The Final Patient Rhetorical Analysis

An inherent quality all humans share, is the ability to recognize society and the effects we have on the communities around us, and while we all have different interpretations of what is wrong and what’s not, it’s crucial to acknowledge that your own beliefs may sometimes be misleading or contradictory, urging readers to always take a step back and review the evidence before making a judgement. In “The Final Patient”, Remen utilizes an anecdote, from her own life, to symbolize a much larger societal problem within our healthcare’s structure. Impressively, Remen effectively uses a variety writing techniques to portray a terrifying example of structural violence, which is much more common than is acceptable in a moral society. Remen’s example
is just one of many societal problems that affect a large portion of the population because of systematic flaws in our laws which adhere to various lawmaker’s own personal interests or values. Exemplary, the narrator, through closer examination, found that despite our cultural and societal stereotypes, Delia was a mother of a sick child, rather than someone from the underbelly of society who is the mother of an abused child. Through various writing techniques the author is able convey the emotions of certain characters, which in turn helps the reader to better sympathize and understand the situation, and she also effectively uses her story to draw attention to certain thought issues and patterns that help enable structural violence.

Furthermore, Delia’s case effectively gives evidence to Remen’s point; structural problems exists in the medical world, and not only that, society in general has its flaws, illustrating her desire for a more progressive reformative society, a society in which we learn from past mistakes or unsupported biases to better ourselves. Open any page of history textbook and you will, more likely than not, find one of countless examples of prevailing structural violence. Remen depicts structural violence, as it relates to the traditional medical world, with regards to Delia and her arrestment, showing the difference between believing intuition without question, like the initial doctor, or how understanding Remen was of Delia by comparison. Utilizing Delia’s story, Remen is effectively able to exemplify structural violence and our natural inability to be in a constant state of awareness of our own personal or cultural bias. By showing that a misinformed doctor was about to misdiagnose Teejay, and have him taken away by the police, Remen efficiently creates a sense of sympathy among readers, depicting a real story to the readers to depict exactly how devastating structural violence can be.

Delia had remarked to Remen after her name was cleared and the police left, “They doan’ listen. I tole them I never hurt my baby but they doan’ hear. They never hears.” The inclination to believe that she abused her baby comes from a structurally induced bias against people with dark skin and the cultural tendency to believe the people like Delia, are guilty because of a misleading intuition coming from either ignorance or misinformation. The doctor, for example, even make the mistake of thinking that the birthmarks were bruises, even though according to Remen, about 70% of dark-skinned infants share similar traits, something that he should have knew before separating mother from child based on false intuitions. The doctor arrogantly had also been confident that Teejay was malnourished as well because of abuse, which ended clearly not being the case since he was constantly throwing up his food, and he entirely forgot or dismissed the idea that Teejay had pyloris stenosis and almost separated him his mother. clearly illustrating Remen’s central message in this short story and how the structural violence present in the society we live in.

Moreover, Remen’s masterful use of specific dialogue creates a better understanding of Delia’s personality through word choice. Had Remen simply chosen to rewrite what Delia said as, “They don’t listen, I told them I never hurt my baby, but they don’t listen… they don’t listen,” the sentence would lose what efficiently makes it emotional, the empathy Remen felt for Delia. Having that said, by using words that Delia said phonetically, the reader can have a more in-depth imagery regarding Delia and greater insight into Delia’s personality. While the first doctor dismissed Delia as societal filth, Remen accurately reviewed the symptoms and situation and made a judgement based on Delia’s response and through closer examination of unaccounted details.

Nonetheless, in the end, when Remen notifies Delia that Teejay would be her final patient, Delia gives the narrator a valuable personal belonging, “taking the little gold cross from around her neck, she reached out and put it around mine.” Regardless of your own religious views or beliefs, this is an incredibly symbolic gift clearly of some value to Delia, revealing how one small good deed could have a long-lasting impact on someone else’s life, Delia could bond and raise her child because of the one small dead that the narrator had done through closer examination of Teejay. This last paragraph is especially important in terms of illustrating to the reader just how much a small choice could end up drastically effecting someone’s life and how premeditated adamant judgements can cause ignorance regarding the real cause of a situation.

The author uses statements such as, “She was holding her baby tightly in her arms,” or “Hesitantly she told me how hungrily he fed and how he often vomited,” emphasizing just how much Delia cares for her child. Holding the baby “tightly” shows her unwillingness to part from her child, in addition, she “hesitantly” shares her child symptoms, to someone could possibly separate mother from child, to ensure that Teejay would be safe. The use of adverbs creates a sense of connection between mother and child, emphasizing how much Delia cared for her baby. Furthermore, Remen’s expert ability to convey a message within a story is unparalleled, describing Delia right off the bat in the context of a traditional criminal, “I first met Delia in the emergency room when the police arrested,” however, upon further details and context, regarding the baby’s symptoms and Delia’s bond, the reader is able formulate a much more positive image of her, as oppose to an opinion formed during the first or second sentence.

The reader can see the tremendous effect of Remen’s actions in Delia’s words a year and a half later, “You works for The Man, He take care of you. Doan’ worry. He take you where you need to go.” Remen’s word choice provides further evidence against the current flaws in the traditional medical world, showing that while Delia may not have the grammar, she is just as human as anyone else, and despite this, her baby was almost taken away for a misdiagnosis and dismissiveness within the medical staff with regards to her pleas. Remen uses the overwhelming presumable societal behavior of a specific demographic to the readers and shows just how different an impression can be from reality and its inherent negative consequences.

The narrator paints a vivid picture in the reader’s mind within the first sentence of the first paragraph, telling the reader, “I first met Delia in the emergency room when the police arrested her.” and briefly following, only in the second sentence, the reader learns that she just had a two-week year old child. Remen understands that based on past experiences and media influenced opinions, the reader is initially going to likely have a negative impression or opinion of Delia, but as the story progresses the reader begins to understand the nature of her situation and her lack of wrongdoings. Recognizing her innocence is a step towards a society where we structural violence is strongly admonished and we learn from our errors, and to take in to account personal biases are all crucial part in the creation of a utopian society that lack structural violence. In Remen’s story, by not disregarding Delia’s rights and immediately agreeing to the other doctor’s conclusion, she could diagnose Teejay for what he truly had, pyloris stenosis, and form a long-lasting bond with Delia and Teejay, learning a valuable life lesson about the value of understanding opposing outlooks, and empowering people in their healing.

Remen takes the reader through “The Final Patient” with careful consideration about what is healing and the and what is harmful, not only Delia’s case, but metaphorically modern healthcare and its entirety.
Her ideals concerning medicine are put as such, “medicine need[s] to change, […] ways [can] be found to care for people’s hearts and souls as well as their bodies, to empower people in their own healing.” What’s explicitly clear is that, what the original doctor had done was harmful and inconsiderate, while on the other hand, what Remen had done was helpful and, in the end, inspiring. Evidence formed from this anecdotal story shows us how Delia was misjudged by the medical staff and how her baby was almost taken away, despite her innocence. Remen heroically intervened and upon closer analysis could recognize a blatant misdiagnosis from a clearly unqualified doctor, and in turn, making a substantial difference in Delia’s life. In addition, Remen wrote regarding a visit, “Teejay had become a delicious and loving toddler. He shrieked and put up his arms to be hugged as soon as he saw me.” This sentence could have perhaps been added to emphasize how helpful and important she had been to Delia and Teejay, one small action can be the difference between a good or bad
life

Excellently, Remen utilizes dialogue to convey emotion and depict personalities, drawing the reader in to the story, and creating a sense of empathy with the three main characters. Take every one of the nine sentences of dialogue included in the short story, for example, where every statement is used to convey various emotions, irritability initially from the doctor, regret about leaving her job, Delia’s sadness about not being listened to, Delia’s happiness for what Remen did for her, and so on. Attachment to the central characters through relatability in this story is vital in the author getting across their ideology, otherwise we wouldn’t care what happened to Teejay and Delia, which in turn would make the story pointless and lacking a central message. The depiction of two emotionally relatable and interesting characters makes the message against structural violence in this story that much more understandable to the reader.

Remen’s expertise in pediatrics has made prevalent social awareness to and it the potential for systematic subjugation; in “The Final Patient” she uses an anecdote the uses merely one and half pages to create a passionate message, to the reader, by depicting social violence in the imperfect world of medicine.
Moreover, in each sentence Remen excellently uses punctuations which makes the story more understandable and enjoyable to read, she evokes sympathy through relatability, and she delivers a strong message about social violence in the emotionally dense telling in a mere one-and-a-half-page story. Social awareness is empirical to understanding injustice in various topics universally, particularly healthcare in “The Final Patient.” Recognizing social violence and the effect it has on other’s well-being is a crucial component in reforming these practices, such as ones that enable social injustices like Delia’s situation, progressing and sanctioning certain actions to move towards a moral society where more people are actively trying to increase awareness of social
violence.