Selzer: Building Vocabulary  1. Japanese: miniature tree or landscape  2. French: a hiding place  3. French: a bastardization of “ quelque chose ” : delicacies, toys, trifles

Selzer:Ideas  1. To assemble more fully evidence about his patient.  2. At first glance he has “ the appearance of vigor and good health ”, but then we see that his skin is sickly brown from his disease, presumably cancer. He says that his eyes are “ looking inward. ” Because in his initial actions he is silent, but then he asks Selzer for the time.

Selzer: Ideas  3. A horrible peacefulness — that is, the disease which will soon lay him to rest.  4. He has “ no get-well cards, small, private caches of food, day-old flowers, slippers, all the usual kick-shaws of the sickroom.

Selzer: Ideas  5. He wants the doctor to bring a pair of shoes. This is a kind of bitter self- mockery because he is legless and on his deathbed.  6. Presumably from frustration, bitterness, to attract attention, and to demonstrate some final potency.

Selzer: Ideas  7. Because she feels he has a nasty temper and he is difficult to care for.  8. He has a kind of wonder and pity about him. Selzer is constantly “ a spy looking for secrets ” from his patients.

Selzer: Techniques  1. A dying man, hopelessly ill, maintains his independency and vibrancy with a repeated gesture of defiance. The thesis is implied.  2. These questions are addressed simultaneously to the reader and to the author himself, so that we may share--

Techniques  2. Or conspire — arriving at a conclusion and feeling. The questions are:  A. “ Ought not a doctor … evidence? ” (1)  B. “ Is he mute … blind? ” (3)  C. “ What is he … blink? ” (19)  E. “ Does he … feet? ” (19)  F. “ of when … log? ” (19)

Selzer: Techniques  3. (AMV)  A. “ And the blue eyes … snowbound cottage. ” (2)  )B. “… he remains impressive, … a slanting deck (20)

Selzer: TechniquesTechniques  4. The short sentences focus our attention quickly, sharply, and dramatically. Examples include:  A. “ I spy on my patients. ” (1)  B. “ This man is blind. ” (2)  C. And then he laughs. ” (34)  D. “ Nothing. ” (49)

Selzer: Techniques  5. Emotionally, they compound the feeling of the all-pervasiveness of the sickness. Example include:  A. “ It is rusted …” (2)  B. “ the look of a bonsai … great tree ” (2)  C. “ he shakes his head … suffering ” (3)  D. “ the black scabs and the dead, glazed fat (19)  E. “ A shard of white bone came loose ” (19)

Selzer: Techniques  6. By what they say and the ways in which they speak, we get to understand the patient ’ s bitterness, the doctor ’ s fascination and empathy, and the nurse ’ s cold practicality.

Selzer: Techniques  7. The sick man ’ s irony — or cynicism-is a displaced anger, shame, and bitterness. The man would, in fact, love to be able to “ walk away ” from his condition.

Selzer: Techniques  8. A discus thrower is a fully capable, strong athlete. The title is ironic because the patient throws the plate of food with power, but without any of the results of the athlete.

Selzer: Techniques  9. To create an effect of strangeness, an out-of-the-ordinary environment, and ironically to call attention to the lack of delicacy in the situation.

Selzer: Techniques  10. It ’ s a blessing that he ’ s out of his pain and misery; for the nurse it ’ s also a relief to be rid of this troublesome patient.

Techniques  11. The fact that he is a spy. It is effective because it gives a contained perspective. In the beginning, he spies for evidence about the living and the disease; in the end, he spies on the secrets of death.

Selzer:Techniques  12. (AWV) See IDEAS, answer 6. Rather than analyze the action, Selzer prefers that it stand as a symbolic gesture.