The Pearl Illusions

Almond faced many long, cold nights as a traveling doctor in the mountains of West Virginia. He would travel lengthy routes to get to his patients in his little rag top jeep. There would even be times when he would have to get out of his jeep and walk, or row to the patients home. Dr. Almond would receive frantic calls from families in the middle of the night, and he’d spring out of bed to try to get there as fast as he could. Doctors who did house calls get little rest; they had worked all day and then got up in the middle of the night to go help a patient. “Just as one day has ended, another one has begun. And thus it goes, day in, day out, for many of our friends who earned the title “Doctor”, and all that word portends.”

Having a career in science and medicine was a big deal during this time. Dr. Jekyll is an educated, wealthy, and well-respected man. Through the eyes of the public, he is seen as a perfect, ideal Victorian man. He is a “large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” (31). Because of his status in society, Dr. Jekyll is obligated to hide his pleasures and show the society his caring, affectionate, and loyal virtues.

Atul Gawande in his article “When the Doctor Makes Mistakes” exposes the mystery, uncertainty and fallibility of medicine in true stories that involve real patients. In a society where attorneys protect hospitals and physicians from zealous trials from clients following medical errors, doctors make mistakes is a testimony that Gawande a representative of other doctors speak openly about failures within the medical fields. In this article, Gawande exposes those errors with an intention of showing the entire society and specifically those within the medicine field that when errors are hidden, learning is squelched and those within the system are provided with an opportunity to continue committing the same errors. What you find when you critically analyse Gawande, “When Doctors Make Mistakes essay is how messy and uncertain medicine turns out to be. Throughout the entire article you experience the havoc within the medicine field as the inexperienced doctor misapplies a central line in a patient.

Prominently featured in the mission statements of virtually of every medical school and medical institution in the world is the call for empathetic doctors. These institutions wish to train medical professionals that possess qualities of sympathy and compassion, and hospitals wish to employ health professionals that showcase similar qualities. The reality, however, is starkly different, as physicians, jaded by what they have seen in the medical world, lose the qualities that drove them to medicine in the first place. In Frank Huyler’s “The Blood of Strangers,” a collection of short stories from his time as a physician in the emergency room, Huyler uses the literary techniques of irony and imagery to depict the reality of the world of a medical professional. While Huyler provides several examples of both techniques in his accounts, moments from “A Difference of Opinion” and “The Secret” in particular stand out. Huyler uses irony and imagery in these two pieces to describe how medical professionals have lost their sense of compassion and empathy due to being jaded and desensitized by the awful incidents they have witnessed during their careers.

Doctors can be portrayed as agents of capitalism. It can be seen that they tend to hide the real causes of illness (poverty and class inequality) and portray illness through the patient’s physical symptoms rather than their economic status. For example, doctors can prescribe their patient with medication (which they may need to be pay for) that isn't effective making them have to buy more.

"Johns Hopkins patient safety experts have calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error…" (John Hopkins Medicine). This soaring number has caused medical errors to become the third leading cause of death in the United States. For many people, medicine seems foreign and unknown. People who have lost loved ones due to medical error desperately look for a reason, and many times that blame falls upon doctors. Media has put a negative connotation on doctors as well, causing their reputation to plummet whenever a hospital procedure turns badly. A renown surgeon and author, Atul Gawande, uses his knowledge and experience to give people a new perspective on medicine. In the article "When Doctors Make Mistakes," Gawande uses rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos to prove the need for a change in the medical systems and procedures. He analyzes how the public looks at doctors, giving a new perspective to enlighten the reader that even the best doctors can make mistakes.

From the story, William depicts the difficulties that people have towards separating their emotions and standards. The doctor’s behavior towards the girl and the young patient’s reaction emphasizes the subject of this discussion. However, the use of ethos, the narrator portrays his character as a credible doctor in the story. The character of both the patient and the doctor reveal a plausible issue comparable in real life. During this period there is and epidemic of diphtheria, which worsens the situation forcing the doctor to take aggressive measures in treating his patient. Revealed through his words, the doctor first tries kindness; “Awe, come on, I coaxed, just open your mouth wide and let me take a look.” (Williams, 1984) However, the reaction from the girl is repulsive, forcing the doctor to be firm. The young girl’s character shows the conflict of her role as a patient and that of her personality. This is revealed by the fact the she is spoiled and

Throughout our lives, we are plagued by the notion of ‘ethics’ or morals - the basis of our everyday behavior. The medical field is no exception, with doctors constantly reminded of the ethical duties they must carry out for each of their patients. An example of unethical doctors is demonstrated in Daniel Keyes’s short story, Flowers for Algernon. The story features Charlie Gordon, a man with an intellectual disability who strives to become smarter. He is a candidate for a new surgical procedure that is used to triple one’s intelligence which was directed by Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur. Although the procedure holds promise for helping a vast amount of people, Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss acted unethically by selecting Charlie to undergo the operation because they did not finish testing the procedure and because Charlie was unable to make a proper decision.

I liked the way Steinbeck described the pearl because that allows the readers to clearly understand that this is not a normal pearl, but maybe a ghostly one. For example, Steinbeck quotes: “And to Kino the secret melody of the maybe pearl broke clear and beautiful, rich and warm and lovely, glowing and gloating and triumphant.” (Steinbeck, 24). This example is related to my thesis statement because this situation occurs when Kino first saw the pearl, and the pearl brought him hope and surprise to his life during that period of time.

3. Identify each of the following characters below by (1) their relationship to one another and (2) what can be inferred about their personalities thus far.

ADHD, defiance disorder, pregnancy, these are just few of the things medicalized in the West (Davies 1995). With the rising prestige of Doctors in the 19th century, came a widening of the gap of knowledge between Doctors and the general population (Davies 1995). Doctors have kept a sort of lock on medical knowledge, enabling them to medicalize all sorts of “issues” aided by the idea of the medical mystique. But with the emergence of medicalization and cures that are being searched for by Doctors, a new problem has arisen. This fixation on curing illnesses has led to Doctors viewing patients as experiments and not as human beings, this is seen especially in technologically advanced societies as exemplified in the movie Wit. In addition to this new problem, there are clear establishments of hierarchy between medical professionals such as Doctors and nurses as well as the emotional detachments with the patients which can lead to patients feeling left out and alone.

Throughout literary history, different themes have proven to be consistently popular for audiences. The desire to present an accurate reflection of reality has proven to be a major source of inspiration for both authors and readers alike. Reality as a theme is prevalent in literature, and the numerous ways that reality and illusion intertwine. In William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the illusory world which the characters inhabit is enhanced by the supernatural. The relationship between Oberon and Titania contributes to the development of the play’s theme of reality and illusion; they are the catalyst by which the play’s action occurs, and their spontaneous natures are countered with human flaws, further

In conclusion, Person introduces two conflicting opinions of the main message, medical ethics. However, there is a bias towards Jenna’s initial view, and the opinions of Lily and Alleys. Overall, the author uses this book as a way of showing us the ever-more relevant debate of medical ethics, but wants us to make our own decision of what view to

            This theme is established very quickly, In fact, the first paragraph of the play describes the illusions to take place, "But I am the opposite of a stage musician.  He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth.  I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion" (1866).  During Tom's monologue, he discusses the premise of the play; when it takes place, who the characters are, and how the play is to be perceived (as a memory).  His reference to illusion is not used

The doctor-patient relationship always has been and will remain an essential basis of care, in which high quality information is gathered and procedures are made as well as provided. This relationship is a critical foundation to medical ethics that all doctors should attempt to follow and live by. Patients must also have confidence in their physicians to trust the solutions and work around created to counter act certain illnesses and disease. Doctor-patient relationships can directly be observed in both the stories and poems of Dr. William Carlos Williams as well as in the clinical tales of Dr. Oliver Sacks. Both of these doctors have very similar and diverse relationships with multiple patients