How Doctors Die ~Ken Murray

Ken Murray, a well-experienced physician, wrote an essay called "How Doctors Die". He had been interviewed by The New York Times and studied at the University of Southern California. He wrote the essay in 2011. From his time being a doctor, he was able to write about the many experiences he had encountered, and more importantly, his ideas about the way doctors choose to die. I believe, in his essay, he tried to make two points. He wanted to explain to the

Dying with Dignity
(www.utne.com)

readers that doctors choose to die with less medical treatment because they have witnessed the pain that they're patients go through when overmedicated to live longer. His second purpose was to explain that people should be able to die the way that they choose. whether it is in a hospital on thousands of drugs, or at home peacefully. He used an anecdote of his life to further explain the second point. He had once cared for an older man named Jack. He writes, "The doctors did everything possible to resuscitate him and put him on life support with ICU. This was Jack's worst nightmare... I turned off life support machines and sat with him. He died two hours later." (234) Jack's wishes were to die without life support. Although the "system had intervened" (234), Murray felt that he should allow Jack to die the way he wanted. Murray also used a rhetorical question in his writing, "How can anyone do that to their family members?" (232) He says that the doctors in the hospital would ask each other this question after families would put a sick member on life support, which would only draw out the suffering. Using the question allows the audience to think and imagine what would happen if they were in the situation. This was an easy essay to relate to the one I had previously read, which was about a man, Dudley Clendinen, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, but decided that he would die on his own, peacefully. In this way, Clendinen went the route that Murray would have wanted him to take. I think Murray's audience could have been anyone, but definitely wrote for medics like himself. He wrote with truth and used scenarios that he had experienced to help his message get through to the readers. He opened his opinion to the public, saying that you shouldn't have to leave it to others to decide how death goes. You should be able to end your own life the way you want, if you have the choice. With dignity. He did a great job of expressing his message through his story.

"The Good Short Life" ~Dudley Clendinen

Me, Lou, and My Daughter
(www.citylitproject.org)

"The Good Short Life", written by Dudley Clendinen, was written just before the author died of Lou Gehrig's disease. Dudley Clendinen was a very successful author and journalist, writing about politics, being gay in America, and speaking truthfully about his dying journey with "Lou", as he calls it. Clendinen attempts to make the point throughout the essay that death, or dying, is not something that anyone can teach you to live with. He writes, "We don't talk about how to die. We act as if facing death weren't one of life's greatest most absorbing thrills and challenges. Believe me, it is. This is not dull." (64) As he goes on to talk about how dying is liberating, I noticed that one of the tactics Clendinen uses throughout the essay was the personification of his disease. He speaks about "Lou" as if it is a person, not a life threatening illness. He writes, "It's about Life, when you know there's not much left. That is the weird blessing of Lou. There is no escape, and nothing much to do." (64) In this quote, he basically says that he feels lucky. He feels as though because his disease does not really have a certain cure, and there's no treatment, there is no way that he can escape death. He knows it's coming for him, and he's determined to live life as he would if the disease were not present. He doesn't want the false hope that a surgery will be able to cure him. I think he personifies his disease to show that he has accepted it. He is just fine knowing that he only has a short while to live. In attempt to relate this to the first essay I read, "You Owe Me", this man is much like a child with cancer, in the sense that there isn't much fear present. He takes in the life that he loves, and decides that when the time comes that he cannot do the things that he loves to do so much, that is when his time should be up. Unlike many of the other essays, I haven't sensed the emotional effect being used. I think he just wanted to tell his story, without letting people feel pity for him. He appeals more from credibility (ethos), than he does from emotion. This helps him serve his purpose. His audience could be anyone from a twenty year old studying to be a doctor to a seventy year old woman with the same disease. He writes this just to tell his story before he died. It was an excellent piece with well-served purpose.

"My Father/My Husband" ~David J. Lawless

David J. Lawless, the author of "My Father/My Husband", is an author that I would consider less credible. It was extremely difficult to find much information on him, and it seems as though this essay is the most famous piece he has ever written. The essay is a story about his life nonetheless, and tells in great, repetitive detail the process that he went through every day to live with his wife's Alzheimer's disease. She has to take many medications, and has to be reminded multiple times a day that her husband is not her father. Throughout the essay, Lawless uses dialogue and repetition of phrases to help the reader better understand how difficult it is to live with someone with Alzheimer's. For example, "I am your husband" (206) is repeated at least five times throughout the story. That simple sentence had to be said a brutal amount of times in order for the reader to understand what the author dealt with on a daily basis. I also believe that he wanted to show the reader that although getting through a night with her was not an easy task, he was willing to do anything he could to stay with her, and to make her remember him. His wife tells him, "'Don't leave me, don't ever leave me." (204) Although confused and sometimes violent, she is a very vulnerable person and has to put all of her trust in her husband. Lawless also uses the emotional effect (pathos) to further connect with his audience. This helped him successfully get his point across. I noticed that no matter how angry his wife became when she did not believe her husband was, in fact, her husband, she never left him. I think she knew it subconciously. She only tried to prove him wrong. Because of this, I think the author wanted to prove that great love can overcome any disorder or disease. The dialogue used in the story provided a sense of realness for the reader, in that it was much easier to imagine the story happening. Lawless did a fantastic job of convincing the audience, which could have been almost anyone, that his life was tough, but out of love, he was willing to give everything he had. It left me wanting to read more.

                                                             Here Until The End
                                                           (www. bestinshowdaily.com)

"Duh, Bor-ing" ~Joseph Epstein

"Duh, Bor-ing", written by Joseph Epstein was one of the essays that motivated me to start thinking. Epstein created an essay filled with engaging observations about the idea of boredom. Although many of his references were those of which I've never heard, it was very interesting to read an essay partly meant to inform the reader about the countless ways that boredom has been analyzed. Along with his essay, he has also been a highly contributing editor of The American Scholar magazine. He was also awarded a National Humanities Medal, and wrote many short stories for different newspapers and magazines. Throughout the essay, Epstein wants to take away this seemingly negative connotation that has surrounded the word "boredom". In order to do this, Epstein first pushes the idea that boredom is part of human nature. He then goes on to briefly discuss the relatively well-known question as to how the current generation can be so "bored", when in reality, so much has been given to prevent boredom, including electronic toys, books, and sitting before screens. One of my favorite contributions to the essay was the way in which Joseph Epstein uses these little scenarios of his life, or life in general, to connect to his audience. He writes, "My own experience of boredom was intermittent, never chronic." (103) He then goes on to explain how his mother would tell him to "'knock your head against the wall'" (103) whenever he complained about his boredom. One of Epstein's greatest strengths, in my opinion, would be helping the reader to understand by using short narratives from his own life. In that particular quote, he attempted to tell the reader that boredom in his life was not continuous, but instead, it was situational, and only lasted a short period of time. One point I thought the author tried to make was that out of boredom can come brilliant ideas. He explains that Steve Jobs was quite possibly an "evil genius" (109) because he created new ways to defeat boredom, (Ipads and Iphones), when boredom is solely a "timeout for thought" (109). He concludes the essay by telling the reader that boredom should not be avoided, nor should it be considered a problem to be fixed. We are lucky to be living with boredom, and hopefully we will have to live with it for a while longer. The essay serves its purpose well, in that it shows the reader why boredom is a natural and necessary part of life.

                                            Electronics Eliminate "Timeout for Thought" (109)
                                                       (allyouneedisagoodidea.typepad.com)

"You Owe Me" ~Miah Arnold

"You Owe Me", written by Miah Arnold, was one of the more compelling essays, in my opinion. The essay revolved around a woman who taught writing and poetry to children in a cancer center. As she meets several patients, none over the age of twenty, she learns to love them all, and grieves when cancer steals each child from her classroom one by one. The author, Miah Arnold, has written multiple essays and short stories. Her most famous pieces are "You Owe Me" and "Sweet Land of Bigamy". She is a credible writer, and participates in many events in which she can teach children how to write and sometimes read to them. Throughout the essay, I noticed that Arnold repeatedly explored an idea: although she was a teacher to the children, the children were also her teachers. They taught her how to love. They taught her how to grieve. I believe the purpose of the essay was to tell a story about how we can learn from those who pass, and instead of grieving, find ways to celebrate them instead. In terms of Arnold's audience, I think she wrote to a wide group of people of all ages. In my opinion, her purpose was well achieved. The biggest contribution to the story was the emotional effect (logos) that it was meant to have on the reader. One quote included was, "I assumed that his death was a template of sorts: this is how the very young die; they become almost holy. Unlike older people, who die scared and uncertain, dying children are endowed with grace. They are able to peek into ahead into the world they are about to enter..." (Arnold, 30) In this quote, the author describes a death of one of Arnold's students, Gio. Because the story surrounds children with cancer, the author is able to use the idea of peacefulness and grace to help the reader understand what Arnold is thinking about the death of children. She also uses comparisons such as currency and the "eventual death of most of her students" (31) to help the reader comprehend what she goes through everyday with these children, and how scared the children must be.  The way the author appealed to the audience's emotions through comparison assisted her when trying to deliver her purpose. 

                                                    An Empty Classroom, An Empty Heart
                                                                 (cornellsun.com)