NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
The association between two authors In my paper I would like to analyze the two stories by different authors: Atrium: October 2001 " by Richard Selzer and The Unknown Assailant by Frank Huyler. I want to show how the writer managed to describe the connection between the doctor and the patient. Richard Selzer was a retired surgeon. After his retirement he started writing in the library and visiting the exhibitions in the art galleries. Having no more patients the old doctor turned to analyzing the stories of another writes and works of art. He has the famous utterance "Listen to the patients.
They are trying to tell you something that is both beautiful and true" (174). All of his stories are very piercing, due to the language they written. Selzer had unexcelled ability to describe the unusual relations between doctors and patients. The story Atrium: October 2001 " perfectly shows that. Doctors help has no bounds and limits.
Having meal in the atrium of hospital, the old doctor who tells this story met a boy in an invalid carriage. The doctor and the fellow begin to talk. The young boy is despairingly sick, he has cancer. The old physician defined at once that the boy has time only to tell the truth. But nevertheless the boy lies at least about his name. He says that he is Thomas Fogarty, but his name is Tony.
So telling the truth is peculiar to those who reconciled to death. Apparently, the boy didnt. However, he asked the old doctor: What will you do on your last day on earth?" . In order to answer the boys question, the doctor lets his imagination run away.
He tells Tony his own thoughts about dying. Maybe he never thought about his last day before like all of us. Even very old people prefer not to think about death and of course they are not creating plans about their last day. The old man thinks out an ex-student who became a famous surgeon and brings him to the ancient wood, where he transforms into part of the trees and gets to know everything hidden about this world of the mystery of life. The doctor tries to make the boy think that death is just "a painless transition. " Next day the young fellow dies.
But he managed to dictate the letter for the old doctor and the nurse brought it to him. The old man rendered the boy a double service: he helped him to reconcile to death and to prepare to it. As a old doctor, the storyteller has done a useful service by giving the boy all the necessary assistance in preparing him for death. As an author, the storyteller still makes him immortal by writing the story about him. Sickness and sorrow have changes both the fellow and the physician in the story.
Tony got an uncommon wisdom and virtue for the guy of his age. Disease has presented him with these qualities. The physician is very good-hearted and consoling. His age and close death helped him to understand much and he shared that with the boy, though it was not easy to make a child understand the wisdom gained by experiencing different situation during the life. Atrium: October 2001 " is a story not only about the dying boy, who was saved by the doctor, but it is also about the narrator, who also seemed rescued by the meeting with the boy. The retired doctor states: "It is with the sick that I feel a sense of belonging.
The sick are my kind" (245). That means that he felt relief after helping one more person. That may have been the most important assistance in his life. In the conclusion of the story Selzer himself explains the interrelations between the doctor and the young boy: "Tony is no more and no less than the square root of the doctor. " He added: "it takes no great leap of the imagination to conclude that the doctor and the boy, Tony, are one and the same" (255). Even the thought out name that Tony preferred to call himself -- Thomas Fogarty -- sets a contact with the author.
Tom Fogarty is the 16 -year-old hero of Selzer's most piercing story, "Tom and Lily." Autobiographical moments and its connection with love, loss, and youth makes this story remarkable. "Atrium: October 2001 " shows us how profoundly a doctor should care about people, not only about his patient, but of all the people which need his help. Frank Huyler is a physician from Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1999 his collection of stories The Blood of Strangers: Stories from Emergency Medicine, was published by the University of California Press, Berkeley. Paul Auster wrote about it: "Dr. Huyler's short, intense book treats of only the most important matters: life and death. His prose is nearly invisible, and therefore it allows us to see what he is talking about.
And once we see it, we are not likely to forget it. This is a young writer with a big mind - and an even bigger heart. " His story The Unknown Assailant is taken from this collection. The doctor is obliged to any person in trouble. It is well-known that at the beginning of his carrier every doctor takes an oath to help any person in need. That is the most important law for any doctor and he has no right to violate it. However, not all the people, even, doctors, understand what it really means.
They cant even imagine how difficult it can be sometimes to keep this important word. The plot of the story The Unknown Assailant is extremely interesting and exciting. The young doctor got a patient. He was dying. Please, " he said, like a small child beginning to cry, "I don't want to die. Don't let me die. "You " re not going to die, " the doctor promised, "We " ll take care of you.
The operation was successful, and next morning the young doctor found out from the policeman that his patient was a burglar and a killer, who he killed two convenience store clerks a year ago. He killed them in cold blood right through the head. The police had been looking for him for a long time. His appearance in the hospital was also connected with his criminal activity. In the next room there was a patient, who had become the next victim of the young criminal.
This man was much older than the burglar, but he managed to shoot him being wounded. The doctor came to talk to him. He looked as if he were going to cry. The victim told the doctor the whole story in details: how the killer came to the shop, how he cruelly shot him and ordered to give him money, how he fought the burglar and called the police.
His story was piercing and aroused fear. If only anybody could imagine himself at the young doctors place in order to understand his feelings. The dying man he should take care of is a cold-blooded murderer; he must despise him and be afraid of him, because in other conditions, he could just kill the doctor. It is impossible to take care of such kind of a person.
But the young physician remembered that he was a doctor. He took and oath to help all the people in need. He remembered the pleading look of the man and his ask to save his life. And the young doctor promised to do that, so he could not act in another way. Surely, here we automatically ask the question: did the killer think about his victims when he killed them? Did he ask them if they wanted to die or not?
No, he didnt. So people should treat him the same way. However this is not related to doctors. They are not usual people; they have a mission to help others, no matter who they are: criminals or decent people, strangers or long-term patients. The young physician understood that he was a doctor; he remembered his promise and was not going to break it. I found myself drawn there, doing things for him: adjusting his pillows, bringing him a glass of water.
There was an aura about him that fascinated me, a presence that the nurses also commented on. He seemed guiltless, unburdened by the act; his relief on learning that his victim was alive and would leave the hospital was real. It meant one less murder charge to face. The evidence of the others was not overwhelming, and he knew it. As did the police. The doctor did his best to cure the criminal with the light hope, that maybe after that he would realize his fault.
After analyzing the two stories, I can make a conclusion, that both of the authors differently, but perfectly showed the connection between the doctor and the patient. The Huyler's hero felt that connection inside of his soul and couldnt refuse to help the person even knowing about his criminal activity. The old doctor in the Selzer's story felt that not only he helped the people, but they also helped him greatly. I think that both Richard Selzer and Frank Huyler are worse-reading authors and their contribution into the literature is inestimable.
Bibliography 1. Anderson, Charles The art of Richard Selzer: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 2003. 2. Harris, Martha Frank Huyler as a writer: Southern Methodist Univ. Press, 2004. 3. Schuster, Chris "The Prose of Richard Selzer" Washington, 2004.
Free research essays on topics related to: criminal activity, tony, young boy, october 2001, physician
Research essay sample on Criminal Activity Young Boy
