Summary Of On Being A Cripple By Nancy Mair

In “ I Am a Cripple” Nancy Mairs uses allusions to share her thoughts on her condition. Mairs begins her essay by articulating how she strongly dislikes the word disabled to describe her. She explains how her word cripple is favorable to her be cause “ It has an honorable history, having made its first appearance in the Lindisfarne Gospel” (Mairs). This word appears around 700 C.E in the Lindisfarne Gospel written to honor God, in the faith Christianity (Appositive Phrase). She gravitates towards this word

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

If you saw a person in the mall in a wheelchair, would you judge them? Or would you look at them like they are a normal human-being? People who have a disability whether they are physically disabled, mentally disabled, or learning disabled, are still themselves. Nancy Mairs was forty-three year old woman with multiple sclerosis. She wrote an essay, “Disability”, that explained her views of her physical disability.

She takes a comical approach when examining the idea of the word “cripple” when giving her experiences throughout the paper. In the very first paragraph of the essay Mairs says, “… landing fully clothed on the toilet seat with my legs splayed in front of me: the old beetle-on-it’s-back routine” (page 1). Society has put a negative connotation behind the word “cripple.” It largely comes off as an offense towards someone with a physical incapability, however Mairs has embraced the word because it is “straightforward and precise” (Mairs page 1). She outcasts herself from the rest of society in that she finds other words: “disabled”, handicapped”, and especially “differently abled” slightly offensive because they take away from her humanity. In other words, these works make her feel like she is not accepted like the rest of the fully, physically functioning people in society because people feel that they must baby those who are handicapped as though they are not able to do any simple task.

“On Being a Cripple” is placed under the genre of autobiography because it focuses on a significant personal experience in Mairs’ past and draws out the meaning as she tells her story and reflects on her experiences. The key factors of an autobiographical essay include dramatic events or episodes, vivid details and narration, and an interweaving of narration with reflection on and interpretation of the essayist’s experiences (Norton xxvii). This essay focuses on Mairs’ experiences and personal struggles with multiple sclerosis.

Sub-point B: The declaration of sentiments which is primarily known as the declaration of rights and sentiments is a document signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men at the Seneca Falls. It argues that women are oppressed by the government and the patriarchal society.

The Declaration of Resolution and Sentiments which is also known as Declaration of Sentiments is a document that was signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men. This convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York which is now known as Seneca Falls Convention. The key organizer of this Declaration was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and along was Lucretia Coffin Mott and Martha Coffin Wright. This convention was put up for obtaining rights for the women. This document was done for demanding equality between men and women in terms of securing rights from the government, right from the law, right in obtaining happiness, right in pursuing education and right also in life and liberty. It consisted with the list of oppressions from men against women such as men

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.

In “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “Living Under Circe’s Spell” by Matthew Soyster, the authors both discuss what it is like living with a medical condition, Multiple Sclerosis, that impairs their physical abilities. Mairs argues that her condition does not determine who she is as a person using remorse and lightheartedness. She is able to convey these tones through the use of anecdotes and humor. Meanwhile, Soyster writes using the tones of remorse and bitterness to acknowledge the fact that he can no longer do simple tasks he used to be able to do, as his condition worsens. He accomplishes these tones through the use of syntax and pathos.

The author of the essay “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs, is a cripple and lives a well off life even though she is a cripple. While most people would develop an essay on why their life may suck being a cripple, Mairs doesn’t use her multiple sclerosis as an excuse for living a bad life yet embraces it in her writings and her life in general such as the opening paragraph where she describes her stall affairs. Mairs uses pathos in her essay to argue that life as a cripple is not particularly bad or good but being able to understand who you are as a cripple will make you better off in the end. First off Mairs is not at all offended and even embraces using the word, “cripple”, because she doesn’t care of the stereotypical informality of the word,

Each year out of the 321.4 million people in the United States, 0.06% are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease in which the immune system causes a disruption in the communication between the brain and the body. Nancy Mairs has been part of this 0.06%. In “On Being a Cripple” Nancy Mairs at first conveys a frank and amused tone, emphasizing the humor she finds in her condition and society, then a more dreary and defeated tone, emphasizing her own difficulties, then a satirical and acerbic tone, reinforcing her frustration and disgust with society, and finally a reflective and open-minded tone, illustrating Mair’s acceptance. Beginning with a frank, amused attitude, Mair’s syntax and analogies emphasize her ability to cope and society’s

To be or not to be? In the passage written by Nancy Mairs, she presents herself as a crippled woman and nothing else; in other words, she embraces the term. Her tone, word choice, and rhetorical structure all suggest this. Why is Mairs okay with such a word? Mairs’s tone in the essay conveys her acceptance of the word “cripple” being used to describe her.

Out of seven possibilities, the most common ones are “ Handicapped, Disabled, or Cripple.” Which one did Mairs choose? In this passage Nancy Mairs, a dear woman who has multiple sclerosis openly identifies herself as a “ cripple”, instead of handicapped or disabled. Mairs presents herself in a specific way to show why she made that word choice of “ cripple” to name herself. Upon doing that Mairs uses rhetorical features such as tone, word choice, and rhetorical structure to further her reason.

In the beginning part of essay Mairs writes about that she wants to be labeled as a cripple instead of disabled or handicapped. This shows that she has some control of her life, by being able to choose what she wants to be called. “I am a cripple. I choose this word to name me… “cripple” just seems to me a clean word, straightforward and precises” (Mairs 2). This proves that she choose to be labeled cripple because it was “straightforward and precise” and when

The other essay, “On Being a Cripple,” by Nancy Mairs which is a story about herself being crippled early in life and what she learned from it. The main idea of this essay is how the disease she has doesn’t define who she is. The way she views herself is as a cripple, why? She defines herself as that because its straight forward and precise while disabled and handicapped seem to be insulting to her. The tone of this essay is resentful yet serious and also a bit dtermined. It is resentful to her because the author hates the Multiple Sclerosis(MS) disease because people think of it as if it were worse than death itself. The essay is serious because it doesn’t have any amusing parts to it. The essay also has a determining tone to it because she