Final Blog Post

   This semester went by so fast and I had no idea what to expect when first deciding to take this course. I am an Accounting and Business Major and have always struggled with reading and writing. I remember back to the first day of class when we were asked if there are any concerns or anything we would like to tell her. I was off to a great start but I had concerns about my reading and writing level. Professer replied and said, "Off to a good start in the class! In response to your comment about your struggles with reading and writing: I am happy to offer help outside of class and to read drafts if you can get them to me early enough. If my office hours conflict with your schedule, we can find alternate times. And, of course, the Writing Lab is a great resource." From this point forward, there was positive energy I could feed off of. This engaged me in the class early on and because of this I always had an open mind when walking into class. 

   The works we read by David Small and Rafael Campo were truly inspiring. Stitches was an easy read and this allowed me to reflect on it more easily and in more depth. I realized that this book would directly reflect the course as a whole. David Small's work captured me, but Rafael Campo's work won me over as well. For example, in the poem Her Final Show, line 1 stated, "She said it was a better way to die". This line proves that she was accepting of her death. Death causes pain and she overcame the pain because of hope. Rather than being ashamed of her illness, she died with dignity and pride, a large theme of our course. Rafael Campo never states the victim’s name because he is doing it out of trust he pursues truth through compassion to his friends illness. Rafael Campo’s works directly relate to Dominican University and its mission statement: As a Sinsinawa Dominican-sponsored institution, Dominican University prepares student to pursue truth, to give compassionate service and to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world. Campo can be identified as a compassionate and respectful friend. Truth and compassion are two important values for me personally. 

   I found myself applying this course to my everyday life. Regarding illness and death I was able to give compassion and feel empathy towards those who are sick, whether seriously ill or a minor pain. Literature is a great way to express the feelings of the humane society and the pain suffering among them. Everyone deals with pain. An individual must keep an open mind. When watching the news and seeing people suffering from illness, or looking back at my family's background I found myself applying the things I learned in class to each situation, reminding myself to keep an open mind when trying to understand the pain and suffering of others.

   I am grateful for taking this course. This course has taught me to be mindful of others and essentially how everything we do affects others. I have learned that it is impossible to know the amount of pain an individual is suffering. This course has created a greater understanding for psychological pain that an individual may endure from both psychological and physical illness. Prior to this course I had no intention to learning about how literature and medicine play a role in our lives. Because I have taken this course, I am open-minded on both the physical and psychological pain that individuals may suffer. I have come a long way from being the position I was at in the beginning of the semester and I do not regret taking this course for a second. Everything I have learned was essential and I will carry it with me for the rest of my life. Thank you for creating a great learning environment from day 1. This course has taught me much larger lessons in life. Thank you again. 

The Death of Ivan Ilych

   The Death of Ivan Ilych begins at the end of the story. The story is not told chronologically to create an intimate view of the social surroundings. It creates an unnatural mask for the members of Ivan's society. The story impedes human connection through materialism. 

   There is a contrasting value between death and morality. Death is more a subject of discussion. There is an unwillingness to consider death to comfort one's morality. Because of this, members are unable to comprehend the meaning of their own death. The members unintentionally have no understanding of the meaning of life. 

   He had choose his friends based on social standards and the ranking of the the person. He married because in his words, "it was the right thing to do". Ivan had always had that drive to become something more. He was a bit of a sociopath. He had that drive and nothing was going to stop him. Because of his drive it allowed me to question his true meaning of life. I believe by moving toward the light and the higher conduct to the opinions of the upper class, he is moving toward the flame that will eventually burn him alive.

respice finem-"look to the end"

    -focus on the outcome

    -warning for a man traveling down the wrong path (death)

*Ivan is closing himself off from everything... Including life itself...

Comments... 

Wit

   In the movie Wit, we are able to see someone going through the process of dying, which calls into question: did Vivian Bearing die a good death?

   Everyone does have a different idea of death. In my opinion, a good death means a death that is peaceful, painless, and surrounded by the people you love. Even though at the end, Bearing’s old college professor goes to visit her, the events leading up to her death were full of suffering and for that reason I do not think she had a “good death”.

   Of course, her course of treatment was extremely painful and brutal. Throughout the movie she is throwing up and getting weaker and weaker. Of course, this is a large part of why she did not have a good death. She was in great suffering and pain and did not have anyone around to comfort her. Normally, a doctor would help ease this by comforting the patient. For Vivian, however, it is much different.

 

   Because she agreed to a course of treatment that would contribute to medical research, Bearing is treated as an object and not a person. They routinely ask her “How are you doing” not because they care but because it is a habit, and a routine of doing rounds. Even in a state of emergency when her heart stops, the doctors continue to think of her as research when the nurse says “She’s DNR!” and Jason, the resident, replies, “She’s research!”

   Along with being mistreated by her doctors, Vivian Bearing is in fear when she dies. As a college professor, she is constantly researching and gaining knowledge; when one has knowledge and understanding of anything, it is less frightening in most cases. However, when she is sick, she does not know what is going to happen. No one tells her if she is getting better or worse or how much time she has left, and it leaves her scared probably for the first time in her life.

   Whether or not someone has a good death depends on the person judging it, and in my judgment Vivian Bearing’s death was not a good one. She was forced to suffer alone in fear for her life because her doctor’s were not treating her as a patient, but rather an object of research.

Comments... 

Autobiography of a Face

   In Autobiography of a Face, I think Lucy Grealy is an example of how experience with illness relies on a person’s perceptions of it.

   I was bothered by the story because it seemed as though Lucy did not try to ignore criticism at all; she liked attention so throughout her life she accepted the criticism and chose to feel sorry for herself.

Grealy writes, “Sometimes the briefest moments capture us, force us to take them in, and demand that we live the rest of our lives in reference to them” (78). Grealy says this, but does not live by her own advice. Instead of reflecting on past experiences to make her stronger and help her grow out of her suffering, she uses them to remind herself that others think she is ugly and life in self-pity.

   What was interesting is that Grealy blamed her self-pity on those around her, rather than taking ownership for her emotions. She actually even blames her family problems on herself when she says, “Unable to locate my unhappiness within the difficult and complex family relationships we all shared, I thought that it all originated with me, that I was somehow at fault” (93). I think that because she was so young while all of this was going on, it was easier for Lucy to blame others and pity herself rather than be strong and ignore the criticism.

   Looking back at how perception affects a person’s experience with illness, I believe that this perception also affected how she heard the advice of her mother. For example, when her mother says, “If you wear something that comes up around your neck, it makes the scar less visible” (121). In the story we see the Lucy is automatically offended by this statement. However, if one looks at this in a different point of view, one could say that her mother felt as though she would not want others to see her scar; it had nothing to do with her being ugly, but it would just prevent people from staring at her (which we know she hated so much). Rather than saying her mother was being harsh and rude, it could also be said that her mother was just looking out for her daughter as any other mother would do.

   I connected these points to Audre Lorde’s essay, “Breast Cancer, Power vs. Prosthesis”. In her essay, Lorde blames society and men for the fact that women often feel the need to feel a prosthetic breast after breast cancer and mastectomies. Like Grealy, Lorde puts the blame for her own struggle on others because it is easier to do. This skewed perception is similar to Grealy’s; she perceives that society feels that she needs a prosthetic breast, and that this degrades women. However, if Lorde and Grealy both stopped blaming society and started realizing that their struggles lie in their own perceptions, they may possibly be freed from their struggle and find a way to accept themselves and easily ignore society’s standards. 

Comments... 

Strong Horse Tea

by Alice Walker

Quotes to think about:

"It was almost spring, but the winter cold still clung to her bones and she had to almost sit in the fireplace to be warm" (Walker 477).

"Black people as black as Rannie Mae always made him uneasy, especially when they didn't smell good" (Walker 478).

"Cold wind was shooting all around her from the cracks in the window framing, faded circulars blew inward from the walls. The old woman's gloomy prediction made her tremble" (Walker 480).

"Rannie Toomer began to tremble way down deep in her stomach" (Walker 481).

"The rain fell against her face with the force of small hailstones" (Walker 482).

"Lightning struck something not far off and caused a crackling and groaning in the woods that frightened the animals away from their shelter. Rannie Toomer slipped down in the mud trying to take off one of her plastic shoes to catch the tea. An the gray mare, trickling some, broke for a clump of cedars yards away" (Walker 482).

"In spurts and splashes mixed with rainwater she gathered her tea. In parting, the old mare snorted and threw up a big leg, knocking her back into the mud" (Walker 483).

"Quickly she stuck her mouth there, over the crack, and ankle deep in the slippery mud of the pasture and freezing her shabby wet coat, she ran home to give the still warm horse tea to her baby Snooks" (Walker 483).

Interpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri

Words to think about while reading quotes:

Beauty:
"She wore a red-and-white-checkered skirt that stopped above her knees, slip-on shoes with a square wooden heel, and a close-fitting blouse styled like a man's undershirt" (Lahiri 46).

Typical Tourist:
"He had a sapphire blue visor, and was dressed in shorts, sneakers, and a T-shirt. The camera slung around his neck, with an impressive telephoto lens and numerous buttons and markings" (Lahiri 44).

Civilian:
"Mr. Kapasi pulled over to the side of the road as Mr. Das took a picture of a barefoot man, his head wrapped in a dirty turban, seated on top  of a cart of grain sacks pulled by a pair of bullocks" (Lahiri 49).

Princess:
"'But so romantic,' Mrs. Das said dreamily, breaking her extended silence. She lifted her pinkish brown sunglasses and arranged them on top of her head like a tiara" (Lahiri 50).

Grateful:
"He began to check his reflection in the rearview mirror as he drove, feeling grateful that he had chosen the gray suit that morning and not the brown one, which tended to sag a little in the knees" (Lahiri 53).

Physical Attraction
"From time to time he glanced through the mirror at Mrs. Das. In addition to glancing at her face he glanced at the strawberry between her breasts, and the golden brown hollow in her throat" (Lahiri 53-54).

Birds of America

by Lorrie Moore

Quotes to think about:

"A beginning, an end: there seems to be neither. The whole thing is like a cloud that just lands and everywhere inside it is full of rain" (Moore 212).

"What words can be uttered? You turn just slightly and thee it is: the death of your child" (Moore 220).

"It's a fast but wimpy tumor" (Moore 227).

"He feels like a heart attack, a failure of will and courage: power failure of everything" (Moore 219).

"The Baby smiles, even toddles around a little, the sun bursting through the clouds, an angel chorus crescendoing" (Moore 248).

"'Let's make our own way,' says the mother, 'and not in this boat" (Moore 249).

"A child's illness is a strain on the mind. They know how to laugh in fluty, desperate way--unlike the people who are more her husband's friends and who seem just to deepen their sorrowful gazes, nodding their heads with Sympathy" (Moore 243).