Mark Twain's 'The Topic Of Cancer'

In "The Topic of Cancer" the author is very detailed and wanting to grab your complete attention. He was very successful in his writing skills being able to attract his readers as he seemed to have a lot of readers. He used the phrase "shackled to my own corpse" and "Feeling like death." Very strong phrases. When he woke up and stated that he felt like death, it more so meant that he was not himself. He was very sick. It was more of a sudden sickness. He had also stated that he felt like he was "shackled to his own corpse" which meant that he felt like he could not move or breath. He felt as if something had taken over his body leaving him mentally paralyzed. This has happened to me once. I had become so scared I could not move or let out a scream. One of the claims that was made was "The whole cave of my chest and thorax seemed to have been hollowed out and then refilled with slow-drying cement." With lung and heart issues this would be a very normal feeling. Most would describe lots of pressure but this author took this a lot farther with detail and explaining the sensation he was feeling. It would be hard to argue what he was feeling unless one had experienced the same issue. I would however say …show more content…
The author used very powerful words and phrases to help his readers understand fully how he was feeling. We know at a certain point cancer just is not able to be defeated anymore. We also know that at sometimes a patient will refuse treatment. Mentally patients are scared, alone and feel defeated. It is like that saying, “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” We have all heard that saying. When it comes to cancer that saying rings true one hundred percent. We will all eventually face death. Most of us it will be unexpected. The author has been given a timeline of when he should expect to die. This is something mentally our bodies and minds are not fully prepared to be ready