Analysis Of Abigail Frazier's 'Dearly Disconnected'

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As the passage of time continues inventions and traditions come and go, and with them the feelings and memories of those around them. Some of these people will let go willingly, because they had nothing special about them, and they are quickly forgotten. Others, however, hold significance to the societies of their time. In Dearly Disconnected, author Ian Frazier shows the more physical side of this, how old pay phones hold sentimental value to him, and probably to many others in the city. On the other hand,Defining a Doctor, with a Tear, a Shrug, and a Schedule by Abigail Zuger shows the difference between two doctors, one with modern values and one with traditional values, and how ideas and cultures are hard to let go. In both of the essays, …show more content…

Zuger’s point-by-point organization emphasizes the difference between one medical student with older traditional values, and another medical student who embodies the modern hospital standards. The traditional student is unorganized, stays late, does everything for herself, but truly cares for the patients and their families. On the other side, the modern student is clean and organized, does only what his job describes, works only his hours and nothing more. He works as a team with the rest of the staff, but he doesn’t truly care for the patients. Modern medicine has made leaps and bounds in the field of keeping people alive, but true care of a doctor also helps the patient and their family.
Frazier’s payphone and Zuger’s traditional medical student embody the past, with all it’s flaws and charms. They were not perfect systems, but that is what gave them the character that people love them for. The payphone down on the corner was the place a young boy found out that he got his first job. The old town doctor truly cared and cried with the family when a beloved grandmother passed away. These places and people hold the memories of those who interact with them. Both are a dying breed in the modern world, clung onto by fewer and fewer …show more content…

Clean, sleek, efficient, they both work well on a larger scale, but with the growth of the world they have become impartial to others, having to move from person to person without forming attachments to hold them back. Cell phone use has become so widespread that they are not overly special to anyone. They work well for everyone, and present well, but deep down they are a simple machine that each user will trade out once the newer model comes along. Similarly, the modern doctor works better in teams and more efficiently, but they see so many people they have to be less caring to the patients. They move from one to the next as soon as a possible, trained to not leave a second thought. This is not to say they do not care for patients, but they need to not form attachments that will hold them back in the

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