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Ok Here I go

So I started an outline on my literary criticism, my aligning and non-aligning- my background sources. And my sources and my bibliography needs to be complete. And I need to get this done before 11:59 pm on Thursday or else. Ok I better get a crack on this.

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So I Noticed Something

As I read the criticism and connected the criticism to what I noticed in Verghese's writing, many things the criticism such as the using of vivid imagery and language to evoke emotions out of the readers started to make sense. One of the few instances I started to see was when Marion and Shiva had formed a brotherhood, in which they do everything together but is upset that he finds his brother doing something different such as learning how to dance Bharatnatyam from his brother (page 240). Another instance that is noted by critics is the usage of how the scene of Marion and Shiva encountering a girl with fistula and how it lead Shiva to become a gynecologist. One of the writing techniques employed on page 420 was the backstory of this girl which helps evoke emotions within any reader who comes upon this passage. Now many critics have criticized Abraham Verghese for the overuse of medical terminology and how it tends to isolate reader’s,as it seems like he is flexing his medical knowledge instead of showing emotion. But I wan’t to disprove that and demonstrate how it is a medical novel and it is important to the narrative to describe the main character Marion’s growth as a person and a doctor. A Bildungsroman. 

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So what is interesting to me is that the whole White Person Savior Complex isn’t necessarily always trying to be pretentious because a lot of the time the White Person involved is doing something good out of the bottom of their heart. However, just because it is a good intention doesn’t mean it always works out. Having races work together to address injustice was always something that I have appreciated. And so I like how Alice Bloomfield adds some nuance to these characters.

Reading Process 3: White Savior?

The White Savior Complex refers to a trope that a lot of media (ESPECIALLY Hollywood Oscar-Bait films) use, essentially this is when a “well-meaning” white person goes out to help POC, in theory this trope seams harmless; after all, using your privilege to help others is noble, but this trope is often insidious in that the “well-meaning” white white person often gives out condescending compassion to the POC they seek out to help. This trope is a modern day critique of themes expressed in Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem, The White Man’s Burden.

Many of the characters in Zoot Suit are inspired by people in real life: Henry Reyna is primarily based on Henry Leyvas (the real life leader of the 38th street gang, a real life pachuco who defended hid innocence in the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial), 

Della Barios (Henry’s girlfriend) is based on Dora Baca (Leyvas’ real-life girlfriend), and the main reason I wrote this post is Alice Bloomfied, an activist who tries to do all she can to help out the accused pachucos (she is based on real-life activist, Alice McGrath, who is of Russian-Jewish descent)

The Real-Life Alice was instrumental in activism, especially regarding the Zoot Suit Riots, she alerted the public’s attention to the treatment of the youths during the trial that are also included in the play, most notably, They weren’t allowed to change their clothes which caused a negative influence that impacted the guilty ruling from the (all white) jury. From 1942-1944, McGrath served as the executive secretary of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, throughout the rest of her life she was active in progressive issues. Luis Valdez states “She was one of the heroines of the 20th century. In Los Angeles, I can’t think of many people who surpass her influence”, a sentiment in which I very much agree. Take note, this is a good example of using your privilege to help others who do not have said privilege.

Luis Valdez does something really smart and clever when writing Alice Bloomfield’s character, he subverts all of the tropes and moves associated with the WSC. This is really notable in this interaction between Alice and Henry in act 2 scene 3:

ALICE: But what about the trial, the sentence. They gave you life imprisonment?

HENRY: It’s my life!

A: Henry, honestly–are you kidding me?

H: You think so?

A: But you’ve seen me coming and going. Writing to you, speaking for you, traveling up and down the state. You must have known I was doing it for you. Nothing has come before my involvement, my attachment, my passion for this case. My boys have been everything to me.

H: My boys? My boys! What the hell are we–your personal property? Well, let me set you straight, lady, I ain’t your boy

In most stories surrounding the WSC, the person/people the WS is attempting to help out have no power or autonomy, they are often props to subdue white guilt and create inspirational stories. However, in this work, Henry calls out Alice (which is obviously something that never happens in WSC stories), his personal growth is not initiated by Alice’s activism, it’s in his own mind with his interactions with El Pachuco. This isn’t a White Guilt play, it’s a play about processing a traumatic injustice through the eyes of someone who went through it. In lesser hands, Alice Bloomfield could have easily become another White Savior, but through understanding and critiquing of the trope, her presence in the play adds nuance and pathos to the story

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You know what, I learn new stuff about theater every day. The more you know !

Reading Process 4: The Ramblings of a Theatre Dork

Can we all just agree that El Pachuco is a style icon? As a theatre nerd, when I was reading this I was constantly wondering how cool it would be to stage this. Also I think the set design would be pretty dandy too! When I looked at the set notes I was really impressed by the simple set, it’s mostly made up of levels of varying heights (that bit made me geek out a bit because we use that technique a lot at the ATC) but they’re also rounded which gave me a heart attack. It’s a unit set, but it’s also so versatile at the same time because the power of the writing and the actor’s performances are meant to suck in the audience and create the scenery by themselves rather than relying on the set. One thing about this set that I thought was really interesting was the use of a drop that covers the set before the show starts. It’s made to represent a newspaper and it reads: LOS ANGELES HERALD EXPRESS Thursday, June 3, 1943. Alongside a headline: ZOOT-SUITER HOARDES INVADE LOS ANGELES. US NAVY AND MARINES ARE CALLED IN.

Honestly this set is really cool and I am actually geeking out right now! In order to address the audience, there’s a giant slit for the actor who plays El Pachuco to walk through, WHO USES A CARTOONISHLY GIANT SWITCH BLADE TO “CUT” THROUGH THE DROP AND I REALLY LOVE THAT BECAUSE IMAGINE GETTING TO BE THE PERSON WHO GETS TO MAKE THAT PROP, HONESTLY THAT WOULD BE SO FUN!

Needless to say, I actually really love this show (and the set… and the props… also I think the lighting and sound design would be really cool too…) and wish I had the ability and means to bring it to life.

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What is interesting to me is how you manage to find how Mayan mythology connected to EL Pachuco. I knew that Mayan and Aztec culture are valued but it is new for me to have it connected to the Zoot suits. They were probably an identity symbolizing their ancestry and the Zoot suits also symbolized their identity. I also like to read on some stuff while reading to get a better understanding. Keep on doing that and exploring your book!

Reading Process 5: The Sudden Midnight Realization

So, I’m coming back to El Pachuco for a moment. So like a good reader, I decided to read the introduction before reading the text to get a proper context for Valdez’s thinking and style. One thing that stuck out to me was that almost all of Valdez’s works include some commentary on Maya and Aztec mythology, particularly the Maya religious principle on In Lak’ech, or, “you are my other self”, it’s affiliated with identity and even unity. 

Now, before I get back to my dude, El Pachuco, I have to talk about Tezcatlipoca. An Aztec deitiy, Tezcatlipoca is the god of time, more particularly the embodiment of change through confict. He’s a very tricky fellow (and when I say tricky, I mean that according to Aztec mythology he kind of destroyed the world four different times because of his rivalry with Quetzalcoatl, here’s a fun video about it!) 

Tezcatlipoca is often associated with the color black… wanna know who else is often associated with black, discord, and when stripped by the marines during the riots scene was reveled to wear a warrior style loincloth?

That’s right, El Pachuco! I admit, I didn’t really catch onto this in depth until I started reading my criticisms, but I tried to look for mentions and motifs of Mesoamerican philosophy during my initial reads. When I first read the riot scene, I drew a lot of connections between the Zoot Suit Riots and Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire, this is most obvious when El Pachuco himself is stripped down to a loincloth. During the scene, it’s also revealed that Henry’s brother, Rudy, is also stripped down and attacked. Rudy stays within his time, but El Pachuco transcends it and goes back to the roots. By showing these two attacks, Luis Valdez connects the two events, multiple identities are one subject,  In Lak’ech is achieved.

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I have been having problems

So I have been behind on my writing because I was still assessing all of my Literary criticisms and figuring out how they will exactly be used and how they each approach my piece of Writing. One of my texts, Ethiopian Love Story, approaches Cutting For Stone in a very positive way and praises him for the use of metaphors and allegory and the minute Details used. However, Erica Wagner’s Critique on the book has stated that his back story being a backbone was what ruined the book. What I am doing is looking at all of my sources and finding the points that align with my thinking and don’t. So hopefully I can make coherent sentences out of them.

I knew that I would be careful because I tried to use actual literary criticism but I ended up using book reports. One of few decent articles of literary criticism that I found was Ethiopian Love Story, though this came from a medical organization. The thing though is I know it will be hard to find literary criticism because it is based on the medical journals and analysis of how medical writing is used in the novel. But I would expect that because it is technically a medical novel, and it is new so I will have to continue looking for more. I’m creating an outline to help inform my essay.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3820316/

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Wagner-t.html

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1. Verghese puts many influences from his life as an Indian Doctor who worked in Ethiopia.  Cutting for Stone weirdly enough is a fictional account of the author’s own mind. So, of course, it would do a good job, in my opinion of depicting Indian culture and life in Ethiopia. Literally, inspiration came from his own experience. The History of Ethiopia from Menelik II’s rule, to Mussolini invading Ethiopia during Halie Selassie’s rule to, the communist take over of Ethiopia by Mengistu Haile Mariam, to fleeing the country, to yeah just being an international doctor, the whole Shiva dying because of the transplant though I personally thought was fiction but I don’t know.

2. Bharatnatyam is a hardass dance to do and it takes years of mastering. If you want to know what Bharatnatyam is watching this video. This will help you connect to the passage I posted

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So one of the main themes that I’ve read about in the book is about Marion and Shiva. When they were born, they had a tube that connected their heads together and that somehow made them, as the story says a weird joint consciousness, type thing. They start living life together, Marion becomes the spokesperson for both of them, and Shiva becomes a quiet person. Him, his brother Shiva, and Genet, Dr. Stone’s servant Rosina’s daughter, begins to live with each other. They hop together and skip together, and it is like they are weird twins of each other. Of course Ghosh the resident doctor at Missing falls in love with Hema and they make love. BTW the book is very provocative, of course, I have to grow up and mature. But this one’s passage really gets to me because this one event severed the connection between Marion and Shiva and their “joint consciousness begins to fade. Hema and Ghosh are their parents after Dr. Stone runs away in grief and of course, Hema and Ghosh marry and take care of Shiva and Marion. Hema and Ghosh were starting to worry that Shiva was to quiet and was receiving concerns from Teachers that Marion was the one who talked but Shiva was the one who stayed silent. So They read books to Marion and Ghosh hoping that Shiva would speak. Apparently the tipping point here is that Marion becomes angry that Missing (Mission hospital) couldn’t take care of all of the liters of the dog so they would drown and kill them because they were so expensive. 

Marion runs out in anger but returns to his brother doing the Bharatnatyam dance, the clinging bells the eyes the dancing. It is a traditional Indian dance done during Holidays, at Hindu Temples, or done to honor Shiva who is the god of destruction in Hinduism. To Hema however, he is the God of renewal and brings out the good while destroying the bad.  The bad being when Shiva gets almost crushed by Dr. Stone (Yikes).  So the thing is that because Shiva becomes independent of the twin by doing this dance, the whole pact of we do everything together gets destroyed. Marion gets mad and calls him a “traitor”. How Verghese somehow depicts the emotions Marion had at the moment, and to close up at the moment. Many Criticisms had stated that his ability to do this has made him a very masterful writer. The details, the prose, the closer look at every moment, and the exact thoughts that goes through Marion’s head

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Analysis of Reading 4

As I read through the passages, one of the main themes that play into the drama of Verghese’s novel is religion and faith in General.  I will not deny that basically “Cutting for Stone” is basically like Gray’s Anatomy, basically. But one of the major themes that move the drama in the story is the spirituality which is present. Some examples I could give was when Dr. Hemalatha was giving birth to the twins. She “kept on chanting the name of Lord Shiva as she clamped the tube that Connected Marion Praise Stone’s head to his brother’s. The two children are lifeless and not breathing, while their Mother sister Joseph Praise is basically asphyxiated and nearing death. They put the children into the water that is oxidized and has minerals in it, which allows Marion to breathe. Verghese does use a lot of medical terms like Hematoma and the procedure but poetically describes the sun shining into her spliced open chest, showing where the twins were born, a miracle. It is a weird flex for writing because at times the prose is used with lots of details at major events like the birthing of Marion and Shiva, but then the goriness and his demonstration of Verghese as a doctor by describing the procedure does sometimes throw us off as a cold literal interpretation of a death of a person during surgery . “A blue -black collection of blood- a hematoma-stretched the broad ligament if the uterus, and it glowed in the light of the Host” (113)

Of course as the twins are born, Dr. Stone falls over and cries over the death of his love and his to be bride. Shocker his relationship with a nun is exposed (of course everyone knows he is the dad).Religion again plays a big role as he cries out the miracles of God and takes a Scalper to open up Mary Praise’s Ribs and revitalize her through the heart. “The bloody loaves and fishes......Lazarus...The Lepers.... Moses and the REad Sea” (123) and of course Gebrew the Ethiopian priest is chanting “him being a man of God”. But of course the prayers did not work and of course I remember times where God doesn’t exactly give to people what they desire. I have seen the power of prayer that people believe not work and thus they were exposed to the painful realities of life, to grow as a person. But as I analyze the novel the one miracle that Dr. Stone overlooked was the birth of the twins, the ones he ran from and blamed them for killing the love of his life. Classic medical drama

But towards the middle, we look at the Matron of Missing Hospital and a physician by the name of Ghosh go up to a plot of land owned by a duke who is related to Halie Selassie Matron then remembers that God has plans we don’t know of even in dark times. “I can’t see it, Lord, but I know you can’t” The whole religious themes inside the book really go on top of each other because we are looking at the faith of Christian people, inside of a Christian Hospital, in a traditionally Christain country of Abbisynia who had been Christians since the time of 313 A.D when King Ezana converted under the Bishop Saint Frumentius. Of course, Verghese has always admired Ethiopia for being a Haven of Christianity surrounded by Muslim Countries, and honestly, Ethiopian Christians may be the most religious people that he came across with. So to depict Ethiopia and faith in general Verghese would include a lot of religious themes.

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Reading Process 3 Chapter 5

 One of the most favorite events was when before Marion’s birth, his adoptive parent and a nurse who worked alongside Doctor Stone was in a hospital. There was a Frenchmen who had declared turbulence of a plane engine in order to land. And while faking an engine failure to pick up baggage in Djibouti, he broke a young boy’s leg. The Frenchman seemed smooth and thought he could play around with all the colored people on board. However, Doctor Hema stood up and asked “What the bloody hell was that for? You could have almost injured all of us?” The Frenchman saw Doctor Hema as an insolent Indian Brown woman and tried to show others the superiority of the white man by trying to slap her. Now he how race and gender beautifully play into this. Hema in response puts her hands up the Pilot’s shorts and LOL does a testicular exam on the plane. Knowing and judging that he has a testicular condition that requires it to get chopped off, Doctor Hema askes for a Gillette or a blade. The Frenchmen becomes afraid and cowards before Hema, who asks him to refund the plane tickets of the boy whose leg got broken and his dad. She threatens that she will Petition the Ethiopian Emperor to make the pilot’s life a living hell. In this chapter, Hema’s strength as a character shows her will and the care she has for others. Somali’s Ethiopians, Armenians, and Yemenis backed her up against the French Pilot. Don’t mess with strong confident Indian Woman and the language used by Verghese in this passage is masterful and descriptive. Weird but fun passage!

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SOOO, I only began reading my book, and Mr. Kreinbring warned me, yes I was too dumb to understand, that since my book is new I couldn’t really find any critical essays- except that I found two good sources that I might blog about. I also found some good sources about The Author’s inspiration that I might blog about sometime. But for now I’m going to close read my stuff and let you know tommrow

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I like how you thought about Valdez’s audience and how you tried to relate to the discussion of who was the Audience Morgan Parker had in mind. I would like you to take the time to think about the usage of Spanish in this particular literature and how it would relate to Mexican Americans. Then maybe connect what is happening in this day and age to what is happening in your book, and analyze the message being conveyed. I like how you are exploring and continue to celebrate your Hispanic heritage!

The Language of Zoot Suit

One thing I really noticed while reading this work was the use of language. Obviously, there is a use of Spanish, but there is more of a use of Spanglish. However, one challenging thing for me reading this personally is that it’s LA specific. There is the use of some universal Spanglish (Watcha mi tacuche, ese), but the use of certain LA specific slang (Carnal). Due to discussion we have had recently in Lit, especially that around There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé by Morgan Parker, I started to think about who the audience Luis Valdez had in mind. A lot of the frustration that was perceived was that a majority of the readers in the class didn’t necessarily understand the references in the poem and dismissed it as some, “Pop Feminist Chic”. I’ll admit, I felt some of that frustration when I was reading the work for the first time because I was facing a lot of slang you don’t necessarily hear in Metro-Detroit. However, due to thinking about the class discussion of Parker’s poem, I thought more in depth about Valdez’s play; more specifically how Valdez appeals to his intended audience by using slang (correctly) that they know as well.  The audience can be Mexican-Americans as a whole, but more specifically the audience who would get these references best would be Mexican-Americans from LA.

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Pages 1-100 Chapters 1 through 4

Ok so I started to get into the groove of my book, and there are a lot of observations that I had. So what I read so far was that Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a nun from the Carmelite order of Madras, and her friend Sister Anjali, were going through a nursing program. Their Mother Superior wanted to send them to the “dark continent” of Africa to spread the message of Christianity’s love and peace. On the way to Africa, Sister Anjali falls ill and there is a spread of Typhoid on the ship. While on night vigil, she meets a young British Doctor named Dr. Thomas Stone who also gets typhoid, so Sister Mary Praise helps Dr. Stone recovers. She off course becomes swoon when the dashing British Doctor Stone commands control of the ship and tries to diagnose and treat the typhoid being spread. (Typical falling in love with the white man trope). But again I don’t blame her, but the charm gets shattered when they have to dump Sister Anjali out into the ocean. (Yikes) However, Sister Mary Joseph Praise wants to follow Dr. Stone to Ethiopia but is forced to go to Aden in Yemen, where she ends up at a sweatshop. (Now this is an analysis on women’s issues because according to the main character, her story ends here. She doesn’t explain her life story until she gets to the city of Harrar in Ethiopia. I don’t know if some sort of rape or abuse happened, but it said that there was some sort of blood between her legs. So the story goes that they were trying to assume what happened to her, but again I was like why don’t you just help her out sometime!!! Just welcome her into and help her instead of treating her like she sinned. Actually, investigate what happens and give her assistance instead of just sweeping it under the rug. Something bad must have happened as she was shown in Aden that the world is evil and that there is a fragile balance between good and evil. pg 30)

She gets a job at Mission Hospital in Addis Ababa and reunites with Dr. Stone. Dr. Stone, of course, is considered one of to best surgeons at the hospital and was so proud that on one occasion when he accidentally cut himself and exposed himself to germs, yes, he cut off his own fingers. Of course, he proved to be as dexterous and as agile as he was when he had his middle finger LOL. Anyways Dr. Stone and Sister Mary Praise, prove to be a kick-ass team at the hospital and he could read his mind. Now the thing is, SURPRISE, Sister Mary Praise becomes pregnant and it becomes a scandal. I understand it is unseemly for a nun to give birth since she took the vow of chastity, but HELP A WOMAN OUT!!! IF SHE IS PREGNANT YOU HELP HER AND YOU TREAT THE CHILDREN SHE GAVE BIRTH TO RIGHT. But it turns out that the twins are conjoined and the main character Marion has to accept the fact of reuniting with his conjoined, but separated, brother Shiva to find their runaway dad.

When (Dr. Stone) their father was dealing with Mary Praise Stone’s (their mother) pregnancy, Dr. Stone treated the Fetus as if it was an enemy that needs to be crushed out. Which makes sense if a woman is dying and like Mary Praise is not breathing but still it seems to be a little rough on the fetus since it was, in fact, Dr. stone’s child. And again he tries to open up a random book and learn how to crush a fetus’s child. Which is again Verghese is trying to highlight why there should be more humanitarianism in medicine instead of treated everything including your own child as if it was an enemy. He is trying to highlight having more empathy towards others and having the proper technique that ensures the welfare of everyone.

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Reading Process 1: El Pachuco

For this project, I am reading Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez. One thing that is pretty unique about this work is that it isn’t a novel, it’s a play. At first this was kind of hard to really get into, I didn’t really get into my momentum until I found a bootleg of the play on YouTube and read along with the actors. Eventually I started to imagine the scenes as if they were on a stage and I started to block the scenes and I started to read without the help of bootleg. 

I was really excited to start this work because the plot was really interesting to me and the history surrounding the events of this play is something I’m very passionate about, especially in activist circles. One thing I find is the most interesting part of the play is the character of El Pachuco, who is a personification of the zoot suit, and by extension, the perceived lifestyle of a pachuco. El Pachuco serves as a narrator and even directs the cast. He doesn’t interact with any of the other characters, except for the main character Henry. 

I think this is also indicative of the role of El Pachuco, part of me thinks he also serves as another side to Henry’s persona. In the play, Henry was going to enlist in the navy, until he’s arrested because he’s a suspect in a murder. Throughout the play, he’s in jail and his only company is El Pachuco. I see this as a way of Henry battling with the persona that is accepted by society (someone who is willingly enlisting for the navy, i.e. someone who wants to serve their country) vs the persona of his youth that was created because of disenfranchisement and counter cultural ideals (i.e. the zoot suit and the pachuco aesthetic). El Pachuco serves as a way for Henry to examine his situation and how his hope fluctuates throughout the subsequent trial.

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Reading Process 1: El Pachuco

For this project, I am reading Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez. One thing that is pretty unique about this work is that it isn’t a novel, it’s a play. At first this was kind of hard to really get into, I didn’t really get into my momentum until I found a bootleg of the play on YouTube and read along with the actors. Eventually I started to imagine the scenes as if they were on a stage and I started to block the scenes and I started to read without the help of bootleg. 

I was really excited to start this work because the plot was really interesting to me and the history surrounding the events of this play is something I’m very passionate about, especially in activist circles. One thing I find is the most interesting part of the play is the character of El Pachuco, who is a personification of the zoot suit, and by extension, the perceived lifestyle of a pachuco. El Pachuco serves as a narrator and even directs the cast. He doesn’t interact with any of the other characters, except for the main character Henry. 

I think this is also indicative of the role of El Pachuco, part of me thinks he also serves as another side to Henry’s persona. In the play, Henry was going to enlist in the navy, until he’s arrested because he’s a suspect in a murder. Throughout the play, he’s in jail and his only company is El Pachuco. I see this as a way of Henry battling with the persona that is accepted by society (someone who is willingly enlisting for the navy, i.e. someone who wants to serve their country) vs the persona of his youth that was created because of disenfranchisement and counter cultural ideals (i.e. the zoot suit and the pachuco aesthetic). El Pachuco serves as a way for Henry to examine his situation and how his hope fluctuates throughout the subsequent trial.

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Allie, I like the analysis in your work and the fact that you choose this book is very refreshing. I liked how you chose to relate the book to your background! When you started to speak about El Pachuco as an analysis of the persona of Henry, this got my brain rolling. I can understand how minorities try to become apart of this country by serving in the military. Though military people are supposed to be respected, sometimes sentiments and discrimination become bigger and some people who have served their country don’t get as much credit.  Some people I feel can relate to El Pachuco and Henry.

Reading Process 1: El Pachuco

For this project, I am reading Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez. One thing that is pretty unique about this work is that it isn’t a novel, it’s a play. At first this was kind of hard to really get into, I didn’t really get into my momentum until I found a bootleg of the play on YouTube and read along with the actors. Eventually I started to imagine the scenes as if they were on a stage and I started to block the scenes and I started to read without the help of bootleg. 

I was really excited to start this work because the plot was really interesting to me and the history surrounding the events of this play is something I’m very passionate about, especially in activist circles. One thing I find is the most interesting part of the play is the character of El Pachuco, who is a personification of the zoot suit, and by extension, the perceived lifestyle of a pachuco. El Pachuco serves as a narrator and even directs the cast. He doesn’t interact with any of the other characters, except for the main character Henry. 

I think this is also indicative of the role of El Pachuco, part of me thinks he also serves as another side to Henry’s persona. In the play, Henry was going to enlist in the navy, until he’s arrested because he’s a suspect in a murder. Throughout the play, he’s in jail and his only company is El Pachuco. I see this as a way of Henry battling with the persona that is accepted by society (someone who is willingly enlisting for the navy, i.e. someone who wants to serve their country) vs the persona of his youth that was created because of disenfranchisement and counter cultural ideals (i.e. the zoot suit and the pachuco aesthetic). El Pachuco serves as a way for Henry to examine his situation and how his hope fluctuates throughout the subsequent trial.

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A Cutting for Stone/Prologue

 So my first thought that I had when I began reading Abraham Verghese’s “Cutting for Stone” was how much it relates to me being a doctor. One of the major discussions in the text was the morality behind the field and the correct understanding one must have for doing surgery. It first discusses asking for help when one needs it and knowing when not to operate and avoiding being a complete airhead. Surgery is very fatal and so the perception and wisdom needed are very refined. One of the wisdom that speaks to me personally is when the main character, Marion Praise Stone, talks about how subconsciously people become doctors because they feel that mending others will help mend their own souls. This speaks to my desire for becoming a psychologist/ doctors, It is not to boss others around and not thinking you're doing them a favor and you deserve praise and credit. It is to use your experiences and your painful past to empathize with your patients and to by yourself cultivate the lessons that you learned and convey them respectfully and in a caring way. But what always gets to me is when Marion says that “Sometimes helping others can open a void in you.” This honestly makes me shiver cause exploring one’s own darkness and seeing people die during surgery is very difficult. Thus one must be careful and strong enough to realize that everything has their time. Having a strong brain and strong spirituality, to me, is important when handling with very dark things. When one deals with dark things, don’t do it unnecessarily, realize that even if mistakes are made and everything seems lost, lives can’t be saved, or you feel like you failed, staying strong and learning lessons, learning more about yourself, and reconnecting with your past, lifting others up, spreading love and care, having positive intentions, breathing in and out, having positive mental mind, and realizing that we are all tested in very dark and difficult ways, loving yourself and caring for others, having empathy, and creating light out of darkness will help in assisting even very difficult tasks such as psychology and being a surgeon, or any trial that occurs.

In this case, though, he has to find a way of connecting with his brother Shiva and facing his past of losing his mother who was a nun from India, Sister, Mary Praise Stone, and reconciling with his runaway father, English Surgeon Joseph Praise