Answer TWO of the
following:
Q1: In his author’s note,
Huang writes that “this story was also very much a reaction against every other
story about cancer I saw growing up” (282). What kind of stories do you think
he’s referring to, and why is this a different cancer story? What does
it suggest is the reality of surviving cancer and coming to terms with a
transformed body?
Q2: During his recovery,
the narrator “began paying attention to the transhumanist movement...People
wanting to modify themselves. People wanting to modify their children. Other
people claiming the right to hate and condemn them for it” (82). Though we don’t
have ‘transhumanists’ in our society, what might this be a metaphor for in our
own society? Why might Huang make this reference in his story, about someone
who becomes transhumanist involuntarily?
Q3: For all the science
fiction elements, this is also a story of a patient’s relationship with his
doctors. From the patient’s point of view, what makes it difficult to be in the
hands of various medical specialists? What don’t doctors see/understand about
the vulnerable position of their patients?
Q4: The narrator observes
that “the human mind is infinitely adaptable” (84). And yet, we can argue that
he never adapts to his eyes or his repaired knees, but simply learns to
ignore them. What might this say about the psychological effects of being
augmented or becoming a ‘cyborg’? Can removing a single part of a person remove
his or her humanity? Is humanity actually skin deep?
Q1. I think the kind of stories the author is talking about are the tragic cancer stories we always hear/read about. It either goes one of two ways: the patient survives cancer by some miracle and proves the diagnosis wrong, or the patient dies an almost heroic meaningful death.
ReplyDeleteQ2. I think this is a metaphor for all the people that are getting surgery to transform their bodies. People are always getting botox and all other types of injections to "improve" what they look like. But sadly in this story he has to become a part of this community despite his true feelings for it.
Q1. The author tells us that this cancer story gives you a reaction like all cancer stories do. Most people get diagnosis and either fight a long time and survives by a miracle, or unfortunately dies a painful death.
ReplyDeleteQ3. I think from the patient's point of view being in the hands of the medical specialists has to be hard on you. You are trusting someone that you don't know to basically try and keep you alive. For example, they have to give you the right amount of medicine, make sure the chemo is scheduled right, etc. That has to be going through the patient's head, along with having cancer. The doctors, on the other hand, don't see it like the patient's do. They are confident and want the patient to trust them. They don't understand why the patient is afraid, which is a good thing.
Q1: In his author’s note, Huang writes that “this story was also very much a reaction against every other story about cancer I saw growing up” (282). What kind of stories do you think he’s referring to, and why is this a different cancer story? What does it suggest is the reality of surviving cancer and coming to terms with a transformed body?
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of cancer stories are just all about the wrong things sometimes. They make it about people who get diagnosed and then go live their lives to the fullest, or they get cured and appreciate life more. This story shows us that a person who survives cancer has a much harder time coming to terms or adapting to their new life than media outlets depict. Marcus never really comes to terms with his new body, but he does learn to ignore it.
Q3: For all the science fiction elements, this is also a story of a patient’s relationship with his doctors. From the patient’s point of view, what makes it difficult to be in the hands of various medical specialists? What don’t doctors see/understand about the vulnerable position of their patients?
Doctors don’t quite understand the position of a patient because they’re looking at it from a completely different perspective. In the view of a patient, it’s difficult to be in the hands of medical specialists merely for the fact that most people are uncomfortable with the feeling of not being in control. The doctor isn’t going to understand that because they are in control.
1.Q3: For all the science fiction elements, this is also a story of a patient’s relationship with his doctors. From the patient’s point of view, what makes it difficult to be in the hands of various medical specialists? What don’t doctors see/understand about the vulnerable position of their patients?
ReplyDeletea. The patient (at least in this story) had no desire whatsoever to undergo this procedure, except for the fact that it was the only thing that could save him. What made him so uncomfortable in the doctor’s hands is that they all seemed marveled and amazed by the transplant. He was in every sense vulnerable, since having to give someone else complete control over you in any way is stressful to say the least. This is something that any person who has ever been in a medical situation can relate to. Humans are controlling, and having that power given to someone else in unnerving.
2.Q1: In his author’s note, Huang writes that “this story was also very much a reaction against every other story about cancer I saw growing up” (282). What kind of stories do you think he’s referring to, and why is this a different cancer story? What does it suggest is the reality of surviving cancer and coming to terms with a transformed body?
a. When people first think of “cancer stories”, some of the initial thoughts would be books or movies such as The Fault in our Stars and A Walk to Remember. In both of these stories, most of their viewers and/or readers are left in tears and see cancer has a thief and killer of love. In By Degrees and Dilatory Time cancer is seem in an entirely new perspective. What makes it unique is that it shows the survival of cancer as something that is difficult to adapt to during the aftermath, both emotionally and physically. In my opinion, the transplant that results in the main character losing his original eyes relates to the loss that a person feels after going through this strenuous battle.
Q2: We try to transform ourselves with plastic surgery, clothes, glasses or contacts, piercings, and tattoos today. People in society use plastic surgery to make changes with how they look at themselves and how everyone sees them. With glasses or contacts some use them to look “smart” or because they went with their outfit for that day. Then there’s the ones who actually have to wear them to see and will have to wear them for the rest of their lives just to be able to see like everyone else. We assume that if you have tattoos and piercing in society that you’re not going to accomplish anything in life or you won’t get a job. When some of the best doctors have them. Society judges anyone who is different then what is normal. Some express themselves through clothes, piercings, tattoos, art, or anything which isn’t what society wants. No matter what you do in your life rather it be a teacher, artist, basketball player, or anything you set your mind to, its human nature to want to be accepted.
ReplyDeleteQ3: Doctors are trained a specific way to handle certain situations. They are taught to change the tone of their voice when delivering bad news and raise it ever so slightly with good news. When patients have any type of surgery their lives are in the doctor’s hands, one wrong move or cut somewhere and it could possibly end someone’s life. Not having any say in what the doctor is doing to your body while you’re in surgery could make anyone uncomfortable. Being the doctor they wouldn’t understand this concept until they themselves under went some sort of surgery.
Bailey Copeland
Cameron Corbin
ReplyDeleteQ2: I think this story could be a metaphor for the entire general public in America. I think this because for the most part, the bulk majority of us have some kind of modification that was not present with us at birth. This could be a pair of glasses we have on our eyes, a pair of earrings we have on our ears, or a kind of drug that we put in our body. As humans, we are obsessed with the idea that we can change ourselves and the way people perceive us through material means, and I think above anything else, this story is trying to express that.
Q4. In the story, the effect of becoming an essential cyborg unvoluntarily takes a huge toll on the narrator. The narrator feels as if he has been stripped of a huge part of his individuality. This is very interesting because, unlike the general public who is receiving these modifications to augment and improve their humanity, the character is forced to get these changes as a life saving manner and feel as if part of their humanity has been taken away. I think that it is important to note that your humanity can neither be given or taken away by a material change that you make. Humanity, is quite simply our life itself.
Q2: People these days are always changing themselves to make themselves better in a way, and sometimes we don't even have the choice to. People will get implants, or plastic surgery to make themselves look more aesthetically pleasing. Some people, typically the rich, will have these procedures done and are looked at in a different way than the rest of society, but then there are some people, who were possible in a terrible accident, like a fire who just want a normal life, and they go under plastic surgery. People still look at them as if they're not normal, and why couldn't they just be happy with who they were before. Although some people have a choice to change the way they are, not all of us do.
ReplyDeleteQ3: Most doctors will not know about what it is like to be in the shoes of the people who need these operations, they can only hear about what it is like. It is like hearing a story about someones vacation, and all the wonderful experiences they had, and maybe even the bad ones, but you weren't there to experience it yourself, so you don't know. Doctors also deal with patients every day, and most become desensitized over the years, becoming less empathetic towards their patients.
Q1.) I think the author is referring to the cancer stories we read on Facebook or any other social media or movies like the very sad "My Sister's Keeper". The patient gets cancer and fights for their life and they either live to talk about it and share their journey/story or they lose the battle and are talked about being heroes for fighting until the end. This story suggests that if you do survive cancer, you're never really the same person as you were before. Your body is scarred from fighting for your life, so once you've won, you're tired and worn out. You probably won't be able to do the things you once loved, so some say you have survived, but have you really?
ReplyDeleteQ.2) Transhumanists in our society are the people who wear glasses for fashion when theres really people, like me, who have to wear glasses/contacts to be able to see their hand in front of their face. The more extreme "transhumanists" get procedures done to their bodies because they feel it enhances their look/life. Some women get breast implants because they believe theirs are too small or because the Kardashians have big boobs, they should too. People in our society are constantly trying so hard to fit in that they change their bodies or wear ridiculous things just to look like everyone else in the world. We were made different so why are we all trying so hard to look the same?
Q4 I don’t feel that way at all. Simply learning to ignore it is adapting, at least that’s how I see it. I don’t think that removing a part of your body and replacing it with another part removes your humanity. For example, people who have a prosthetic arm are still human. They still experience the same emotions and experiences we do.
ReplyDeleteQ3. It’s hard on the patient because they feel like they can’t trust their doctors because they don’t see them enough to form a bond with any of them. They just feel like a plate of dinner rolls being passed around a table at dinner. Also, I feel like the doctors don’t see it that way because their job is to help that patient feel better and if they can’t supply that they try to transfer them to someone who could better their chances at survival.