Mountains Beyond Mountain Character Analysis
For years, the United States and France participated in a tug-of-war. Their victim? Haiti. Tracy Kidder, the author and narrator of the novel, travels to the impoverished country to observe and report the actions of American troops stationed across the land. During his time there, he stumbles upon Dr. Paul Farmer, who at the time, is defending the rights of his powerless Haitian patients against harsh military regulations. Fate brings them together once again, and Kidder ends up flying out to Haiti once more; however, this time, he’s there to survey Farmer’s medical skills. He finds that not only has Paul created a nonprofit organization called Partners in Health (Zanmi Lasante), but he has set up a medical facility that provides free healthcare
…show more content…
Mountains Beyond Mountains has its fair share of moments in which characters are pushed to the limit, revealing inner capabilities that they never thought they had. Before it was his “specialty”, Farmer took part in a case that involved a pregnant woman who needed a simple blood transfusion. As simple of a procedure as it may seem, the woman’s family was penniless and Paul couldn’t round up enough money to pay for the transfusion, ending in a death that could have been prevented. Instead of recoiling back in a time of tragedy, Farmer persevered and pushed himself “to fund-raise for blood-banking equipment”, (Kidder 80) so that no family would have to endure such a nightmare again. Another one of Farmer’s patients, a child named Christian, was dying of MDR-TB; his body resisted all five of the first-line drugs provided. Paul researched and religiously pondered over what his next step would be -- every additional hour caused the child more pain. His inner voice told him that he should use second-line drugs. Although they were dangerously stronger, he could lower the dosage enough so that it could potentially reverse the effects for the child. A few weeks later, he saw as the child “waddled around giggling in front of him” (Kidder 155) -- healthy as ever. While other doctors tried to argue
Mountains Beyond Mountains has its fair share of moments in which characters are pushed to the limit, revealing inner capabilities that they never thought they had. Before it was his “specialty”, Farmer took part in a case that involved a pregnant woman who needed a simple blood transfusion. As simple of a procedure as it may seem, the woman’s family was penniless and Paul couldn’t round up enough money to pay for the transfusion, ending in a death that could have been prevented. Instead of recoiling back in a time of tragedy, Farmer persevered and pushed himself “to fund-raise for blood-banking equipment”, (Kidder 80) so that no family would have to endure such a nightmare again. Another one of Farmer’s patients, a child named Christian, was dying of MDR-TB; his body resisted all five of the first-line drugs provided. Paul researched and religiously pondered over what his next step would be -- every additional hour caused the child more pain. His inner voice told him that he should use second-line drugs. Although they were dangerously stronger, he could lower the dosage enough so that it could potentially reverse the effects for the child. A few weeks later, he saw as the child “waddled around giggling in front of him” (Kidder 155) -- healthy as ever. While other doctors tried to argue