Preview

I Am A Cripple By Nancy Maris Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
552 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
I Am A Cripple By Nancy Maris Essay
Disabled. Disabled is a word commonly defined as being physically or mentally impaired, injured,or incapacitated(dictionary.com.) Disabled is a word that brings a bad astigmatism over someone with its negative connotation. Nancy Maris dislikes the word disabled because she thinks that the English language uses to much euphemism in our speech. Maris want the language to use more straightforward language, even if it might offend some people. In her memoir Maris talks about how she became disabled from the disease M.S. She talks about her first symptoms when she was in college and how some days she wishes she was not disabled. In this story allusions provide more context about what she was thinking. Allusions in Nancy Maris’s “I Am a Cripple” …show more content…
This word made in first appearance in 700 C.E in this gospel which was written to honor God ( in the faith Christianity). She Gravitated towards this word in particular because it is not a euthanization of her condition. Its concise. In this first allusion, Maris reveals a healthy optimism about her disease, a feeling highlighted in another allusion. In this part of the story Maris is talking about her first symptoms and shares a particular memory that she reflects on in a fun attitude. She likins her loss of muscle control with,” I find the image as silly as something from a Marx brothers movie”(Maris). This allusion is to a slapstick comedy movie very similar to the three stooges. This movie was made to as a comedy to entertain their viewers. It shows that Maris she is fond of the memory, and that when she looks back on her fall, it entertains her with a laugh. Unlike the last two allusions this allusion has a more bitter and sad tone. She is talking about her feelings some days where she feels helpless. She explains how she felt helpless, “ I wind up feeling like tiny time peering over the edge of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A disability may be physical, cognitive (includes the memory process), mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some of them combined. A disability may occur from birth, or happen during a person's lifetime. Who is to say handicap people and people with disabilities are even weaker than most? No one is capable of making that kind of…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Disability under the Americans with disability Act(ADA) can be defined as (1) “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities (2) a record of such impairment; and (3) a perception of such of such impairment” (Swanson, 2016, p.374).…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mairs discusses how she doesn't like to be called “differently abled,” “disabled,” or “handicapped”. Mairs states how these words aren't specific, or descriptive. When talking about the word “crippled,”…

    • 217 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine having a disease that cannot be cured called multiple sclerosis. People are staring at you calling you handicapped and disabled. Just take a second and imagine you losing the full use of your limbs. Nancy Mairs has this heartbreaking condition. But, Mairs does not refer to herself as handicapped or disabled. In this passage, Mairs presents herself as "crippled."…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Instead of using the euphemistic word “disabled” or “handicapped,” she strictly chose the word “crippled.” She expressed that using other words, doesn’t clearly express her condition. She explains, “These words seem to be moving away from my condition, to be widening the gap between word and reality.” She doesn’t want to make the reader feel sympathy, instead she hopes they will view her as a strong woman. She feels as if “crippled” is the perfect word to describe how she feels. Mairs replaces the euphemistic words and phrases with much more brutal sounding phrases to show that she doesn’t feel pity for…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The word choice used by any writer can portray or hide any of the author's points or secrets. Nancy Mairs uses repetitive diction in which she repeats words such as "handicapped", "disabled", and "crippled" in order to propel her self-definition across to the reader. Mairs uses a mediocre choice of language in her passage that allows her to be clear and precise as simply stated in line15, ""Cripple" seems to me a clean word,…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I am a cripple.” In this essay, Nancy Mairs, who has multiple sclerosis, refers to herself as a “cripple.” Throughout this essay, Mairs is very straightforward and has a unique use of word choice and rhetorical structure.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Disability has several definitions. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a disability as: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity; a record of a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity; or when an entity takes an action prohibited by the ADA based on an actual or perceived impairtment.…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When a mother is pregnant, the first few weeks of the pregnancy are most delicate and imperative for the offspring’s development throughout term and, even, life. Folic Acid, like many other things mothers must be aware of, is one of the most important vitamins that can help prevent brain and spinal birth defects. These types of birth defects are called Neural Tube Defects (NTDs), which can develop during the early stages of pregnancy, when the embryo starts to develop their neural tube into the spinal cord and other structures, like the brain, that protect and surround those areas (NIH 2012). These birth defects occur during the first stages of pregnancy but a lot women do not realize that they are pregnant at that stage. On average, every…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A disability is defined as a disability is an impairment that interferes with a child’s ability to learn.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I am Cripple

    • 3524 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son, the author describes a complex troubled relationship with is father. Baldwin’s attitude towards his father reflects his father actions and how his father acts.…

    • 3524 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Civil Rights

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages

    3. The statute defines a disabled person as someone with a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more “life activities” or who has a record of such impairment.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    People with physical disabilities, also known as disabled people or physically disabled people, have a physical impairment which has a substantial and long term effect on their ability to carry our day-to-day activities. Someone with a moderate physical disability would have mobility problems, e.g. unable to manage stairs, and need aids or assistance to walk. Someone with a severe physical disability would be unable to walk and dependent on a carer for mobility. Depending on their individual needs, disabled people may require an accessible home, with or without aids and adaptations. Occupational therapists will assess an individual person 's needs for these, and refer the person on to the appropriate agency to have adaptations carried out. Care & Repair Services help disabled owner occupiers and private tenants to have adaptations carried out. (http://www.firststopcareadvice.org.uk)…

    • 11923 Words
    • 48 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many parents stand by in frustration wondering how they can help a challenged child develop new skills. The very first step to completing this task is ridding our minds of the word disabled. The dictionary defines disabled as an umbrella term for someone who is being incapacitated by illness or injury or in broad terms physically or mentally impaired.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Words such as disability, impairment, and handicap when misunderstood and misused can be hurtful, and offensive, especially to me. Every day is a struggle that I wish could just disappear. But, life is not a Hollywood movie, it's reality. I can't just magically start walking normally. In fact, I can never walk normally. It's not like the movie Forest Gump. Once he started running his braces broke and he was running normally. Cerebral Palsy does not go away by some miracle. It can never be cured, it can only be helped.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays