“And know-I knew that he was beckoning-beckoning me to my death.” Adams, from the story “Hitchhiker”. In the “Hitchhiker” by Lucille Fletcher, there is a man named Adams who is driving from New York to California and along the way he is followed by a hitchhiker. In the “Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, Leonard Mead goes out for a walk every night and one night he gets in trouble with the police. The “Hitchhiker” by Lucille Fletcher, is more suspenseful than the “Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, because of the writing techniques: imagery, word-choice, and dialogue.
Nancy Mairs, a feminist writer who has Multiple Sclerosis, defines the terms in which she interest the most with the world. Nancy Mairs will name herself a cripple and not be by others. She will choose a word that represents her reality for example in the beginning of her story she mentioned about her being in the bathroom trying to come up with a story about cripples. She was in the handicap bathroom and when she tried to open the door she fell, landing fully clothed on the toilet seat with her legs splayed in front of her and she said “the old beetle -on-it’s back routine.”
In “Unspeakable Conversations” she details her experience. Harriet McBryde Johnson effectively uses the rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos, along with her uses of first-person narrative and descriptive language, to support her argument that contrary to stereotypes, a person living with a severe disability can live a happy and fulfilling life. Harriet McBryde Johnson was born in 1957 with a neuromuscular disease. At the time of this essay, she had been disabled for over four decades. Born to parents who both taught foreign language, they were able to afford hired help but she knew it could not be for her whole life.
As the use of technological handicaps suppresses George’s ability to think: “He tried to think a little about ballerinas… George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts” (Vonnegut 1). Therefore, not only these handicaps affect George’s ability to think, but the dancers themselves are under handicaps too. With the notion of ‘complete equality’ society has on its people, the handicaps, which is only possible through the advancements of technology, restrains one from expressing his/her true individuality and talents.
Murphy lacks mobility and sensation in his lower body other than the feeling of occasional muscle spasms, and has limited movement in his upper body below the neck including his arms. Murphy writes the story as it recounts events throughout his entire life, from childhood onwards. He was sixty-two when he wrote the novel. The story provides Murphy’s anthropological commentary on the life of a person with a disability and how society views and treats people with disabilities (Murphy, 1990). Murphy’s performance patterns both support and inhibit his occupational engagement.
The reader would expect for the handicaps to slow a person and cause a tired, weak expression, but the handicaps can do quite the opposite. “And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicaps bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred-pound men.” (Vonnegut 883) This statement is a prime example of situational irony. The handicaps are meant to equalize the ballerina, which it does, but it also demonstrates how much stronger one is from the other.
Adam and Eve had a perfect Garden of Eden, until Eve ate the apple and contaminated the garden. In being tricked by the snake, Eve betrayed God’s word. Mankind has often betrayed others because of the darkness in their heart. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses Phineas as a sacrificial lamb to portray Gene’s savage side and demonstrate that peace can never be achieved at a worldwide level until man accepts the darkness in his own heart.
People with disabilities are often viewed as less capable, less intelligent and not available to cope well in society. Mairs uses the different persuasive strategies such as ethos, logos and pathos to create a conscious awareness to build a world in which despite the differences everyone is treated with equality and dignity. She imagines her body as something other than problematic, but a reason to fight to build a world in which people wants her in. Mairs mentions in page 169 “I imagine a world where people, allowed the space to accept- admit, endure, embrace- their diverse and often difficult realities.” As Robert M Hensel, a famous Guinness world champion and a man with spina bifida said once “There is no greater disability in society, than the inability to see a person as
Robert Bogdan raises many interesting points in this article, concerning the nature of the term ‘freaks’ and what it meant to be one in the nineteenth and twentieth century in comparison to now. He draws his knowledge from many sources, which he references, on how those of mental and physical abnormalities in the circus business not only categorized themselves, from those who were pure in their abnormalities to those who created their own freakish nature, but also how they viewed ‘outsiders’. The way in which this article is written, I feel, it is intended for the common man to understand what life was like for handicapped persons in early America. They were seen as impure, unnatural, and well, freaks. Bogdan refers to two different kinds of
Each text contains interest while I read them, they also focused ideas regarding disability but the points that’ll receive attention don’t necessarily relate to each other. In Johanna Hedva’s piece, Sick Woman Theory, she discusses concepts revolving around her chronic illness and the effects of that illness on her life. For Robert McRuer, he wishes to explore ideas that explain the relationship between heterosexuality and able-bodiedness. While each text displays engaging thoughts, this paper will respond to them in different ways. For this response paper, interest lies in adding ideas to the first section of Sick Woman Theory as well as critiquing what McRuer wants to accomplish with his paper.
This quote from the beginning of the story sets the tone for the rest of the piece and highlights the irony of a society that claims to be equal. The story is a cautionary statement about the consequences of a society that values conformity and equality over individuality and personal atrophy. In the story those who are personally inclined, whether intellectually or physically, are handicapped by items such as locks, chains, and impairment devices.
When people hear handicap they think not able to care for themselves. Nancy wants to be known as a tough individual able to take care of herself. The reader can feel the agony of what Nancy is feeling. The tone of this passage is determination and agony. Nancy feels that cripple is more stronger word than “handicap” or ‘disabled.”
In the essay, “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs uses humorous diction and a positive tone to educate people about life as a cripple and struggles of people with disabilities. She does this to show how hard it is to be disabled and how it differs from the life of someone without a disability. She talks about the struggles and the fears that disabled people must deal with on a daily basis. Mairs use of rhetoric creates a strong sense of connection and understanding for the reader. Nancy Mairs is successful in using detailed imagery, diction, and tone to educate her readers about the difficulties of living with a disability.
Imagine… Not being able to walk down the street without a sea of faces, scared and afraid, some laughing… Imagine. The sharp points of index fingers, like guns, shooting bullets of humiliation, embarrassment and indignity. The novel Wonder by RJ Palacio is written about a boy with a severe deformity: Treacher Collins syndrome. (TCS)
In her essay Nancy gracefully articulated her perception of her situation and chooses to label her as “Crippled”. The struggles that she goes through to in a day to day bases, for example when she starts off the essay by describing her experience in a bathroom stall and how she laughs at her own situation. She insightfully defines her being crippled in the way she pursues and interacts with the world. As I defined the word in a sense of being incompetent in day to day societal procedures which is exactly proven in the essay. She is slow and struggles in her day to rituals and she accepts it.
