Fatima and Christinia: A Complex Relationship

When discussing in class "The Body's Defenses Against Itself", the term Frenemy was used to describe the complex relationship between the narrator, Fatima, and her antagonist, Christinia. While I do agree that their relationship was definitely complex, I wouldn't call them Frenemies. 

In the beginning of the story, Fatima is clearly projecting her feelings about her childhood bully, Christinia, towards the new girl in her yoga class -- which is a side effect of trauma. 

Everything about the girl reminds her of Christinia, like her appearance (particularly her weight), and the way she keeps trying to smile at Fatima (which was probably a lot like those random times Christinia was nice to her and tried being friends). 

It is obvious that her projecting her feelings about Christinia onto Fatima is a side effect of the trauma she endured in the hands of Christinia. I wouldn't call someone who inflicts that sort of pain on someone a friend, or even a frenemy. 

It was apparent Fatima never viewed Christinia as a friend, even in those random times Christinia decided to be nice to her. Christinia's on and off behavior towards her honestly seemed like emotional abuse, and her random bouts of "friendliness" in the midst of her maliciousness was very manipulative and confusing. In other stories we've read, like Phoenix, Arizona, and Recitatif, we see brief moments where two characters who have had conflicts for a long time have tender moments where they seem to bond and understand each other despite their past conflict. This is why I think it would be safe to call them "frenemies". 

In this story, however, I don't think this is the case. Christinia caused Fatima so much pain and trauma as a child when she shamed her for her sweating condition, it followed her well into her adult life when she developed serious body image issues and an eating disorder (possibly because of how much she hated Christinia and associated obesity with the bully, so she just wanted to be nothing like her. It also explains why she projects that hatred onto the new girl in her yoga class when she notices her weight). 

It's interesting that despite all of this, there were some points in the story where Christinia seemed to view Fatima as a friend. She even approaches their table in high school to sit with Fatima, possibly to reconcile and make amends. Of course, Fatima rejects her and makes callous comments about her weight, to get back at her for all she said about her body. All in all, their relationship was very complex and it was clear they each had different perspectives on it: Christinia viewed Fatima as a frenemy, while Fatima just viewed her as an enemy.