Lucy's Autobiography Of A Face

1173 Words3 Pages

Many people have different perceptions of suffering. Some of them see sickness and trauma as the main causes of sorrow and anguish in a person’s life. Rarely does a person think that one’s physical appearance can be a cause of sorrow and misery. This is Lucy’s story. She recounts the events of her life in her book Autobiography of a Face. She developed cancer as a young child, and this forced her to undergo surgery and numerous sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She had to endure numerous stares and insults from other people. This was a trying time for the young girl considering what she had to undergo. However, it did not compare to her later years. She spent countless hours in hospitals trying to get the perfect face. She did not want to be different from everyone else. In the end, she realized that the beauty and satisfaction that she was looking for were deeper within her. She could not get what she was looking for in the mirror or in the approval of others. To Lucy, being different from others was worse than the cancer she had. Despite the numerous challenges she faced, Lucy remained resilient. As I read the book, I could not help but sympathize with Lucy. I felt the pain and anguish that she went through as I imagined how hard it was for her to live her life in hospitals. However, I felt that she could have been more patient with herself. I believe that, had she taken the time to understand her situation better, then she would have avoided most of the pain that she experienced in later years. She did not have a clear understanding of who she was from the beginning. This meant that she was willing to become anyone, and it explains her numerous efforts to reconstruct her face. I believe that this book has valuable less... ... middle of paper ... ...he needs of the disabled because it fails to adjust by removing those impediments. If society provides what the disabled people need, then they will be able to participate in normal activities, and people will not focus on their disability. Grealy mentions “Society is no help. It tells us again and again that we can most be ourselves by acting and looking like someone else, only to leave our original faces behinds to turn in ghosts that will inevitably resent and haunt us”, which Lucy views herself from the socio-political model perspective. She believes that she can be better if the society provides her with what she needs. In her opinion, she requires medical attention for her reconstructions, and she expects to get this in her country. She is forced to move to the London to take advantage of the medical coverage there when she can no longer do so in her country.

Open Document