In Killing my body to
save my mind, Dr. Lauren Slater, a Harvard graduate who holds a Ph.D. in
psychology, tells her experience of living in Dualism. The idea that the mind
is one thing and the body is another. Slater purposely destroys her body by
taking an antidepressant called Zyprexa, causing her to gain a huge amount of
weight risking diabetes and cancers, in order to restore her happiness. Dr. Slater’s
main goal is to show the reader that choosing the health of ones’ mind is more
important than the health of ones’ body. Therefore, her primary audience is
others suffering from depression that must make the same choice she did. Due to
the fact that Slater is recalling her own experiences allows the imagery and
figurative language much more effective forms of rhetoric. She writes, “At
night, the darkness was intense, all-consuming, like liquid coal I tried to
move through” (Slater 256). The author uses this simile to show her reasoning
for choosing her mind. It allows the reader to get a sense of how she was
feeling, for her, the black thickness her mind was facing, was way worse the
thick flesh she wears now. “I can practically feel the sugar in my blood,
practically here the crystals clanking. I can see myself living at the cusp of
a physical mishap, perhaps even disaster” (Slater 260). This use of imagery
helps attain her purpose it suggests to the reader that she understands the
dangers she is in but still has no regrets with her decision. Personally, I do
not believe she argues her purpose effectively. Though I do believe her writing
was vivid and interesting I do not believe her main goal for writing this essay
was achieved.
This image is of former left tackle for the Jaguars, Richard Collier, who was shot 14 times, paralyzed from the waste down and lost his left leg. Although he did not choose to "kill his body", as Slater did, he is still staying positive and finding a new purpose in life. He is using his mind instead of his body to make him happy.
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