The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry

There is a general consensus of what physical pain is amongst society. Pain is never good. It is something that hurts and no one ever wants to actually be in pain. In infants and toddlers, pain is associated with cries, tears, and the word “ouch!” As they grow into adults, pain and all of its expressions follow and branch out with them. Its dimensions multiply and what used to hurt as toddlers, no longer does. At the same time, they begin to experience new physical pains – pains, which create such an unimaginable physical suffering. Today, pain remains as an unpleasant feeling that causes physical suffering; however, it can be seen and interpreted from many different vantage points. One perspective is the personal standpoint, where many people have trouble describing the feeling of enduring pain or the physicality of it. Another viewpoint is the neurobiological viewpoint, where neurologists have readily created three separate types of pain and explications for each.

In her book “The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World,” Elaine Scarry begins by making the immediate point that pain is difficult to express. She states all languages, including English, fail to provide a means for communication when it comes to physical distress. Scarry takes into account that different cultures may express pain differently. Some have the tendency to verbalize their pain more than other cultures, which are taught that the expression of feeling pain is a sign of weakness. However, despite the cultural differences amongst groups of people, she states no culture, nation, or country, has successfully created a language for the vocalization of pain in today’s society. She does mention that in ancient Greece, there are accounts of drawn-out w...

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...w out the differences between the two. To illustrate, patients may describe the pain felt when burning their finger on a hot stove as a short, but intense, blazing hot, throbbing sensation. Doctors, however, would immediately interpret that as a nociceptive pain, where the sensations felt were simply engaged by the body in order to protect itself of any further damage. It is common for patients and doctors to not see eye to eye, but they do share some common ground, unbeknownst to the two. Both doctors and patients acknowledge that pain can be difficult to decipher and express to others. The contexts in which they do so are very different indeed, but this simple fact alone, may make the difference of whether or not society can create a language suitable for everyone and made by patients, those who suffer, and by doctors, those who speak on behalf of their suffering.