second close reading

http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/10/16/when-a-daughter-dies/

In "When a Daughter Dies," the narrator tells the story of his daughter's brief battle with insurmountably aggressive cancer in two ways: as a father, and as a doctor. The style of the piece is very concrete and precise, much like a medical report. The sentences are short and free of fluff, the diction is emotionless, and the details provided are almost exclusively on the illness and procedure. His description of the chronicle is emotionless; he himself puts it best: "Although painful, I am capable of describing the events of my daughter’s illness.  When I try to describe my despair and grief, words fail." However, while emotion may not be overtly expressed in the piece, its presence is implied by the narrator's use of syntax, imagery, and specific details.

Levitt's use of the passive voice shows how impersonal the hospital care system is: "A relationship is formed with a local oncologist, the neck mass is biopsied, and my daughter is discharged to await biopsy results.  Four days later, the biopsy is read as non-small cell carcinoma of the lung.  We are told that in young women who have never smoked this tumor occasionally may have a favorable genotype that renders it susceptible to chemotherapy." The lack of agents for these actions shows that they are dealing with some distant, faceless entity instead of friendly doctors.

Some of the diction in the piece also conveys Levitt's frustration. In a particularly strong example, he says that "... the MRI result has converted my daughter into an ambulance case and me into a very nervous, distressed father. " The system converts his daughter into something other than a human with a family; she's another patient, or a number. Levitt and his daugther are dealing with an impersonal system that doesn't care about them.

The information Levitt presents, and often the way he presents it, also hints at his emotions. The closest Levitt comes to expressing his fears overtly is when he creates the image of the illness being "a genetically altered monster [that] is running rampant in my daughter’s body." Additionally, Levitt expresses his thoughts in a very short sentenced, specifically placed at the end of a long paragraph for emphasis in the following excerpt: "The response to my son-in-law’s query if some treatment can be started immediately is that no treatment is better than mis-directed treatment.  She is scheduled to return to the referral center in four days to begin chemotherapy.  I fear there will be no return visit. " The final sentence is a chilling conclusion to the preceding paragraph, and begins to show how chilling the situation was for Levitt. Essentially in the same vein of thought is Levitt's attempts to get ice chips for his daughter: "Immediately upon arrival, my daughter  asks for something which, with difficulty, I determine to be ice chips.  I ask the nurse for ice chips.  Her response is that nothing can be “administered” until ordered by the doctor.   I tell her I am the doctor, and I want the patient to have ice chips.  I am told I am not the admitting physician and cannot give orders.   She ignores my request to show me the location of the ice machine. "