Analysis Of The Surgeon As Priest

While the science versus faith argument has existed for centuries, only rarely do they ever work hand in hand. Richard Selzer, author of The Surgeon as Priest, breaks the barrier and explores the contrast between the two ideas, likening them, while breaking his piece into five distinct parts to help himself and the reader analyze it. Selzer uses process analysis, transition between first, second, and third person perspective, a plethora of literary techniques, as well as evocative syntax and diction to explore the conflict between religious anomalies and scientific conviction to propose his purpose, discussing in an almost interrogative fashion - when does zeal become iniquity? To start off his essay, Selzer begins talking directly to the

However when Joe refused an operation to save his life, Selzer was stunned because he was sure the cancer would render Joe lifeless. Instead, Joe used holy water from a religious phenomenon in Lourdes that simply cured Joe, “Where once there had been a bitten-out excavation, moist and shaggy, there is now a fragile bridge of shiny new skin” (Para. 28). Selzer wonders “Could such a man, I think as I sip my coffee, could such a man have felt the brush of wings? How often it seems that the glory leaves as soon as the wound is healed. But then it is saints who bloom in martyrdom, becoming less and less the flesh that pains, more and more ghost-colored weightlessness” (Para 33). While analyzing this section of the essay, one could have conflicting thoughts; one side wants to believe in miracles while one side wants a definitive answer. Again the use of evocative diction and syntax draw the reader in closer for a better insight, while the perspective of the story that Selzer provides allows for understanding. The anaphora-like sentence structure with the periphrases or allusion like reference in the