Indirect Pain The feeling of pain has often been referred to as a controversial one, as one of the sensations that is felt by the body. Recently, discussions about the subject of pain have been focused on the difficulty encountered in trying to establish a definition for it. Because pain has no one definition, expressing it becomes quite elusive for the sufferer, which then leads to the difficulty in the understanding of pain by an outsider. Elaine Scarry makes a strong argument that “to have pain is to have certainty” whereas, “to hear about pain is to have doubt,” (Scarry, 13) and with this she emphasizes that pain is almost impossible to deduce by an outsider because all they experience is “doubt.” Although Scarry’s argument is valid, Joanna Bourke makes a contrasting argument that, “indeed, hearing about or witnessing another person’s pain could actually destroy the onlooker,” (Bourke, 46) which could be interpreted to mean that one’s pain could in fact be shared by others as opposed to Scarry’s argument. Therefore, the transferability of pain in American Sniper and Schindler’s List stems from the acknowledgement of the pain of the sufferer through the use of framing and close up shots of the onlooker, and it is that acknowledgement that makes for the possibility of the sharing of pain in regards to the situations of war in the movies. Scarry envelopes her argument in the elusiveness of the sharing of pain that the relative presence of bodies does not necessarily
In the novel “Three Day Road”, two Cree Aboriginals, Elijah Weesageechak and Xavier Bird goes off to fight in World War I and becoming the most famous sniper team in the field. The author, Joseph Boyden writes about the dynamic changes in the states of Elijah Weesageechak and the corruption of war leading to his final moments. There are many types of pain that are induced in nature. However, there are only two categories that those pain fall into: Physical pain and emotional pain. With Elijah, war transform him into an apathetic killing machine.
“What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger” (p. 28). In the scientific novel Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince, self-acclaimed “Medical Maverick” Dr. Moalem makes in-depth analyses of current human diseases that, ironically, may have led to the survival of mankind in the past. He presents a novel concept that greatly contradicts what have been universally accepted beliefs surrounding biology and the process of human evolution for a long time. With the use of myriad scientific studies and research, he formulates surprising theories about a positive correlation between disease and humanity. Moalem narrates the scientific world’s findings that strongly exemplify his assertions, however arbitrary they may seem at first. Three of the diseases that he examines, hemochromatosis, Type 1 diabetes, and favism, could have been particularly useful for resistance against other illnesses and survival in a historically harsh environment.
In this essay I intend to explore the narrative conventions and values, which Oliver Smithfield presents in the short story Victim. The short story positions the reader to have negative and sympathetic opinion on the issues presented. Such as power, identity and bullying. For example Mickey the young boy is having issues facing his identity. It could be argued that finding your identity may have the individual stuck trying to fit in with upon two groups.
In Diane Ackerman’s essay “Pain,” she ponders about the subjectivity in experiencing pain, how to define pain, and its role in human life. She begins by emphasizing that an individual’s ability to endure pain may depend more on culture and atmosphere than on the actual magnitude of the pain. Given that at times humans can forego pain for a spell because of their atmosphere, Ackerman elucidates the importance of surroundings in how one experiences pain by exemplifying her claim through a phenomenon in football players. Ackerman continues her discussion on the disparities in the reception of pain by asserting expectations delineate the painfulness of events. Strengthening her claim that tradition affects pain, Ackerman considers how cultures
A challenge Wiesel and Beah face is dealing with pain in all forms of it. In A Long Way Gone, Beah took some bullet wounds during war. In A Long Way Gone Beah states,“How did you get these scars? Bullet wounds” (Beah 248). Beah experiences physical pain in this instance, which relates
For the seventeen Soldiers portrayed in “The Things We Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the physical pain was very minimal weight to carry compared to the emotional scars that they will carry throughout their entire life. This story does an amazing job portraying full human emotion that anyone put into a situation would feel, such as heavy guilt, sadness, anger, lack of motivation, perseverance, horror, and false security. All of these are notorious feelings that every soldier back in history, and now still feel when they are on a mission. “The Things They carried” shows a deep vulnerability of everyday human’s thought process during times of great stress, that before, wasn’t considered by the general public and media when speaking about what it
FAIRFIELD, CT, (March 26, 2017) – The title of Sonya Huber’s book is certainty as eye-catching as it was meant to be. Pain Woman Takes Your Keys and Other Essays from a Nervous System is an experimental work from the author chronicling her life with chronic pain in a series of essays ranging from personal anecdotes to researched articles on the nature of pain. Dr. Sonya Huber is a nonfiction author, having written other works focusing on healthcare, such as Cover Me: A Health Insurance Memoir. She is also an Associate Professor of English at Fairfield University. Her book is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble (online and in select locations). With this book, she hopes to breach society taboo on pain and open a dialogue between those dealing with chronic pain and those who are not.
The book The Angel of Death by Alane Ferguson is an intense and gripping story due to its mystery and action in the book. The book is mainly about a mysterious death surrounding the main character’s favorite teacher with no leads or cause of death. The book keeps you engaged by adding things that you least expect about the case as the book goes on.
‘In Elaine Scarry’s […] The Body in Pain: The Unmaking and Making of the World, she considers first how torture destroys the conscious world of its subjects,
In “The Victims” by Sharon Olds it describes a divorce through the eyes of the parents’ children. The first section is shown through past tense as the speaker is a child and the last section is shown in present tense with the speaker already being an adult trying to make sense of past events. The word “it” in the first two lines carries a tremendous weight, hinting at the ever so present abuse and mistreatment, but remaining non-specific. The first part generates a negative tone toward the father who is referred to as malicious by the mother who “took it” from him “in silence” until she eventually “kicked him out.” Through the entirety of the poem the children are taught to hate their father. Who taught them? Their mother showed them that their father was a villain and were taught to have no sympathy for him but “to hate you and take it” and so they did so. Although the poem never directly states what the father did to receive the family’s hated, the speaker gives examples as to why he is hated.
War can destroy a man both in body and mind for the rest of his life. In “The Sniper,” Liam O’Flaherty suggests the horror of war not only by presenting its physical dangers, but also by showing its psychological effects. We are left to wonder which has the longer lasting effect—the visible physical scars or the ones on the inside?
"All conflict in literature is, in its simplest form, a struggle between good and evil". This quote by anonymous individual could be explained as; all themes and struggles in literature can be lead down to their most basic forms as conflict of good versus evil. Usually in conflicts, there are two sides that fight over one particular aspect. One side is considered good, which are fighting for their morals, while the other side is considered bad and are fighting for the wrong reasons. (Online 5)
Professor Paul Bloom states he is against empathy. He believes it is wrongfully used in our society and should not be used in certain situations. He still thinks it is important sometimes, but should not be primarily used as a result of anger, depression or retaliation. He believes compassion is the solution to empathy. In the long run, Bloom states that empathy will fail or burnout in a person. Hannah the extremely empathic person will eventually burnout according to Bloom. The use of empathy everyday as a core moral code will eventually be overwhelming and burned out and used up. The person will change direction and use empathy less in their lifetime. This essay will explore Paul Bloms opinion of empathy in his article, “Against
Pain has played a vital role in the human survival of our species. Pain taught our ancestors not to get too close to
There are various definitions of pain. The most commonly agreed upon seems to be “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience arising from actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage”