“Cancer,” is a word that punctures the heart, chills the bones, and boggles the mind. People Like That Are the Only People Here,” by Lorrie Moore is a heart-wrenching short story depicting the emotional struggles and hardships of a mother who must grapple the fact that her baby has cancer. Moore’s use of fanciful, dark paradoxes and metaphors, a whimsical and haunting tone, and a unique symbolism immerses readers into the ghastly environment of observing the impending death that waits before a loved one, conveying the notion that when one is in danger of losing their loved one, they must enter the fantasy realm to maintain their sanity. Moore communicates the mother’s agony of not being able to cure her baby of the cancer through the use of fanciful yet dark paradoxes and metaphors. When one is told that their loved one is on the verge of life and death, they are appointed to the duty of caring and supporting their loved one in any way they can. Nonetheless, caring and supporting a person who is terminally ill requires the uttermost mental strength from the caregiver as the caregiver must endure the ache of not being able to rid of such deadly disease. “A beginning, an end: there seems to be neither.” A paradox is used to not only introduce readers to the story, but, to introduce readers to the mother’s stance of her family’s situation. This unusual paradox conveys the horrifying notion – time is momentary. Cancer consumes the precious days, hours, and minutes as a patient and his or her family is subjected to countless hours in stale hospitals and clinics. The mother sees no beginning or end to her grief. Hence, she has two options – to spend her days with oceans flowing from her eyes or to spend her days with a strong, sheer s... ... middle of paper ... ...om a shop in SoHo” and who was “close friends with four actual homosexuals” – the cancer wouldn’t be “personal.” She would be “acting” her role as a mother who was caring for a baby with cancer. Cancer would not be able to rule over her – it would be as if cancer never affected her family. People Like That are the Only People Here is a prevailing story as it exposes the intricate moments of the emotional effects of disease – acceptance, change, and mystical resilience. Moore’s literary elements successfully enwrap readers into the phenomenon of being the outsider who perceives their family member’s physical disease with every emotion and feeling. The murky swamp of the unknowing, of gamble and mishap and the creation of something ornamental out of something horrible, conveys to readers the significance of both detachment and acceptance when in times of despair.