The Story of a Country Doctor

The physical constraints and limitations of the woman in the narrative is striking in a way that makes the reality of her sickness feel tangible. Throughout the text, the writer describes the ways in which the woman is affected medically, as expected. He details her cough, her insomnia, her asthma, the results of her X-ray, and how her lungs continue to handle the illness of her body. The text’s tone is a blend of scientific and narrative by describing the decline of the woman that the doctor senses through interaction with the woman. “Her eyes were round like a rabbit’s. She was timid of anything outside the cage of her illness. If anybody approached too near her eyes twitched like the skin around a rabbit’s nose.” By using an extended analog comparing the woman to a rabbit, my perception of the text made me forget the “soul” of the woman and had me registering the illness she experienced strictly in the context of her body. The illness feels less like a statistic and more like an experience due to the way the writer describes the woman’s account in this detail.