Father Brain
- Submitted by: alexmike
- Views: 394
- Category: English: Creative Writing
- Date Submitted: 09/10/2011 09:02 PM
- Pages: 3
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My Father’s Brain
The opening essay entitled "My Father's Brain" is an interesting, truthful story about the author’s relationship with his family and Alzheimer’s disease which affected his dad. Instead of writing a self pity sentimental essay, he writes a detailed, step by step report of his family’s experience with this fatal disease that affects so many Americans. He touches on his relationship with his mother and dad, his parent’s marriage, and his provoking thoughts about individual personality and dying. I will do an over view of the author’s approach to Alzheimer, his relationship with his parents and him losing track of each other and themselves.
He starts his essay with him opening a valentine box from his mother, which contained a letter, some candy and an autopsy report about his father’s postmortem brain. Early into the essay he tries to inform his audience about Alzheimer, talking about Daniel L Schachter’s theory that the brain is a “temporary constellation”. A description of what memory is and how it works. Throughout the essay he gives us more and more details of the disease explaining about “plaque” and” tangles”; which are proteins that destroys the brain. We see several pages dedicated to explaining the symptoms and stages of the disease with spotted mention of time and places in his reflection. He goes into great
depth into what Alzheimer is going into details of the pathology report at times reading directly from it. The author explains his great depth into subject by saying; ‘This was his disease. It was also, you could argue, his story. But you have to let me tell it.”
He describes his parents’ marriage as being less than happy. Only reason they stayed married for the sake of the children (him and his brother), by making it work by living autonomous lives, each with separate fiefdoms at home and work. Not so gently he explains some of his mother’s character, her stinginess with postage, her romantic attachment to...
The opening essay entitled "My Father's Brain" is an interesting, truthful story about the author’s relationship with his family and Alzheimer’s disease which affected his dad. Instead of writing a self pity sentimental essay, he writes a detailed, step by step report of his family’s experience with this fatal disease that affects so many Americans. He touches on his relationship with his mother and dad, his parent’s marriage, and his provoking thoughts about individual personality and dying. I will do an over view of the author’s approach to Alzheimer, his relationship with his parents and him losing track of each other and themselves.
He starts his essay with him opening a valentine box from his mother, which contained a letter, some candy and an autopsy report about his father’s postmortem brain. Early into the essay he tries to inform his audience about Alzheimer, talking about Daniel L Schachter’s theory that the brain is a “temporary constellation”. A description of what memory is and how it works. Throughout the essay he gives us more and more details of the disease explaining about “plaque” and” tangles”; which are proteins that destroys the brain. We see several pages dedicated to explaining the symptoms and stages of the disease with spotted mention of time and places in his reflection. He goes into great
depth into what Alzheimer is going into details of the pathology report at times reading directly from it. The author explains his great depth into subject by saying; ‘This was his disease. It was also, you could argue, his story. But you have to let me tell it.”
He describes his parents’ marriage as being less than happy. Only reason they stayed married for the sake of the children (him and his brother), by making it work by living autonomous lives, each with separate fiefdoms at home and work. Not so gently he explains some of his mother’s character, her stinginess with postage, her romantic attachment to...