This essay was written directly to people who are facing terminal illnesses. However, its prose speaks greater than that, reaching out to an audience much broader then originally intended. Family members of those with fatal illnesses and everyday readers are dually affected by its words. The essay served to show those living with illnesses that it's okay to not want to be a burden to your family, that it's okay to die but to celebrate life as well. Living while you can is important, but so is knowing when it is okay to die. The essay had such a simple purpose, and yet the author was able to achieve so much more. He says himself that after being on both sides of this situation that he understands the pain and hurt that his loved ones will feel and yet he still knows it is the correct decision. His words offer comfort and understanding to those in his daughter's position as well as to the terminally ill themselves as he speaks of his personal dealings both with disease and life. After watching several family members deal with disease and being diagnosed with ALS, the author began a reflection on life that spurred this essay. In his reflection, the author describes his disease with similes stating, "it looks like the ripple of piano keys in the muscles," and "it feels like anxious butterflies." These two descriptions are among the most powerful in the story because they force vivid images into the brain which immediately build sympathy in the reader. The similes allow those who are not terminally ill to understand the pain that their family member or friend is going through which in turn helps them understand the decision of that person to die. Prior to writing this essay, Clendinen had experience with the terminally ill in the fate of his mother and several other family members. He also had experience with both writing and editing as he was the senior editor for The Baltimore Sun and a national correspondent/editorial writer for the New York Times.
On another note, I quite liked this essay and found it almost inspiring really.
I believed that this picture and the accompanying quote fit the purpose of this entire essay. The two flowers showed that solidarity is important in the ending stretch of life and the quote really says all that the author meant to say. I found it on this website http://www.firstcovers.com/userquotes/49220/live+your+life+to.html (which is terribly set up and completely unasthetic (ew.) (er, can you use multiple parentheses in another set of parentheses? Is it like math? This is a serious concern.)
No comments:
Post a Comment