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@abeach99
I agree with your observation about disability and the character of Maggie in the short story. I think that it’s a particularly important part of the story that I initially skimmed over while reading through the first time. It’s interesting how you bring up the topic of how people with disabilities are often viewed as solely their disability. I think this is particularly true with Maggie because Twyla and Roberta’s perspectives only offer insight into Maggie through the lens of disability even though there is so much more to her experience in life and her characteristics separate from her disability that we cannot see.This short story by Toni Morrison was very moving and eye-opening for me. I read Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” a few years ago and really appreciated its depth and complexity, but I also appreciate how this particular short story takes on similar issues of racial inequality through the lens of a different time period. The techniques that Morrison used in this story, including changing syntax and word structure to reflect Twyla’s changing perspective from childhood to motherhood, contributed greatly to her ability to tackle the constant issue of poverty and racial inequality in various different angles from stages of life. Furthermore, I really appreciated how Morrison was able to contrast the life experiences of Twyla and Roberta through each phase by recounting their coincidental meetings. Through these encounters, Morrison highlighted the apparent disparity between the two women’s life changes–two women who started with very similar experiences in a shelter but who ended up on very different paths. It really brought into immediacy how opportunities for improving one’s socioeconomic well-being (including health, jobs, security, etc.) are heavily dictated by one’s race. In the end, I think Morrison wanted to show that these two women are still at their core remnants of the girls who were inconsciencely trying to break free from the society’s unjust structural chains of racial inequality.
Dr. Tweedy highlights a very eye-opening comparison between two patients who were uninsured for healthcare: Francine (who was diagnosed with uterine cancer) and Stephanie (a patient who had suffered a stroke due to her hypertension). While both were uninsured, because of Stephanie’s drastic health decline, she was put on Medicaid which ultimately allowed her to recover fully. However, on the other side of the spectrum, Francine remained uninsured. Tweedy discusses how appalling the circumstances for obtaining Medicare are–essentially, being in what he calls “doomsday scenarios” are the qualifying criteria for uninsured working people who are making only a small margin above the poverty line. This points to the inadequate social welfare system in the U.S. and we are still operating on a largely “treatment-based” system instead of a “preventative care” approach. A preventative care approach will allow more focus on disease prevention and be more specific to individual communities that have varying levels of resources and accessibility to care. A starting point to operating on a preventative care system can be implementing initiatives to make healthy food options and resources for low-income communities more accessible as well as investing in university-led and charity-based medical care facilities.
I appreciate Dr. Tweedy’s efforts in bringing cases like Stephanie and Francie’s struggles with healthcare and insurance to light. I feel like these kinds of individual stories that capture what many Americans are experiencing on a personal and eye-opening level are not discussed as openly or often as they should in public.
