Stone Barcomb
AP Lang/Comp
8 October 2014
LOC Selzer (197-204) ET #4,8,9
4. What is your response to the metaphor in paragraph 5: “Soon you shall know surgery as a Mass served with Body and Blood, wherein disease is assailed as though it were sin?” What suggestions does Selzer make by creating that metaphor?
By using a religious Mass as a metaphor to describe surgery is to create a religious feeling in the reader. Surgery is described as being able to rid the body of disease just as a priest rids the soul of sin.
8. This essay is divided into five sections. How do they work together so that the whole is greater than the sum of its five parts? Pay particular attention to the short (two-paragraph) fourth section; what effect would eliminating it have? How would describe the overall organization of this essay?…show more content… This paragraph is a historical reference to The overall organization of this essay is centralized upon the central idea that a surgeon is like a priest performing an act of religious healing.
9. Critics have called this essay risky for two reasons. First, some object to visualizing the medical details that Selzer describes. Second, some see his framing surgery as religious ritual to be exaggeration. How valid do you find these two criticisms in view of what you see as Selzer’s purpose in this essay.
Selzer’s purpose is to show the importance of the Surgeons profession. This is why he compared surgery to a religious ritual because surgery is very important. This comparison is not an exaggeration because it as Selzer shows surgery is vital. Although his purpose validates his comparison, he needs to be more sensitive to his readers with the words he uses to describe procedures in