“On Being a Cripple” by, Nancy Mairs
“On Being a Cripple” by, Nancy Mairs
1. What is the author’s purpose in writing this essay?
2. What is the meaning of Louise Bogan’s quote that precedes the essay:
“To escape is nothing. Not to escape is nothing.”
3. What made Mairs decide to write this essay?
4. Define semantics as used in paragraph 2. Why does Mairs call herself a “cripple”?
5. What does Mairs mean when she says “my God is not a handicapper General”?
Why is Mairs opposed to the term “differently abled”? (para. 4)
7. In para. 7, of all the things MS can take from someone, which does Mairs view as the hardest
to survive without and why?
8. In para. 9, what is one of the most challenging effects of MS? What problems does this
create for Mairs?
9. In para. 9, why does Mairs refer to herself as “the offspring of a puritanical tradition of
exceptional venerability”?
10. What kinds of things does Mairs cite to support her point that she leads an ordinary life?
11. Why does she include the things she can not do? Give examples.
12. Why does Mairs select her clothing “with care not so much for style as for ease of ingress
and egress”?
In para. 15, who are the people that keep Mairs going? Describe their relationships.
14. In para. 17, what reason does Mairs hope people are not nice to her?
15. In para. 20, how does Mairs feel she and other “cripples” are excluded from society?
16. In para’s 21-22, What aspect of Mair’s past contributes to her present self-confidence?
Compare this to how she feels about herself now.
17. What is the significance of para. 23 being only one sentence long: “I am not a disease”?
18. In para. 24, what does she mean when she writes, “are there worse things than dying? I
think there may be.”
19. In para. 25, how is Mairs doing compared to other women with MS that she knows?
20. Para. 26- when Mairs was first diagnosed with MS, how did she act and feel? What
changed her outlook?
What choice has she made for the future regarding the end of her life? Why?
Explain what happened on the family trip to CA and how this incident changed her life.
23. Discuss Mairs and her attitude toward doctors and a cure for her disease.
Explain how the overall conclusion is an effective and fitting end to the essay.
Important Rhetorical Devices
Cite examples and explain why they are effective
Allusion-
Jargon-
Parallelism-
Diction-
Images-
Syntax-
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