Auscultation Analysis

“Auscultation” a short essay by Steven Church is composed of four chambers much like the four chambers of the heart or chambers found underground. The essay begins with Chamber 1 which was about how miners got stuck inside a caved in mine and was never able to saved after several rescue failures. This chamber was followed by Chamber 2 in which the author asks the reader to recall the last time a stethoscope was on your skin. Then, in Chamber 3, the author informs the reader about the stethoscope, the importance of the stethoscope, and the experience of hearing his child for the first time. This essay concludes with Chamber 4 which is an echo of Chamber 1 in which another story of miners being trapped is told but with the miners being saved

In Chamber 1, in August 2007 six miners got trapped underground after an earthquake at the Crandall Canyon coal mine in Utah. The rescue team began the rescuing mission by placing seismic listening devices above ground and setting off dynamites which was a indication for the miners below to start making noise in any way possible. This resulted in failure with no sound being caught by the listening devices. Afterwards, six boreholes were drilled in different areas of the mine, so oxygen sensors, cameras, and microphones could be placed inside. This plan also failed due to misreadings of the oxygen. In the end the rescue was a failure. The quote “We listened and listened but failed” (Church 6) explains why the rescue was a failure. It wasn’t only me who believed the lack of sound was an issue. Indirectly, researchers at Utah State University agreed as well with them working to invent a more efficient listening device along with a better way for miners to create noise like metal plates underground which you could bang with hammers. In Chamber 4, a story is told of nine coal miners being trapped in the Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania in 2002. These miners went to the highest place possible in the mine and after the three dynamites were set off, the miners began pounding the roof bolts with their hammers. Above the surface, after the listening devices weren’t able to pick up sound from the mine due to outside noise, one

Church’s writing proves it by showing how it confirms a baby as an actual alive baby, miners being considered dead when they are not heard and vice versa, and doctors using stethoscopes and other devices to see the well being and status of their patients. In addition, he shows how sound could mean death with it being so no sound usually equates to death. The author also is somewhat trying to persuade us that sound is the most reliable and greatest sense that we possess. The quote “They hug at the drill and slap each other on the back and think of how they can’t wait to see and touch and smell their babies again” (Church 15) to me is the best way to explain the main meaning of “Auscultation”. This one quote connected all of the evidence to my claim in one sentence, with the miner unable to wait to see, touch, smell (and probably listen) his baby