth: she is reminded of her obesity every time she enters a restaurant, books a seat on a plane, or attends an event that does not accommodate morbidly obese people. Gay asserts that fat-shaming is "civic-minded cruelty" because it fails to take into consideration the motivating factors that led to someone's weight gain.

I don't know how things got so out of control, or I do. 

In some ways, the above quote appears to be a contradictory one. However, its succinctness is misleading: far more than a trite justification for gluttony (as some assume), it is an accurate portrayal of Gay's continuing struggle for acceptance in a weight-conscious society. The text tells us that Gay was gang-raped at age twelve, an experience that so darkened her outlook on life that she resorted to binge eating. Effectively, Gay depended on food to comfort herself. 

She concentrated her efforts on making herself bigger in order to appear less attractive to men. This was the only way Gay felt that she could keep herself safe. The quote highlights the challenges obese women must face in order to begin to heal from difficult experiences.

I know that hunger is in the mind and the body and the heart and the soul.

In this quote, Gay makes the point that hunger is more than a superficial inclination to satisfy a bodily demand. All of us hunger in more ways than one: we hunger for love, intimacy, and relevance. Our emotional desire to be accepted often rivals our physical hunger for food. Gay contends that her body both shames and protects her: this conflict regarding her body makes the journey into healing a difficult one. As a rape survivor, Gay understands that her past should not define her self-worth. Yet, the past continues to be a very "heavy burden." It fuels her obsession with doing or saying the right things in order to retain love.