James Herriot’s If Only They Could Talk
In James Herriot’s autobiographical book, If Only They Could Talk, we see that Herriot has many strong characteristics which help him through his tough, and oftentimes demanding, career. He has a vast knowledge of his practice, as well as his employer and friend, Seigfried Farnon. Herriot has a great sense of humour, and is able to take embarrassment excellently. He also works well in strange, or uncomfortable situations. One of his strong character traits is his adaptability, he is very flexible with his customers, and adapts to their lifestyles. James Herriot’s most endearing quality is his deep passion and concern for his patients.
James Herriot has a tremendous memory of all the signs, symptoms, medications, diseases, and sicknesses concerning animals. This helps him very much throughout his career. He remembers thinking to himself about a horse reference book, “I had gone through it so often in my mind final year that I could recite stretches of it like poetry.”(1) He is able to deduct a patient’s problem without even needing an x-ray, or anything of that sort. In one situation, a bull was in danger of dying, and no one knew what was wrong. Herriot felt the rays of sun on his face and knew then that the bull had sun-stroke, and when asked, the owner told him he had put the bull out to pasture for a long length of time. James Herriot also understood his employer, Farnon, well. He knew when to steer clear, and when to ask him for advice and guidance. Herriot said: “I could read his mind without much trouble.”(2)
Herriot had a wonderful sense of humour, and was always happy to get a laugh, even if it was at his own expense. Once, he was out with another aged veterinarian, Angus Grier, and found himself in quite a predicament. Grier insisted on Herriot coming with him to a cleanse a cow. This was a fairly simple procedure, where you remove the afterbirth still inside the cow. Herriot did not feel he needed to go, thus he said he did not have the proper clothes for the job. Grier was annoyed, but forcefully suggested Herriot put on Grier’s new calving outfit. It was an immense plastic suit of armor, and Grier made Herriot put every part of it on, including the helmet. This was, of course, quite ridiculous just for cleansing out a cow. But Herriot did it, and was the center of attention at the families’ fa...
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... best feeling in the world to him, and that is why he would not have chosen any other profession: “I can’t think of anything in my working life that has given me more pleasure than standing in that pen directing the life-saving jet and watching the bull savoring it.”(10) Another thing that Herriot loved was new-born animals. Especially when he helped deliver them! He was really interested in the cycle of life. I think this also helped keep things going. The fact that every year, it was a new beginning: “I felt utterly content, warm with the memory of the foal trying to struggle on to it’s knees…”(11)
James Herriot has a very strong character, and a very good sense of values. His humour keeps the days light, and jovial, and gets all the not-so-great situations a little bit easier to handle. His expansive knowledge of his job keeps the work somewhat easy, and helps with the hard to solve problems. His adaptability is very useful, as he works with many people, and in many different places. His deep concern, appreciation, and love for his patients, and all animals keeps him doing his job. No matter how hard it gets, he does it for the animals, and this is why he has kept on going.
In her personal essay, Dr. Grant writes that she learned that most cases involving her patients should not be only handled from a doctor’s point of view but also from personal experience that can help her relate to each patient regardless of their background; Dr. Grant was taught this lesson when she came face to face with a unique patient. Throughout her essay, Dr. Grant writes about how she came to contact with a patient she had nicknamed Mr. G. According to Dr. Grant, “Mr. G is the personification of the irate, belligerent patient that you always dread dealing with because he is usually implacable” (181). It is evident that Dr. Grant lets her position as a doctor greatly impact her judgement placed on her patients, this is supported as she nicknamed the current patient Mr.G . To deal with Mr. G, Dr. Grant resorts to using all the skills she
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is a beautiful African-American woman who wants to explore and find love with a real man. She goes through a few men trying to do this, but at the same time she is unwillingly forced with these men who don’t affiliate with the love she desires. However, when Tea Cake marries Janie she gains self-determination when he expresses his love and affection to her that is qualifying factors of her love expectations. Therefore, Janie learns the value of true love and proves herself as a brave woman.
1. Define 'satire' and provide one example of personal or social satire that yoou have encountered. You may use any source for your example:TV, media, news editorials, movies, comedy, etc.
“Love is like the sea. It's a moving thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from the shore it meets, and it's different with every shore.” The main character in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford, possesses a seemingly unquenchable thirst for affection, and does not rest until she finds the man who is able to offer her the love she desires and believes to deserve. Janie defines love as a fluid force that is different with every man, and transforms with changing circumstances. Janie does not care to be wealthy, or to have high social standing; she wishes to be submerged in a sea of tenderness and to swim through waters of passion, and to be caressed by captivating waves of lust. Her idealistic conception of love and the corresponding desire for it developed from her sixteen-year-old obsession with a bee pollinating a pear blossom in the back yard of her grandmother’s house.
The book Ordinary Men discuss the story behind the men who were involved in the killing force of the final solution. Throughout the book one finds out that the men who were involved with these groups were no different than any other person at the time but they just got stuck in a bad situation. The Reserve Police Battalion 101 was responsible for a large amount of the mass murders that were taking place during the holocaust. The basis behind these mass murders was to fulfill the plan of the final solution. The final solution was the plan to completely wipe out anyone who was not a member of the Aryan race. The goal was to have country of all German Aryans. Although Hitler and associates were never able to completely carryout the final solution they did succeed in the murdering of millions of innocent people.
Ordinary Men is the disconcerting examination of how a typical unit of middle-aged reserve policemen became active participants in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Polish Jews.
Weigl uses the sense of sight to show the reader how sick May is, “she did not raise her eyes to meet me when I came in” (6); “about the size of her tumor and her age” (10); “and then the nurse shaved May’s skinny leg” (14). Typically, when a dog’s owner comes into the room, the dog would be excited and run to greet their owner. May is so sick and in so much pain, that she does not even lift her head to look at her owner when he/she came into the room. Weigl mentions the size of May’s tumor and how skinny her leg is and that gives the reader a visual picture of May’s suffering.
seems as if Reuben will not get his smicha and Michael will never be cured.
The Ladies Paradise by Émile Zola Zola's portrayal of men and their attitudes towards women may be the relation between that of, the controller and the controlled. One is made to believe that it is the men who control the women, and although this is the case in most instances of the Ladies Paradise, there are two people who ensue in resisting against all odds, at being run over by the machine that captivated and engulfed the late nineteenth century bourgeois household unit. They are the elegant Mademoiselle Boudu and the brushy eye-bowed Monsieur Bourras. One of the main characters, Monsieur Mouret ("governor" of the Ladies Paradise), spectacularly uses the lower classes as a tool to increase the perception of happenings in his store. So as to invoke middle class ladies of France not only to enter his palatial trap set for the nineteenth century consumer, but as well to create their desire of acquiring greater material possessions than they may actually need.
The short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver, is about two married couples drinking gin and having a talk about the nature of love. The conversation is a little sloppy, and the characters make some comments which could either be meaningless because of excessive alcohol in the bloodstream, or could be the characters' true feelings because of excessive alcohol in the bloodstream. Overall, the author uses this conversation to show that when a relationship first begins, the people involved may have misconceptions about their love, but this love will eventually die off or develop into something much more meaningful.
The book that I read was called The Stranger written by Albert Camus. The book is globally famous and was translated to many different languages and texts. The original was called L’Étranger which was written in French in 1942. The plot of this story involved a man in his late twenties or early thirties. The man's name is Meursault. In the beginning of the novel, Meursault is notified that his mother had passed away in the nursing home that he occupied her to. Meursault’s income could not afford to take care of his mother any longer; therefore, he put her in a nursing home. Meursault took off of work and went to the nursing home where she passed away to pay his respects and attend the funeral ceremonies. When he arrived at the nursing home, the funeral director brought Meursault to his mother’s coffin. The director asked if he wanted to see her and he quickly replied to keep the coffin shut. Meursault sat in the room and nearly went through an entire pack of cigarettes while blankly watching his mother’s coffin. At the actual funeral, Meursault shows no signs of normal emotion which would normally be induced at such an event.
James Harriot focuses on emotional feelings that come with doctoring animals, not the medical, technical aspect. Throughout the first chapter, he has to deal with many problems that arise with the delivery of the calf. But at the end, he forgets all about his troubles and feels joy towards the newly born calf. “I grinned. This was the bit I liked. The little miracle. I felt it was something that would never grow stale no matter how often I saw it.” All of his medical training gets basically thrown out the window when the deed is done. He tells, through this little chapter, why he became a veterinarian. Not for the medical science, but because of his love of the creatures of the Earth.
“The Doctor” presented interesting and emotional concepts accurately representing the philosophies and behaviors of many medical professionals. Perhaps its viewing would be beneficial by members of our medical community, and provide a framework to the personalization of patient care.
There are many aspects for my mind to conceive while reading the articles why I write by George Orwell and Joan Didion. There are many different factors in triggering an author’s imagination to come up with what they want to write, and why they want to write it. In most writings a purpose is not found before the writer writes, but often found after they decide to start writing.
13th March, 2014 In the poem “Mirrors”, by Sylvia Plath, the speaker accentuates the importance of looks as an aging woman brawls with her inner and outward appearance. Employing an instance of self-refection, the speaker shifts to a lake and describes the discrepancies between inevitable old age and zealous youth. By means of sight and personification, shifts and metaphors, the orator initiates the change in appearance which relies on an individual’s decision to embrace and reject it. The author applies sight and personification to accentuate the mirror’s role.