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If you respond to this post, please pick the one sentence or statement from the reading that stood out to you and write a short paragraph summarizing your reaction to that statement or sentence. Please make sure that you include your name as part of your response so that I can give you credit.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Strangled Heart
If you respond to this post, please pick the one sentence or statement from the reading that stood out to you and write a short paragraph summarizing your reaction to that statement or sentence. Please make sure that you include your name as part of your response so that I can give you credit.
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-MisterMagette-
ReplyDeleteThis was a ridiculously enjoyable read. I know I often write on my Say Somethings that I enjoy the given article, but really. I seriously enjoyed this one (not that I didnt enjoy the others). As a fellow blogger I tend to write too much so I digress.
I have a thing with creepy kind of gruesome themes. I enjoy it. The way this author wrote was wonderful. He really does have a way with words. I especially love this sentence "McCarty delivered his pronouncements most of the day from a comfortable swivel chair that provided him with an unobstructed view of the New Haven Green and Quinnipiack Club, his favorite grillroom for midday executive gluttony." The way he worded that was just so cynical. I loved it.
I could just see this man by just reading the words. Another part of this reading I liked was the detail of the account of the Doctor when he tried saving the man's life.
"I reached over to grab the double-armed steel instrument called a self-retaining retractor, slipped it in between the ribs, and tuned its ratchet just far enough to allow my hand to squeeze inside and grasp what I expected to be McCarty's silent heart." That writing is wonderful. It shows exactly what is going on. I could see the exact movements of this young doctor trying to save a dead man's life.
This was a wonderful reading. I will pick up this book again. It was not only informational but it was exciting and full of literary merit. Good Job Mistermagette. You pick out wonderful readings! :)
-Rebecca Dreifuss-
Overall, i felt this reading was quite enjoyable. Some others that we have done this year just do not compare. You were certainly right in saying that the author has a way with words. They way he was demonically poetic with his writing was a nice change of pace. This is one science book that i would actually consider reading.
ReplyDelete"The possibility of getting into trouble for what I was about to attempt seemed a great deal less risky than letting a man die without at least trying to save him. There was no choice."
These statements, for some reason stood out to me. I think the idea that this man was willing to put his whole career on the line, just to save a man that he didn't even know is comforting...and the fact that he was able to make such a decision without even being completely sober is also astounding. I would like to think that all doctors have the mentality to save lives before saving careers.
All in all, I really enjoyed this reading. Way to go MisterMagette!
Abigail Mott
First I would like to say that this is one of the few readings I have made it through this year. I mostly just skim the articles and then write something because it is very hard for me to get into a piece of writing, but this book is so well written and grasped my attention almost imediatley.
ReplyDeleteNow for my response..
"As I touched the fibrous sack called the pericardium, I realized that the heart contained within was wriggling. Under my fingertips could be felt an ucoordinated, irregular squirming that i recognized from its textbook description as the terminal condition called venricular fibrillation, the agonal act of a heart that is becoming reconciled to its eternal rest."
Almost a whole paragraph that stood out to me. I really liked what he said there becuase not only did I learn a little something but I could just see the doctor holding the heart. My mind aoutomatically flashed to a scary movie where some doctor is standing over some poor persons body, holding there pulsing heart where they could see it, but luckily that isn't how it really went down. I just really like that part of the story because my mind was able to wander which is always fun.
Overall I give the article and you, Mr. Magette, two thumbs up!!
~Brooke Pyeatt
"Every man will yield up the ghost in a manner that the heavens have never known before: every woman will go her final way in her own way."
ReplyDeleteThis line stood out to me in a way that probably wouldn't have processed to me in the same way had I read it a few months ago. I recently lost a grandfather and this line of the article struck me to be interesting. I thought it over and not only is it saying we enter heaven in our own ways but saying in every way we each live a different life one that is all our own personal ways, also we leave life in our personal ways. "To each his own" has new meaning to me now too.
Timi Hess
I honestly enjoyed this article and this was one of the first. I thought it was very interesting as well as informational.
ReplyDeleteThe sentence that really popped out to me was the following: " Closed-chest cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, had not yet been invented, and the standard technique in this situation was to attempt to massage the heart directly, by holding it in the hand and applying a long series of rhythmic squeezes."
This just truly surprised me. I was shocked that people would actually do this just to try and save somebody's life. It sounds really disgusting but I think that if i was put in this situation I would probably try and save the person instead of just giving up and letting them die. I don't think many people today would do this because our society now is pretty much disgusted by every little thing imaginable, but maybe I would be surprised if we were really in this position still today.
Heather Goodlett
From the very first paragraph this reading grabbed my attention, and kept me interested the whole way through. I was surprised at how well written and interesting the chapter was. This was definitely one of my favorites we've read this year.
ReplyDelete"--threw back his head once more and, staring upward at the ceiling with the glassy, unseeing gaze of open dead eyes, roared out to the distant heavens a dreadful rasping whoop that sounded like the hounds of hell were barking."
The first thing I noticed when this line caught my eye was the incredible imagery that the author gives you to put yourself there, in the room, listening to this mans death rattle. It surprised me to hear that when the death rattle actually occurred, his head was thrown back. I wondered if this was responsible to the muscle spasm in his voicebox it talked about. The reading really made you empathize with doctors and people in the medical field who take your life in their hands. I don't think I could take that on my conscience everyday. Their "day at the office" is saving (or being responsible for the loss of) peoples' lives.
Lastly, all I can say is that I hope I'm never subjected to the creepy "whoop" of someone's death rattle..
|| Alex Tacke ||