sam01

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  • in reply to: Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” #1074
    sam01
    Participant

    @abeach99
    In my post, I also explored the aspect of how a disability can be used stigmatize and diminish a person to being viewed as the physical embodiment of that disability. I think it was very insightful how the narrative went about exploring this topic, and, like you said, how people with disabilities are “rejected by non-ill/able-bodied people because they fear the illness, and consequently the ill person.”. I hadn’t noted that in my response, but I feel like that is a major reason why Twyla and Roberta had felt so strongly about alienating or hurting Maggie, and I believe the characters come to this same conclusion at the end of the piece, where Roberta asks “What the hell happened to Maggie?” (pg 20).

    in reply to: Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” #1073
    sam01
    Participant

    This was a very interesting narrative with many complicated and recurring themes throughout. One of the most powerful notes in the work is the two women’s evolving perceptions of Maggie, an elderly disabled woman from their shared time at St. Bonny’s. Their perceptions of this woman are vital in shedding light upon some of Morrison’s main themes. In the beginning of the narrative, they describe Maggie as very old, bow-legged, and mute, and describe how they called Maggie names in an effort to get her to speak or cry, and how the older girls in the orchard had pushed her down and kicked her. The narrative explores this more in depth later, as Roberta eventually tells Twyla that they participated in kicking her. This, along with being told that Maggie was black, comes as a complete shock to Twyla, who wrestles with it for some time, eventually coming to two important conclusions. The first is that she honestly couldn’t remember Maggie’s race, instead recalling only her disabilities. The second is that, though she did not physically participate in kicking Maggie, she had wanted to do so. Later in the story, Roberta shares that at the time, she wanted to hurt Maggie too. It seems that Maggie’s disabilities had overwritten all other aspects of her identity, such as her race. In this happening, I believe the narrative shares some important insight on how it is easy for some people to view a person with a disability as an embodiment of that disability, diminishing their identity to only that.

    in reply to: Black Man in a White Coat, 153- 245 #999
    sam01
    Participant

    I particularly like the focus of the chapters in this reading section on all the intersections that can impact health and healthcare, like race and social class, and I particularly liked reading Tweedy’s discussion of the social implications of having an HIV/AIDS diagnosis. While these are important factors to take into consideration in order to understand illness, it is really refreshing to read an account of medicine where they are very prominently focused upon. Many medical narratives focus upon the diagnosis, treatment, and care of a patient, with a heavy basis in Mattingly’s “chart talk”. Berger’s A Fortunate Man follows this medical narrative well, where the story follows the country doctor as he goes about finding, diagnosing, and treating patients, some with more luck than others. In this section of Black Man in a White Coat, Tweedy not only acknowledges some of his own social prejudice about illness, in this case particularly HIV/AIDS, but also challenges those prejudices in himself. That is particularly important in a medical professional, not only to acknowledge your own biases, but to work towards challenging them in order to ensure you provide the best medical care for your patients.

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