Juan Dahlmann's Death

456 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Describe fear of death

Although a time of death is uncertain, there are individuals that are given a rough estimate of how long they have to live. As a result, fear begins to emerge and the individual begins to ponder about their life and any regrets that they may have. In “The South” Borges introduces Juan Dahlmann as a librarian who identifies with his military-hero grandfather, “his ancestor of romantic death”. However, Dahlmann’s life is changed after he injures his head on the edge of an open door, causing him to be sent to a sanitarium. It is here that he receives devastating news, “He stoically endured the curative measures, which were painful, but when the surgeon told him he had been on the point of death from septicemia, Dahlmann dissolved in tears of self-pity for his fate” (168). Dahlmann’s demise is expected due to his illness. However, it can be inferred that he …show more content…

This can be due his aspiration to die in a similar manner to his military-hero grandfather. Dahlmann’s grandfather’s death demonstrates that he was someone worthy of recognition and worthy of the life that he possessed. This can be related back to Octavio Paz’s quote, as he believes that “death defines life”. As a result, an individual’s death that occurs without a sense of accomplishment, pride, or resolve is seen as someone without a life. However, as the story continues there are instances in which the reader questions whether or not he is in a dream-like state. This is illustrated as the narrator states, “as he smoothed the cat’s black coat, that this contact was an illusion and that the two beings, man and cat, were as good as separated by a glass, for man lives in time, in succession, while the magical animal lives in the present, in the eternity of the instant” (169-170). This causes the reader to question Dahlmann’s sense of reality as he is described as being tortured despite being in the south, a place that he has

Show More
Related

  • Who Is Ralph Erdmann's Forensic Pathologist?

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ralph Erdmann was a pathologist. A forensic pathologist focuses on determining the cause of death by examining a corpse. Erdmann attended many schools, including: George Washington University, University of Texas, University of Michigan, and National University of Mexico. He received his doctorate in medicine at the National University of Mexico, in Mexico City. He specialized in forensic pathology at John Hopkins. On average, he performed about 400 autopsies a year in West Texas. In total, he had conducted more than 3,000 autopsies. The years of service he has completed it unknown, be he has been going at it for a while. He was admired for his eagerness to tailor his autopsy findings to the law enforcements needs, such as putting alcohol in the blood.

    Read More

  • Michael Lassell How To Watch Your Brother Die Analysis

    1768 Words  | 4 Pages

    We all deal with death in our lives, and that is why Michael Lassell’s “How to Watch Your Brother Die” identifies with so many readers. It confronts head on the struggles of dealing with death. Lassell writes the piece like a field guide, an instruction set for dealing with death, but the piece is much more complex than its surface appearance. It touches on ideas of acceptance, regret, and misunderstanding to name a few. While many of us can identify with this story, I feel like the story I brought into the text has had a much deeper and profound impact. I brought the story of my grandmother’s death to the text and it completely changed how I analyzed this text and ultimately came to relate with it. I drew connections I would have never have drawn from simply reading this story once.

    Read More

  • How Social Isolation Is Killing Us Rhetorical Analysis

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    The very beginning of the article, Dr. Khullar appeals to the emotions of a reader, reminiscing about an interaction between himself and a dying patient. He explains how the patient had no one to call and would die alone, causing himself to think that “the sadness of his death was surpassed only by the sadness of his solitude” (Khullar). The feeling of sadness and loneliness is continued using other scenarios that one likely is familiar with, such as “a young man abandoned by friends as he struggles with opioid addiction” or “an older woman getting by on tea and toast, living in filth, no longer able to clean her cluttered apartment” (Khullar). Dr. Khullar also uses this strategy through the use of various phrases such as “barren rooms devoid of family or friends,” or a quote from a senior: “Your world dies before you do” (Khullar). These scenarios and terminology evoke a feeling within a reader that results in acknowledgement of the material and what is being

    Read More

  • Light In Camus's The Stranger

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    For the first time, “I felt as if I understood,” not only the imminence of death, but the intentions of his mother (122). Mersault feels a human connection: a novel idea after all of his experiences with Raymond, Salamano, and Marie. Therefore, as Mersault faces death, he “opened [him]self to the gentle indifference of the world” (122). He recognizes that man has no control over his fate: he would still be facing the “dark wind” (122) whether or not “the sentence had been read at eight o’clock at night and not at five o’clock” (109). Thus, in the face of death, Mersault reaches his enlightened state.

    Read More

  • On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nuland, Sherwin. How we die: Reflections on life's final chapter. New Yord: Vintage Books, 1993. 140-63. Print.

    Read More

  • The Implementation of Fantasy and its Effects within “The South”

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... he desire to succeed in being an authentic gaucho, fulfilling his ancestral history. Eventually, with the ending of the short work, Dahlmann proceeds to battle and assumingly dies; essentially walking the distance to his true destination the train was unable to reach: the afterlife.

    Read More

  • Haunted by Humans

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death has feelings as much as any human, imagining, getting bored, distracted, and especially wondering (350, 243, 1, 375 respectively). Odd, one could say for an eternal metaphysical being. But then again, not that queer once having considered how Death spends his time. He is there at the dying of every light, that moment that the soul departs its physical shell, and sees the beauty or horror of that moment. Where to a human witnessing a death first hand (even on a much more detached level than our narrator) can easily be a life changing event, Death is forced to witness these passings for nearly every moment of his eternal life. Emotional overload or philosophical catalyst? Death gains his unique perspective on life through his many experiences with the slowly closing eyelids and muttered last words. Yet in this...

    Read More

  • Bernard Williams' Paper The Makropulos Case

    1996 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his paper “The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortality” Bernard Williams asserts his central claim that when immortality is feasible it is intolerable; further, it is reasonable to regard death as an evil. He argues his position by utilization of The Makropulos case, or the case of E.M. This character and circumstance is derived from a play by Karel Capek. E.M. is a woman of three hundred and forty two years. She has survived so long due to an immortality draught concocted by her father, a physician, long before the play’s action. E.M. explains her problem with immortality is that her unending life has become incredibly dull, her emotions have become cold and indifferent. She feels that in the end, everything has happened before and life has become unsatisfying. She stops taking the immortality draught and death overtakes her. This invokes the optimistic thought that immortality may be rewarding, if certain desires continue to be satisfied. Williams expands on the idea of these desires, called categorical desires and inherent motivation, but first we should confirm the views of death that make the conversation of immortality desirable.

    Read More

  • The Metamorphosis Literary Analysis

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    His altered state of consciousness was a necessity to regain control of is his life, where he got the necessary break from not only work, but also family expectations. Just like the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the emotional tendencies are evident throughout the whole story; however, at the end when he dies in this new state, he is finally content with his life and the conflicts are resolved between his priorities and his families.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Death of Ivan Ilych

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although we as a society have advanced and made people’s lives easier, our mental suffering is as present as ever, due to our incessant need to have everything perfect. We seem to forget that the fascination of living comes from the imperfect and the unexpected. In her essay “On the Fear of Death” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross suggests that the modern age, while increasing life span and ease of life, has at the same time given way to a “rising number of emotional problems,” amongst the living (Ross 407). She also suggests that because of modern society’s progress, there has been an increased anxiety towards death. While Ross is writing for twentieth century society her ideas apply to the nineteenth century as well, when Tolstoy wrote The Death of Ivan Ilych.

    Read More

  • Death and Emily Dickinson

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Death, the end of life: the time when someone or something dies” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). The definition of death is quite simple, the end of life is inescapable. I chose to write about death and impermanence because it is something we all must inevitably face. People often deal with death in a number of different ways. Although it is something that we must eventually face, it can be hard to come to terms with because the idea can be hard to grasp. Some of us fear it, others are able to accept it, either way we all must eventually face it. In this essay I will look at two different literary works about death and impermanence and compare and contrast the different elements of the point of view, theme, setting, and symbolism. The comparison of these particular works will offer a deeper look into words written by the authors and the feelings that they experiencing at that particular time.

    Read More

  • The Masque Of The Red Death Analysis

    1932 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the short story “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses vivid symbolism, structure, and reoccurring details to paint a powerful image regarding the finality and inescapable reaches of death itself. “The ‘Red Death’ has long devastated the country,” yet the Prince Prospero continues to hold extravagant parties for his fellow elite members of society. Rather than merely telling a series of events, Poe carries his readers throughout the many rooms and scenes that hold the Prince’s masquerade, up until the clock strikes midnight and the partygoers can no longer hide behind their façade, and death comes in to take those that thought themselves invincible (Poe 438-442).

    Read More

  • Right To Die Analysis

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    He conforms with political figure Ross Beaton’s worries as to the fall of right-to-die laws, and gives an alternate, arguably more realistic, standpoint to the presence of family members in a time of dying. He also connects to the reader on an emotional level by giving examples of certain circumstances. This process of emotional stimulant is intrinsic to the strength of his argument and the development of his writing. Watt’s analysis focusing on the moral aspects of the subject is visible in the other authors’ assertions making his the most powerful and agreeable.

    Read More

  • Perception of Death in the Play “Everyman"

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play “everyman” death is depicted as something that is terribly feared as no one seemed ready for it, death is perceived as something that takes one away from the pleasures of this world.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Death Is A Good Thing Essay

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    This philosophical study will define the good aspects of death that is revealed through the monotony of life over extended periods of time. In my view, death is a good thing because the concept of “self” presumes that I will remain unchanged if I was to live as an immortal. over time, the concept of I would become stagnant, and i would soon wish to kill myself out of boredom. Bernard Williams is an important premise for this belief, since the assumption of immortality usually rests on the assumption of maintaining the “self” over long periods of time. I do not believe that this motive is substantial in the desire to love forever, which would make death a good thing in terms

    Read More

More about Juan Dahlmann's Death

Open Document