Throughout this chapter, Livingston utilizes a wide array of anecdotal evidence to provide an in-depth understanding of the social dynamics at play in the process of pain. To lay the framework of this discussion, there is a contrast between two major understandings of pain. On one hand, Elaine Scarry concluded that pain is an individualized experience that is strongly understood by the victim while Talal Asad claimed that a major aspect of pain is the social response and interaction with others. Asad’s view is more in-line with the author’s view and she utilizes an anecdote of the Kaposi’s sarcoma patient, M, and how the social context surrounding his amputation—and need for reamputation—was greatly affected by the social cues of those in
