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”
were used to give a deeper understanding of her thoughts and feelings during her memoir. In “ I Am a Cripple” Nancy Maris uses allusions to give a deeper understanding to her thought and feelings. Maris begins her essay by talking about how she strongly dislikes the word disabled to describe her. She explains how this word is favorable to her because “, It has an honorable history, having made its first appearance in the Lindisfarne Gospel (Maris).
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
the Christmas goose” (Maris). This allusion is to Tiny Tim from a Christmas carol. He was a sick child for all rights he could be very negative and look poorly in the world, but he had a great positive attitude and lighted up the room.Nancy Mairs's allusion was to a specific scene where Tim was very positive about his Christmas even though they didn’t have much. Maris uses this specific scene because she believes that she is similar to Tiny Tim in the fact that they are both positive. She says earlier in her memoir that having M.S. was a blessing (she thought it was a fatal brain tumor) and that she accepts all gifts. Maris could still be negative about her condition, but instead she embraces it and rejoices that it was not worse. These allusions help make this story more understandable and why the Nancy Maris wrote this memoir.