The Allusions Of Allusions In I Am A Cripple

Mairs uses a high quality choice in words throughout the essay to describe her condition and herself as a person. In the passage she states that people “wince at the word cripple because they can't handle it .She also states that the other words that people would use to describe her don’t correspond to her condition. In the passage she quotes George Orwell’s thesis which states “the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” She agrees

Mairs who has multiple sclerosis, refers to herself as "a cripple." "'Cripple' seems to me a clean word,straightforward and precise" she claims as she also states the origin from which the word had come from: the Lindisfarne Gospel int he tenth century. Mairs does not necessarily see her disease as something that may "disable" her, but she sees it as a way to show she is a "tough customer."

Nancy Mairs, author of this passage, who has multiple sclerosis talks about herself and her decisions on why she calls herself a “cripple.” While she does this, she also criticizes words like “handicapped” and “disabled.” She tells a small story and her views on certain things while also explaining the reasoning behind calling herself a “cripple.” Mairs conveys why she is a cripple in her mind through her tone, word choice, and passage structure. Mairs your in this passage is calm at first but as she gets more into a sensitive topic, for her, she begins to be much more upset.

In lines 8-9 she explains on how people show more discomfort and discontent to the word “cripple” more than other words such as “handicapped” or “disabled”. Mairs starts to discuss about how she might like the feeling people get when they hear the word ”cripple”. She states in lines 10-12 that “I want them to see me as a tough customer, one to whom

Nancy Mairs who has multiple sclerosis start the passage with "I am a cripple." She states that she was "unaware of [her] motives for [using the word cripple to name herself]." Mairs understands that it might be difficult for others to call her a "cripple," but "[she] wants [people] to see [her] as a tough customer." She wants to be known as a person who can "face the brutal truth of her existence squarely."

Mairs also uses syntax to emphasize this acceptance. “I am a cripple” (59). This use of short syntax emphasizes that she’s not hiding her crippledness with excessive details; she’s being completely straightforward. Also the diction behind the word “cripple,” which is usually considered socially inappropriate and harshly insulting, emphasizes her frank

In the excerpt “Disable (1992)”, Nancy Mairs claims that she prefers to be described as a “cripple” as opposed to the more accepted terms “disabled or handicapped.” Mairs states, “I am a cripple. I choose this word to name me. I choose from among several possibilities, the most common of which are ‘handicapped’ and ‘disabled’.” In order to allow the audience to understand her viewpoint, Mairs utilizes repetition by consistently using the term “cripple”, denotation using the words “handicapped” and “disabled,” and has a blunt tone.

Cripple Nancy Mairs, a woman with multiple sclerosis wrote Cripple to express the feelings she has towards people labeling her, and how she can only be the one to label herself as a “cripple”. In the passage, she claims that even though she --or anyone-- is crippled, they are still the same person. Nancy Mairs presents herself as a brave woman by expressing the confidence she has in herself, having a direct frank tone, and going through every obstacle in her path. The confidence she has conveys that as long as she’s content and happy, other’s opinions do not matter. Creating this brave face to achieve one’s happiness without looking back.

There is a general label in society that you are crippled if you are in a state of not being able to do things for yourself. Mairs states that she, too, believes this; as well as the unwritten rule that one does not call another crippled. It agree it is not a word that should be used. However, Mairs is hypocritical in this belief. “I am a cripple. I choose this wo 'rd to name me (Mairs, 9).” Crippled is the word she used to refer to

Someone who is crippled often receives pity and sympathy from others, but do cripples always want this? In this passage entitled “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs uses interesting word choice, repetition, and a sarcastic tone to touch upon a subject that most mature non-crippled Americans are not entirely comfortable with; using the so widely feared word “cripple” instead of the common “handicapped” or “disabled” to be polite or politically correct. Elaborating to a society, so infatuated with being politically correct, that using a word considered derogatory to most may be necessary according to exact definition is Mairs’s purpose in writing this passage.

Throughout “I AM a cripple”, Mairs conveys allusions on her disability and how she feels about her current quality of life. In the start of the essay, Mairs discusses labels society uses to elaborate on people with limitations. She appreciates some but loathes others, such as the term handicapped. As she states in the text, “my god is not a Handicapper General, in order to equalize chances in the great race of life” (Mairs). Handicapper General is a character from “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Mairs uses Handicapper General as a reference due to the character, giving out handicaps to everyone: masked women for beauty, and others being chained for being ‘too strong’. Referring to Handicapper General, Mairs indicates no one is to blame for her disability. Mairs’s

She identifies as “a cripple”, saying “I choose this word to name me.” She states that she recognizes the uncomfortable feeling it inflicts on all people, proposing that “perhaps I want them to wince.” These statements criticize the stigma around disabilities, and their blunt tone emphasizes the benefits of a “straightforward and precise” nature to labels. In this passage from paragraphs two to four, Mairs explains the true meaning of the words (i.e. “disabled”, “handicapped”, and “differently abled”) abled and disabled people use to identify those with disabilities. She continues to discuss these terms and includes her blunt opinion – it is typically against the use of these labels for their lack of “accuracy with which [they] describe [her] condition.” This shows the abled audience why the stigma surrounding disabilities should be removed because they would not understand her perspective as a disabled person without that explanation. On the other hand, her blunt tone and language is used to convince disabled readers to agree with her message: “I refuse to pretend that the only difference between [abled people] and [disabled people] are the various ordinary ones that distinguish any one person from another.” Both of the effects of Mairs’s blunt tone work to achieve her goal of acceptance of disabled people, but they differ in order to be most effective for their targeted

Mairs makes this emphasis and confidence in her character by distinguishing between short and long sentences. The majority of sentences Mairs incorporates in her passage are short to create the emphasis of what her condition is, how the condition has affected the way she describes herself, and how people should not be pitying the affected patients of the disease, such as herself. For example, in her first paragraph, the first two sentences are short, consisting of words not exceeding ten. These definite sentences where she states “I am a cripple. I choose this word to name me,” establish an initial bluntness in tone that makes people want to read on to understand why she has chosen this politically incorrect term to describe her. Throughout the rest of this paragraph, Mairs writes lengthier sentences, causing the audience to be more understanding behind what went on in her brain when making the decision of choosing this specific term to describe her. However, Mairs does not keep this lengthiness going on for long, as she uses the same strategy with her abrupt specificity in diction after thoughtful words, by finishing off the paragraph and the following paragraph with short sentences that finalize her thoughts about the idea of using the term to describe her condition. The first paragraph ends off with a five word sentence stating “As a

In “On Being a Cripple,”  Nancy Mairs describes her life as a “cripple,” being treated different for her multiple sclerosis. She describes how society views her as handicapped or disabled both which are terms that the author dislikes.  Her viewpoint makes readers question their own beliefs on how the terms handicapped, disabled, or cripple influences a person to think differently about each term and its meaning. One of the reasons I chose this essay was because the author shows how different terms could affect the way society thinks about a person. Mairs believes that society often judge others based on their physical appearance and use the terms handicapped, disabled, or cripple to label. She argues that the outcome of this is creates an idea where being a cripple, or being disabled is considered a taboo where you're expected to be treated differently. Mairs claims that society i

In Nancy Mairs ' "On Being a Cripple," she deliberates the relationship between the English Language, American Society, and her struggle with multiple sclerosis (MS). Mairs criticizes people for wincing at the word "cripple," and using terms like “differently abled,” because they lack reality and accuracy. She equivalents society’s inability to accept crippledness with death, war, sex, sweat, and wrinkles. Through the usage of ethos, pathos, logos and other rhetorical devices, she effectively tells her story and proves that there is power in words, from which she could come to terms with a new fact of her identity, and to accept the incurability of her disease.