A savagely violent person or animal. That is the definition that comes up for ‘brute’ on Google. By definition, a person can reasonably be called a brute based on his/her actions, but he/she must not use reason or rationale. When the black man and the surgeon square up to do battle with each other in the Emergency Room, there exists a situation where both the patient and the doctor are being coached in their respective corners of the ring on how to best handle the opposition. When they engage one another, it is out of necessity and self-preservation, not destruction as one may believe. Neither the patient nor the doctor act brute-like. The story “Brute” tells the tale of a doctor who is up late working in an emergency room when police escort …show more content…
Selzer recounts the events that unfolded between the black man and the police: The man is blinded by it; he is stunned. Still he reaches forth to make contact with the enemy, to do one more piece of damage. More blows to the back, the chest and again to the face. Bloody spume flies from his head as though lifted by a great wind. The polic are spattered with it. They stare at each other with an abstract horror and disgust. One last blow, and, blind as Samson, the black man undulates, rolling in a splayfooted circle. But he does not go down. The police are upon him then, pinning him, cuffing his wrists, kneeing him toward the van. Through the back window of the wagon—a netted panther. It is clear that the man most likely feels trapped against his will. There are several police surrounding one man; the odds are, without a doubt, against him. Yet he continues to fight through the barrage of attacks from the policemen. The only reason to fight back in a situation stacked against oneself so heavily is for self-preservation. The black man is fighting back to prevent his life from being …show more content…
“Now he does hold still,” Selzer thinks after, “surely it is not just fear of tearing his earlobes” (210). Selzer understands that he must think outside the box in order to protect himself and his patient, so he thinks rationally about possible solutions. Any brute would not come up with a solution that allows both fighters to walk away unscathed. Only a sane man with composure would think to sew a man’s earlobes down to prevent him from flailing his head. During the operation both men show that they are not simple brutes. They are neither savage nor violent—they are peaceful. Selzer reminisces about the time that transpires after tying down his patient, “for over three hours the man and I have been alone in our devotion to the wound” (211). Selzer speaks of the situation as if the two men were cooperating in the emergency room. This shows that the surgery was peaceful after the initial struggle. No brute is willing to
In Richard Selzer’s piece on the Exact Location of the Soul, he makes several important points that highlight the way that many surgeons may feel. He introduces the piece by posing the question about why would a surgeon write and giving the most common answers that most “outsiders”, people who aren’t surgeons may see. Eventually he settles on the fact that it is to “search for something meaningful” in surgery which he describes as “murderous, painful, healing, and full of love”. I found that this phrase was interesting because it seemed to imply that surgeons see writing as an escape, a way to justify the horrors or other feelings that they may experience when they perform surgeries. On the other hand the phrase itself of being murderous but also healing and full of love seems very obscure in the sense that generally events that are described as murderous aren’t healing at the same time. Selzer’s use of these phrases emphasizes the complex nature of surgeries.
Popular television paint a glorified image of doctors removing the seriousness of medical procedures. In the non-fiction short story, “The First Appendectomy,” William Nolen primarily aims to persuade the reader that real surgery is full of stress and high stakes decisions rather than this unrealistic view portrayed by movies.
The play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza begins with a simple set-up, four parents from different social classes coming together to discuss a dispute between their sons. As the play continues we see the characters slowly becoming less polite and civil as they start yelling at each other, getting piss drunk, and everyone’s favourite, vomiting. Throughout the play these characters are constantly being tested and judged. When Veronica and Michael attempt to show off their material possessions to the Raleighs they are given a metaphorical slap to the face as they physically ruin what the Novaks hold dear to them. In return the Novaks judge the Raleighs on their sense of righteousness and responsibility, the Raleighs social standing allowing them
Resection was a process that “involved cutting open the limb, sawing out the damaged bone, and then closing the incision” (Jones, 1). Resection allows the patient to keep his limbs but it requires a great ordeal of time and skill. This also contributed to the common practice of amputation during the war. But there were cases where surgeons did use this method. Terry J. Jones said in his NY Times article, “resections were used more frequently after surgeons learned that amputations had a much higher mortality rate” (Jones, 1). In another article by Corydon Ireland, it describes Mitchell Adam’s, a Harvard lecturer, grandfather who served as a volunteer surgeon during the Civil War. In the article, “Adams was not a champion of hasty amputations, but argued for excision and other limb-saving measures. And he describes the everyday pressures of a country practice in Framingham, Mass” (Ireland, 1). This meant that not all surgeons at the time only wanted to amputate but strived for alternate methods. This new knowledge shows that some surgeons were more dedicated to thinking about the well-being of their patients than others and this opens up to other possibilities that may have occurred during the war. This allows an image to come to mind of a surgeon diligently operating on a soldier with care and compassion. However, even though there may be many possibilities, we can’t truly know every event that occurs during a
Some could argue that his claims seem to be over the top of maybe even misinterpretations, thus he addresses this counter argument by explaining that he isn't the only black male who has been misjudged. “Such episodes are not uncommon. Black men trade tales like this all the time”(Staples 143). The fact that he adds the stories of other black men, such as the story of the young reporter being dragged violently out of his car at gunpoint; mistaken as a criminal(Staples 143), demonstrates that his arguments are not solely based on himself. The fear and uneasiness that an African American can experience who has not done anything around a police officer, a person who is suppose to help them in emergencies and who should provide a sense of tranquility, is alarming. There have been too many unarmed black men and women who have been misinterpreted, striped from thier rights and even their lives. The fact that people cannot trust law enforcement shows the negative effects that racial profiling has on society and it shows how nothing has changed since 1986, for a country like America, who is suppose to be the dream land this is disappointing. Staples is identifying the problem with societal views, he has not written a sob story with exaggerated experiences, he is shedding light onto a problem that is usually swept under the
Look around the room. In one lifetime, the average person has met at least two or three sociopaths. Look around the room again. It could be someone in the same room, watching for signs of threat. In the study of psychosocial personality disorders, the origin of the sociopath has historically been the most mysterious. It has been a constant debate, and researchers have looked into both nature and nurture. In the end, however, sociopaths are most definitely the product of nurture, especially the adverse conditions of early childhood trauma.
...actions, since it takes dexterity and skill of hands to make proper incisions. In addition, the highlight on Dr. Gross' forehead could emphasize it takes knowledge to perform the surgery. It gives shape to the importance of the unification of mind and body as he performs a risky surgery for the audience. Meanwhile, in the background a woman (perhaps the mother of the patient) recoils in horror and awe of the operation. The inclusion of the female emphasizes this as being the place of men, establishing a notion of commanding masculinity.
This is a true story. It happened to my African American cousin. He was innocent by all means, but someone felt threatened by the color of his skin and the way he appeared so much that their first instinct was to call the cops. Mass incarceration is based upon the institutional discrimination that black and brown men face each and everyday. My cousin’s first instinct was to stay calm, don’t seem guilty. He knows the threat that was placed on him by that officer, and whoever called the cops on him. He knows being a black man in the U.S Means having a target on your back on any given day. He could have resisted and question the police, as that’s his right to ask first, but like many stories of when black men are innocent and question authority,
Imagine being beaten every time someone makes a mistake. Imagine not being beaten and only later killed for committing one of these mistakes. Imagine loving this individual, too. Now imagine being the one to beat this person for their protection. This is the complex situation of many in the African American community.
In 2014, the death of Eric Garner in New York City raised controversial conversations and highlighted the issues of race, crime, and policing in neighborhoods that tend to be poor and racially isolated. Garner, an unarmed black man, was killed after being tackled and held in a “chokehold.” According to the AP Polls in December 2014, “Police killings of unarmed blacks were the most important news stories of 2014.” The problem is that young black men are targeted by police officers in which they have responded with the misuse of force and policy brutality. It is evident that this issue affects many people nationwide. The civilians do not trust the police department and the justice system because they hold the perceptions that police officers are immune from prosecution despite their actions. In particular, black individuals, specifically black males, do not feel safe in the presence of police officers because they are not held accountable for their mistakes.
About a year ago, while searching for a new book to read, I came across the book Complications at the library. Since I am considering becoming a physician, I picked it up and started reading. Needless to say, I couldn’t put it down. The way he explained his training as a surgeon and the moments he has experienced have intrigued me. In the little free time I had, I finished reading the three other books he has written. They
The narrator is not the only black male in the story to have experience the racism with the white men. The narrator tries to get away from the racism but struggles to, he come across multiple African Americans that attempt to do the same thing. All of these provide an idea to the correct way to be black in America and it also demonstrates how blacks should act. It is said that anyone who doesn’t follow these correct ways are betraying the race. In the beginning of the story, the narrator’s grandfather says that the only way to make racism become extinct that African Americans should be overly nice to whites. The Exhorter named Ras had different beliefs of the blacks rising up to the whites and take power from the whites. Even though these thoughts come from the black community to take the freedom from the whites, the stories reveals that the are just as dangerous as the whites being racist. The narrator has such a hard time throughout the whole story exploring his identity. While doing so, it demonstrates how so many blacks are betraying their race because the have such a hard time dealing with it. In the end of the story once the battle was over the boys are brought to get their payment. That is when the narrator is able to present his speech to everyone. He was completely beat up and bruised and blood coming from his mouth and nose when he begins his speech. All the other men are laughing and yelling at him,
As the story begins, the unnamed doctor is introduced as one who appears to be strictly professional. “Aas often, in such cases, they weren’t telling me more than they had to, it was up to me to tell them; that’s why they were spending three dollars on me.” (par. 3) The doctor leaves the first impression that he is one that keeps his attention about the job and nothing out of the ordinary besides stating his impressions on the mother, father and the patient, Mathilda. Though he does manage to note that Mathilda has a fever. The doctor takes what he considers a “trial shot” and “point of departure” by inquiring what he suspects is a sore throat (par. 6). This point in the story, nothing remains out of the ordinary or questionable about the doctor’s methods, until the story further develops.
Police brutality is one of the most serious human rights violations in the United States and it occurs everywhere. The reason why I chose this topic is because police brutality happens all the time in the United States and still remains unrecognized by many. Additionally, the public should be knowledgeable about this topic because of how serious this crime can be and the serious outcomes that police brutality can have on other police officers and the public. The job of police officers is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crimes. They are involved in very dangerous and stressful occupations that can involve violent situations that must be stopped and controlled by any means. In many confrontations with people, police may find it necessary to use excessive force to take control of a certain situation. Sometimes this makes an officer fight with a suspect who resists being arrested. Not all cops in communities are great cops. At least once a year, the news covers a story about a person being beat by an officer. The article “Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities” by Malcolm D. Holmes from the University of Wyoming, uses the conflict theory to explain why officers go after minorities sometimes causing police brutality. It explains the police’s tension with African American and Latino males. Those minorities are the ones that retaliate more against police officers which causes the officer to use violent force to defend themselves.
Another interpretation could be, the slaves are not fighting back because they are okay with being a slave. They don’t know how to take care of themselves. The white men know slaves will die on their own. Often slaves were born into slavery. During that time, you didn’t have a choice to be an individual. For example, if your father was a slave owner, you would be one, so if your mother is a slave, you would become one too. So, if that is what they were born into that