In this excerpt from On Being a Cripple, Nancy Mairs’s courageous tone combined with her self-acceptance depicts the troubles of language utilized in present times in order to describe a person with a serious imperfection. Mairs discusses her straightforward title, a cripple, in order to explore the real meaning of being an individual and the voyage of accepting who you truly are. With the use of strong word choice, rhetorical structures, repetition, and great syntax, Mairs thrusts us into the world of uncertainty concerning one’s true identity. As the reader reaches the conclusion of the passage, the revelation that they are the ones who determine their own identity is uncovered, and the reader is able to “swagger” once again.
Using the compare and contrast mode, Mairs explains how each “synonym” for cripple manipulates reality. Mairs states, “‘Cripple’ seems to me a clean word, straightforward and precise. It has an honorable history, having made its first appearance in the Lindisfarne Gospel in the tenth century.” Cripple is the word that she ultimately uses to present herself, and really its purpose is to feed her confidence, since she says that it is a clean and precise word. Mairs refuses to hide from the truth. She knows that she has an imperfection, but doesn’t want a deceitful name to present herself. This is when she begins to compare the words, and starts with disabled and handicapped. Mairs says, “‘Disabled’ by contrast, suggests any incapacity, physical or mental. And I certainly don’t like ‘handicapped,’ which implies that I have deliberately been put at a disadvantage, by whom I can’t imagine (my God is not a Handicapper General), in order to equalize chances in the great race of life.” The last word she rants about is “differently abled,” and she backs up why it is an awful word to use by comparing it to the sugar-coated description of starving countries, “developing nations.” Mairs wanted the bravado, and having a word such as “differently abled” describe her wouldn’t be very constructive, leading her to choose “cripple” from the pool of nouns.
The Term Paper on Compare And Contrast Locke And Bayle
Compare and contrast Locke and Bayle XVII century was a century of rise and updating of human spirit, radical breakage of becoming obsolete social and economic and political orders, out-of-date spiritual, scientific, moral, aesthetic, philosophical traditions not only in England, but also in continental Europe. Bright representatives of that time were Pierre Bayle and John Locke. The purpose of ...
Cripple. Cripple. Cripple. Not only is it the main part of the opening statement, but also it is the bulk of the conclusion. This deceivingly simple word is repeated an abundance of times in order to emphasize Mairs’s affirmation of who she really is. Mairs explains how she accepts that word since it properly describes her, and states how it is the only precise one out of the many others. In paragraph three, Mairs says, “Whatever you call me, I remain crippled.” She also says, “I refuse to pretend that the only differences between you and me are the various ordinary ones that distinguish any one person from another.” Clearly, Mairs was showing that she adamantly knew who she was, and that society’s views weren’t going to affect her status. Society didn’t choose to call her a cripple, she chose to call herself a cripple.
The variety of sentence structure and word choice indubitably enhances this selection. Mairs uses powerful telegraphic sentences such as, “I am a cripple” and “Mine is one of them” in order to severely impact the reader. These phrases, especially “I am a cripple,” engage the audience immediately. As for word choice, Mairs uses the word “wince” to show how she doesn’t want to be thought of as a courage-less disabled woman. By definition, wince means to draw back. Mairs wants people, and their opinions, to just back off and be blown away by the braveness that she emanates. “As a cripple, I swagger.” Swagger is metaphorical, because due to her disease, Mairs can’t literally swagger. She “swaggers” because she lives with a confident mindset, and knows who she truly is. Another example of excellent word choice is when Mairs talks about the “calamitous disease.” She may be referring to being a cripple, but I feel that the disease that she is referring to is the society’s corrupted and slovenly views of cripples. Mairs’s level of maturity and self-awareness is what much of the society craves to have, but will realistically never obtain.
The Essay on Cain And Abel A Society Of Choices
Society of Choices What makes a person walk a path in life they have chosen compared to a friend or a family member? Is it the society that they are a part of? Is it a person's own individuality? In the Bible [Genesis 4: 1-8] we learn the story of two brothers, one called Cain, and the other Abel. Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve who were the first humans created by Jehovah. Abel was a ...
Through the manipulation of rhetorical modes, word choice, repetition, and syntax, Mairs claims her veracious identity. “But call me ‘disabled’ or ‘handicapped’ if you like, I have long since grown accustomed to them; and if they are vague, at least they hint at the truth” In other words, she ignores the language that society has laid out in order to describe cripples, and is able to boldly define herself how she wants to be defined.
