Nancy Mairs A.K.A. "crippled"

Nancy Mairs is mentally strong and passionate. She refuses to indulge in the societies way of feeling sorry for those who are unfortunate, as in her case. She repudiates the very thought of social protection for her “unable” limbs. Mairs is an independent individualist who refuses to seek refuge for her “crippled” body.

The word choice used by any writer can portray or hide any of the author’s points or secrets. Nancy Mairs uses repetitive diction in which she repeats words such as “handicapped”, “disabled”, and “crippled” in order to propel her self-definition across to the reader. Mairs uses a mediocre choice of language in her passage that allows her to be clear and precise as simply stated in line15, ““Cripple” seems to me a clean word, straightforward and precise.” thus showing how “cripple” is a clear and accurate adjective for herself. The well educated Mairs, proven in line 16 “…it has an honorable history, having its first appearance in Lindisfane Gospel…” uses her diction accordingly to her story. She applies different and variant lingo in order to be understood.

A rhetorical structure, by all means, is relevant to this type of explanation. Mairs uses metaphoric phrases such as in line 24 “…my god is not a handicapper general, in order to equalize the great race of life.” to show her sense of humor yet prove herself to be crippled and not handicapped. Also, Mairs uses this rhetorical structure to add clarification to her explanations. Mentioning “gods”, “fates”, and “viruses” in her justification gives it a 3-dimentional view that will allow more than just one group of society to understand her.

Nancy Mairs, keeping “cool” through her passage, refuses to neither go off topic nor change her tone. Nancy Mairs sticks with a serious, almost professor-like, tone all through her explanation.