Running Dream By Wendelin Van Draanen: Character Analysis

Imagine you’re a normal person, just living life going through the motions of your average uneventful day. It’s not hard to picture – it’s how most of us live. You’re simply going to school or your job, maybe out for a drink or two – like everyone else – but then unexpectedly someone stops and tells you how brave you are for it, that you’ve inspired them. Weird, right? You haven’t done anything exciting, doing your usual daily routine. But someone takes their time to tell you how great it is that you’re out and about despite your “condition”. That it’s wonderful for you to have the “will to survive”. That if they were you, they’d have “killed themselves by now.” You’d be offended, right? Unfortunately this is a regular occurrence – many

In the passage, Nancy Mairs, who has multiple sclerosis, calls herself “a cripple.” Mairs presents herself in the passage by using rhetorical features such as tone, word choice, and rhetorical structure. Among other vocabulary possibilities, she specifically choose cripple to be the word that describes her. Why she choose this word, she wasn’t really sure. Perhaps because the word cripple doesn't hide the truth from the outside: “ I have long since grown accustomed to them; and if they are vague, at least they hint at the truth.”

Harriet McBryde Johnson was born in 1957 with a neuromuscular disease. At the time of this essay, she had been disabled for over four decades. Born to parents who both taught foreign language, they were able to afford hired help but she knew it could not be for her whole life. She graduated from law school in 1985 and went on to champion for disability rights. In the spring of 2002, McBryde Johnson testified in front of a subcommittee of the South Carolina State Senate in support of a bill that later became a law. This law created an exemption from the state definition of “nursing” to allow any person with a disability the right to choose who

“2.2 million people in the United States depend on a wheelchair for day-to-day tasks and mobility. 6.5 million people use a cane, a walker, or crutches to assist with their mobility”. Every single day, people varying in ages, struggle to live their lives due to conditions out of their control. Whether it be life threatening or not, it can have effects that are both socially and emotionally harming. Although some of them may change appearances on the outside, other people cannot forget that all people, not matter the disability, have brains and personalities of their own that may not be seen to the human eye. The book Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, shares the story of Melody, a girl who is much more than her cerebral palsy: she is brilliant.

The novel Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes effectively explores the complex human experiences of disability and the impact that it has on individuals and society through its three major themes; Self-realisation , Alienation and loneliness and treatment of the mentally disabled by society. Through these themes this response will highlight the difficulties experienced by people with disabilities and the people in their lives.

Rosa welcomes her by calling her sausmench but she still loves Liesel very much. When she went to sleep Liesel hid “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” under her bed, even though she couldn’t read it was a memory. For the first few months she was there, she would have nightmares about her family and it led to wetting the bed. One night she when she wet the bed, Hans came to clean it up and he found the book. She told him how she wants to learn how to read to know if the grave diggers buried her brother even though Hans only went to school until 4th grade.

People with disabilities and their caretakers are stigmatized for not being able to keep up, but they are not viewed as not having a “real” disability if they are too productive. Instead of viewing this as a symptom for their disease or disability, Hillyer believes this is a healthier way of living, and she encourages her readers to adopt similar techniques for managing their responsibilities. She especially criticizes the unrealistic, fast-paced speed that women are expected to maintain, despite personal obstacles. Hillyer, having lived in the intersection between the feminist and disability communities for most of her life, emphasizes the importance of allowing women to abandon the traditional concept of a highly productive “superwoman” and instead replace it with the knowledge that every woman dealing with a disease or disability, in themselves or loved ones, is a

Nancy Mairs, a feminist writer who has Multiple Sclerosis, defines the terms in which she interest the most with the world. Nancy Mairs will name herself a cripple and not be by others. She will choose a word that represents her reality for example in the beginning of her story she mentioned about her being in the bathroom trying to come up with a story about cripples. She was in the handicap bathroom and when she tried to open the door she fell, landing fully clothed on the toilet seat with her legs splayed in front of her and she said “the old beetle -on-it’s back routine.” not only does she make fun of herself, but she also has a great sense of humor. The little details she puts on her stories will make you picture it in your mind. She just doesn't want her readers to see her as a handicap person, but a person who wants the world to see her as a tough woman. One whom the fates, gods, viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her disabilities.

As an individual who developed a serious case of multiple sclerosis, Nancy Mairs begins to see herself in a different way, not as a normal person but as a “cripple”. As she opens with “I am a cripple.”. The disease ripped away her ability to walk. The disease allowed her to realize the deeper meaning of derogatory terms, such as “disabled” or “handicapped, especially the term “cripple”. The disease redrew her personal sketch, becoming something though physically lacking, yet resilient beyond comparison. By combining rhetorical strategies with rhetorical appeals, Mairs presents herself in a way that invokes an emotional response from the reader.

Firstly, the different types of Rosaleen’s suffering endure for the remainder of her life. Then the various impacts of discrimination suffered by April and how it leads her to end her life. Finally, May surrenders due to the numerous sufferings in the world that drive her to take away her life. Ultimately, racial discrimination engraves a lifelong physical and psychological suffering in people. Therefore, no one deserves to go through such suffering, not even

Scott Hamilton once stated, “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” Disability is only an obstacle in a person's life, but it does not set the identity of that person. John Steinbeck's novel shows how disabled people are treated differently by writing about their heartbreak and sorrow. Many individuals with disabilities feel that a disability is a wall blocking them from achieving their goals. In our society, people are told what to be and what to do with their disability, but one should have the choice to carve their pathway to success. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrayed a political statement by looking at mental and physical disabilities through different characters such as Curley's Wife, Crooks, and Lennie.

In the passage Nancy Mairs calls herself cripple. She uses different rhetorical mode and devices such as similes to the reader an emotional appeal. In the passage cripple is used to symbolize handicap and disabled. This gives the reader an emotional appeal to how she’s feeling. Nancy Mairs being called handicap lowers confidence, making her feel weak. When people hear handicap they think not able to care for themselves. Nancy wants to be known as a tough individual able to take care of herself. The reader can feel the agony of what Nancy is feeling. The tone of this passage is determination and agony. Nancy feels that cripple is more stronger word than “handicap” or ‘disabled.” The word word cripple gives Nancy hope and strength and makes her a strong individual. But her having to go through agony and pain of being called handicap or disabled, doesn’t give her the confidence she needs. Even though Nancy calls herself cripple to give hope and strength. Cripple symbolizes weak, meaning not being able to take care of herself but in this passage cripple symbolizes confidence and strength.

Waist High In the World is a novel that focuses on the importance of accepting everyone with dignity and respect despite their disabilities and differences. The author of the book, Nancy Mairs purpose when writing the book was to create awareness and share her experience as a “cripple” in order to create consciousness and understanding of those who are going through the same process. Mairs uses different persuasive strategies to convince readers to want a world with people like her in it, this includes the use of pathos, logos and ethos.

“I don’t know if many people know this about me, but I have multiple sclerosis. So I don’t have time for a lot of shades of gray . I don’t have time for BS.” - Neil Cavuto. In “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs discusses the language of American society while including personal accounts of her struggle with multiple sclerosis (MS). Mairs presents herself as a proud individual through her utterly defiant personality, her word choice in deciding to identify as a cripple, and explaining why other socially accepted euphemisms do not define her.

The motion picture Rust and Bone was released in 2012 and starred actors Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts. This film depicts the story of a young lady named Stephanie who has to come to terms with the mental and physical repercussions of a work-related accident. This is intertwined with the story of a wayward father named Ali and his journey to understanding love. Throughout the film, Stephanie, the young lady who loses her legs while at work, must not only come to terms with her newfound disability but must also confront a society that no longer sees her in the same regard as those who do not have a disability. The maltreatment and avoidance that Stephanie faces from a society that once accepted her as one of its own is not uncommon