In the third chapter of The Wounded Storyteller, Arthur Frank declares that ill people are called to tell stories about their illness whether or not they particularly want to tell those stories. Stories about illness must be told to medical professionals, families, and friends. However, those stories also can serve as a sort of road map for the ill person to renavigate what their life looks like in different health. Frank describes ill people as a “narrative wreck” as they tell their stories, and states that sometimes this jumble of words and memories can sometimes “be worse than having no story at all”. Not only is it exhausting to live with the physical side effects of illness, but it can also be equally as exhausting to have to repeat what is often asked to be a perfect recount of the illness for different people over and over again. Frank uses a candid tone to express these points through personal and general anecdotes in the first couple of pages of this chapter. Additionally, he uses the metaphor of a shipwreck in his description of illness stories told by those afflicted by the illnesses.
Category: Reading Response
Exposure – Reading Response #1
Confined by her illness to cage-like existence, the woman subject in excerpt of John Berger’s A Fortunate Man, becomes newly acclimated to her surrounding air. Revealed most explicitly in her acquired condition of asthma, air — the pattern and availability of it — becomes an important observational thread throughout the story. Berger begins the story by taking note of this air ‘about’ the woman, one he equates to that of a schoolgirl. He foreshadows the vanishment of this particular kind of air and by the end of the story we realize it is the doctor that has disturbed such. The woman has suffered from insomnia and asthma though her tests for allergy were negative. We find that the source of her illness is not irritability from the surrounding environment but rather deeply rooted emotional trauma. Berger offers up the metaphor, “cage of her illness,” to evoke the image of a woman closed off to the surrounding world, and possibly even herself (Berger, 21). This cage, I find, seems to play a dual role: one of constriction (similar to the way her airways behave) and one of protection (from the outside and from self). Berger carefully describes the instinctive twitching of her eyes and wrinkling her nose — like a rabbit’s — if something is to come too close to the side of her cage. These subtle changes in her features forbode the greater change in demeanor that comes when the doctor asks the woman if her manager ever made a pass on her; “She froze…her hands stopped moving…her breathing became inaudible. She never answered him” (Berger, 23). The doctor had punctured the sides of her cage. By surfacing the source of her pain, it was as if he had ripped the bandaid off to expose her wound to the icy, stinging air that surrounded. His question had penetrated into the air about the woman — one that she used to control her exposure to by the protection of her cage — and taken away her breath.
References:
Berger, John . A Fortunate Man. New York : Vintage Books , 1967. 21-23. Print.
Reading Response 1: Examining “Illness Narratives”- Ch. 1
Brittany Swink
Professor Rivkin-Fish
Professor Thrailkill
ENGL 264-001
26 January 2020
Examining Chapter One of “Illness Narratives”
Upon reading the first passage, Arthur Kleinman immediately challenges our definition of what an illness is, and what defines a disease. Kleinman states how these terms are often used interchangeably, however, viewing the two through an anthropological lens allows one to realize the terms are quite different. Illness is described as an “innately human experience of symptoms and suffering” (Kleinman 3). The illness experience not only negatively or positively affects the patient, but it affects the family and loved ones of those who are suffering, as well. Kleinman’s definition emphasizes the importance of embracing the experience of illness by giving patients a voice via storytelling. The cultural and societal factors regarding illness shape how a patient experiences their suffering, and how the illness is an interruption within their story. Kleinmman further addresses disease as a pathological condition, which is diagnosed by a medical professional. This term focuses on what the underlying biological initiations of illness, or lack thereof. Disease does not incorporate the suffering of the patient via storytelling; the focus lies on the science behind the pathological condition causing the illness experience. Kleinman contrasts illness and disease with the term sickness, which is a social construct of the disease that has infested the patient’s body. These social constructs limit the ability of a patient to tell their story when living with stereotyped diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, which are automatically viewed in a different light- the disease overcomes the story of the patient.
References
Kleinman, Arthur. The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition. Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group, 2007.
First Reading Response (Kleinman, Illness Narratives) – Iris Kang
- Kleinman’s Definition of “Illness”
As Kleinman states, illness refers to “the innately human experience of symptoms and suffering” (3). Examples of illness include the unique way in which an individual may cope after acquiring tinnitus, the family dynamic changes that occur due to a mother’s cancer diagnosis, or an athlete’s experienced impediment to success because of a torn ligament.
- “Sickness,” “Illness,” and “Disease”
It is important to distinguish from “sickness,” “illness,” and “disease” because of the different meanings that each term carries and how they aid in understanding different perspectives of a condition. As Kleinman states, the term “disease” is viewed “only as an alteration in biological structure or functioning” (5). He uses this argument to convey the notion that disease is a “hard” way of viewing a disorder. Meanwhile, illness provides an understanding of a condition that is “always distinctive” (Kleinman 5), one that biological aspects cannot capture. In doing so, Kleinman creates a stark contrast between the coldness of “disease” and the immediateness yet intangibleness of “illness.” Lastly, Kleinman distinguishes “sickness” as understanding “a disorder in its generic sense across a population in relation to macrosocial forces” (Kleinman 6). In this way, Kleinman argues that a more communal and mutual aspect of a disorder is possible. By distinguishing these terms, Kleinman enables us to grasp the far-reaching experiences and implications of disorders—from the strictly detached to the most intimate.
- The Meaning of “Materialist” in the Biological World
Kleinman refers to current medical training and healthcare as being engaged in a “radically materialist pursuit of the biological mechanism of disease” (9). He attempts to capture the “hardness” and narrow-focused view that results from viewing a condition as a “disease” rather than a more personal “illness” or societal “sickness.” Kleinman utilizes this metaphor to compare treating a disorder to achieving or gaining a “material,” ultimately leaving providers to fail at recognizing that rather than chasing more of an “item” (in this case a cure or explanation) they should seek to explore “the meanings of illness” (9) that transcend temporary success.
Close Reading Assignment #1
Mary Catherine Farris
Professor Rivkin-Fish
Anthropology 272
25 January 2019
“On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs
Close Reading Assignment #1
From the moment you begin Nancy Mairs’ essay, it is no secret that her words are not written for the faint of heart. Though she remains sensitive to a modern society based on political correctness, the title alone of her essay reveals her true feelings toward the ideals of inclusiveness. In particular, an ideal of inclusiveness that manages to include everyone, and yet no one at all. Through a series of metaphors and similes in order to describe the condition she has been forced into, Mairs has managed to tell the life story of an MS patient hoping to see her unfortunate circumstance with the glass half full. When describing her condition, she keeps it short and simple. “I am a cripple.” However, when she speaks of the long line of diagnosis, struggle, societal expectation, and so forth, her words are deeper and long-winded. By doing this, Mairs has expressed her disease in a similar way in which she looks at it: Mairs is a woman who has been diagnosed with an incurable disease. And to her, life goes on.
Throughout the essay, Mairs has a fairly consistent ratio of the best moments in her life, occasionally interrupted by the hardships the reader, she is aware of, likely cannot even imagine. She includes long lists of “I cans” followed by short stops of “I cannot.” This a parallel to her life as a “cripple.” She speaks of her identity being stripped of her, such as in her inability to even wear the clothes she oftentimes prefers, but still emphasizes just how much she refuses her disease to be who and what she is a human being. She fears people faking being nice to her, something everyone has related to at some point in their lives. By relating to her audience, Mairs includes her audience in her story, proving she is as human and “normal” as those unaffected. She uses humor—the thing she finds hardest to hold onto – in order to express that though she has been handed some of the worst struggles, she is strong enough to overcome anything. By joking about her disease, in addition to admitting failures and defeats, Mairs manages to remain as an inspiration for anyone with major setbacks; setbacks that refuse the “ideal woman” image, but accelerate a life working towards much more.
The Misfortune of a Fortunate Man
A Fortunate Man: the Story of a Country Doctor is a memoir that follows a doctor and his experiences with two of his patients. A dynamic character, he is only referred to as ‘the doctor’ but gains merit through his actions. He swiftly conjures up a stretcher out of a door and rushes to save a patient trapped under a tree. He also psychoanalyzes a young woman and is able to help her deal with her pain. Despite these endearing elements, he is technically a flat character as he remains stable throughout the work. “He speaks for himself” and puts his patients first.
The second half of the excerpt is characterized by the doctor’s infatuation with a woman “of about thirty-seven.” Her persona, described as “slow and maternal” lends to the doctor’s timid description of her illness. It progresses from “a cold, cough, and [feeling] weak” to “insomnia and then asthma (…) [and] the result of extreme emotional stress.” By chance he finds the true cause of her suffering and realizes that she “very seldom leaves [her] cottage” because of trauma from being assaulted. He goes on to compare her to the moon and deep water full of mystery. After her trauma, “[her] shallows [are] endlessly irritated by their [own] shallowness as though by an allergy” and she lost all airs of being a schoolgirl. The doctor closes his memoir by relating back to her illness and timid nature by referencing “a bend in the river which often reminds [him] of his failure” to discover the true cause of her suffering sooner.
*from John Berger and Jean Mohr’s A Fortunate Man: the Story of a Country Doctor, 1st ed. New York, NY: Random House, 1967.
Reading Response – Mairs – Butler
Cayley Butler
Professors Rivkin-Fish and Thrailkill
Antr 272
1 January 2020
I want to look closely at the autobiographical essay by Nancy Mairs about her experience in living with multiple sclerosis. This self-conscious, first-person narrative allows her to be honest with the reader to give them a perspective of someone that is not always playing the sickness role. She discusses the fact that sometimes she gets angry with herself and her limitations and wants to be a “grumpy cripple” that is not playing by the sickness rules. It seems like if you are sick you have to be happy and positive to make the people around you feel better. She talks about how she has had to work through violent self-loathing because of her limitations and because of how she looks. She does not meet society’s expectations for the perfect woman and is not even represented in media making her not feel pretty. After discussing the different ways that she does not measure up to the perfect woman she then shows that she understands that she looks fine and that she does not hate herself but the disease that has this hold on her life. Mairs says the sentence, “I am not a disease.” (Mairs page 7), in the next paragraph to make it stand out. She can choose her life and how it can be lived. Mairs wants control over her life which is why she chooses to call herself a cripple. She wants people to wince at the word instead of it being comforting, normalized, non-specific or deliberately being put at a disadvantage. Crippled describes the limitations of multiple sclerosis and is clean, straightforward and precise, Mairs believes. This choice of what to call herself is a way to give herself control of her disease and gives her a way to show that she is not her disease.
Reading Response 1
What are examples of Kleinman’s “illness” as subjective lived experience of a disorder?
Arthur Kleinman’s definition of “illness” is “how the sick person and the members of the family or wider social network perceive, live with, and respond to symptoms and disability.” Illness problems arise from the disorder that cause disruptions in the sick person and their family member’s lives. Some examples Kleinman brings up when defining “illness” include headaches disrupting workflow, leading to feelings of frustration, or disfigurement leading to worsening body image and self esteem. These illness complaints are what the sick person brings up to their practitioner to help them cope and go back to a “normal” life.
Why is it important to distinguish “sickness” from both “illness” and “disease?”
Kleinman’s definition of “sickness” extrapolates the experiences a sick person and their family members goes through but across a macrosocial population. This distinction is important as the way a society perceives the sick person can shape the manner of how the sick person describes their complaints to their practitioner. The way a society views a disorder also alters the way practitioners view and interpret symptoms.
Kleinman refers to “radically materialist pursuit of the biological mechanism of disease” what does “materialist” mean here?
The context of “radically materialist pursuit of the biological mechanism of disease” refers to the faults of the post-modern practitioner with their desperate pursuit to understand the scientific mechanisms of disorders with their “disease” point of view. Materialist in this statement refers to how practitioners value and prioritize the biomedical view of disorders over the underlying “illness” complaints plaguing the sick person and their family.
Reading Response 1 (Berger)
*Quote* “‘Christ let me alone.’ As he cried ‘alone’ the doctor was beside him. The wounded man recognized the doctor; his eyes focused. For him too the conclusion was nearer and this gave him the courage to be quieter. Suddenly it was silent. The men had stopped hammering but were still kneeling on the ground. The knelt and looked at the doctor. His hands are at home on a body. Even these new wounds which had not existed twenty minutes before were familiar to him. Within seconds of being beside the man he injected morphine. The three onlookers were relieved by the doctor’s presence. But now his very sureness made it seem to them that he was part of the accident: almost its accomplice.”
The first story in A Fortunate Man, The Story of a Country Doctor takes place in the countryside in the Forest of Dean in the mid-1960s (Francis). The characters include 4 unnamed men including the doctor, 3 woodsmen, one of which whose leg was just crushed by a fallen tree. The story began with one man shouting out a warning that the woodman had been in an accident which creates urgency from the beginning. The text is written in the 3rd person omniscient point of view which allows the reader to understand the emotions of the doctor, the onlookers, and the wounded man.
For me, the text really hammered in on the ambiguity of suffering care in the block of text that I included above. The entire text, and especially this passage, seemed to say that the alleviation of suffering is not clear cut and can’t be concluded with the presence of a doctor or treatment. At the beginning of the text, the “wounded man” says ‘Christ let me alone’ while the doctor comes closer. I took “alone” to mean for the pain to leave his body or possibly for death considering the amount of agony he was in. However, the doctor’s very presence solidifies that the pain is real which for a second brings all of the people in the text closer to a “conclusion.” At the perception of a conclusion, the tone of the text seems to shift. In the beginning, there was a sense of urgency as the doctor rushed to the site, the men were anxious about the fate of their friend, and as the wounded man writhed. Afterward, the tone is still and silent, almost as if the characters are holding their breath. They seem to trust the doctor because his hands “are at home on a body.” However, this same comfortability shifts the mood once again. Berger says the doctor is like an “accomplice” of the accident. There is the sense that they are uneasy with the outcome of the doctor’s place in the scheme of the man’s pain. The author frames the relationship as inseparable (pain, treatment, and the doctor) which makes it difficult to consider the doctor as a good force. Essentially, you only need the doctor or healer when something is going wrong and after the doctor goes away the physical and emotional damage will continue to impede the injured person’s life. In the final lines of the text, the author discusses the marker in the ground where the man had been trapped and says that with the visual reminder the other woodsmen questioned if “the doctor could be right” about him not losing his leg. I’m unsure if this means physically, (given that the medical and technological advances probably aren’t where they are now) or emotionally, but I think that the statement could refer to both.
John Berger, A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor (Pantheon, 1967), 12-19.Berger_A_Fortunate_Man_One_of_them_shouted_She_is_a_woman
Francis, Gavin. “John Berger’s A Fortunate Man: a masterpiece of witness.” The Guardian. 7 Feb, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/07/john-sassall-country-doctor-a-fortunate-man-john-berger-jean-mohr
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.