Selzer Knife

Selzer’s unique style in this essay helps convey his depiction of the knife. He states that the knife is a powerful object as it has great influence and control over the surgeon and patient,
Selzer starts his essay with his personal description of the knife. The first sentence of the essay, “One holds the knife as one hold the bow of a cello or a tulip, --by the stem”(1), puts forth a seemingly illogical comparison. By comparing a knife - a weapon with a negative connotation - to a mutual object, a cello bow, and a positive one, a tulip, he questions the audience’s previous understanding of knives and their evil. Selzer’s statement describes the method of holding a knife, something that seems purposeless to the audience at this point in …show more content…
He states how he feels that his job is similar to a priest. “ In the beginning there are vows… there is the endless .... training, much fatigue, much sacrifice…At last one emerges close to the truth.” Like a priest, a doctor take vows in order to pledge their dedication to their field. Both also have to complete vigorous training. However, the most striking resemble is the fact that the priest is under the supernatural powers of religion and operates influenced by god while the surgeon, as Selzer claims, operates under the influence of the knife. Right after this comparison, Selzer starts another comparison. He compares his surgery to the imagination of a traveler, a “...traveler in a dangerous country, advancing into the moist and jungly cleft your hands have made… The blind must know this feeling well…No! No! Do not touch the spleen … a manta ray in a coral cave”(8). The basis for this comparison is the fact that the traveler is unsure of where he is headed. He is blindly headed to his destination. This parallels the surgeon as he is not in control of what he is doing so he is also blind. Selzer parallels the scene of the traveler to the surgery by going back and forth between the two with similarities in both situations. For example, he states that “there is risk everywhere” when referring to the traveler roaming the country. However, with the next line that frantically starts off warning against …show more content…
As the son of a doctor he was frequently exposed to the hospital, especially the Operating Room. He describes the hospital in a positive light but describes the surgery room and surgery as ‘dreadful’ and ‘awful’. The young and innocent child, which was scared of surgery at first grows up and studies to be a surgeon, feels stronger and more heroic, especially with the power of the knife. However, the power of the knife also causes fear within the surgeon. This fear is present throughout the beginning of the essay but it is not stated explicitly. For example, Selzer compares the knife to a car in order to show its power, but readers only think of it positively. Driving a car can be also be dreadful. A vehicle can have an accident and injure or kill the passengers inside. Likewise, a knife also has many apparent dangers. Any wrong move with the knife can cause death within a patient. This idea was expressed with the metaphor of the knife to a traveler. In an unknown land, any wrong path can lead you to danger similar to how a knife can accidently rupture the spleen and cause an hemorrhage. This double meaning of the knife parallels to the introduction of the essay in which Selzer describes the knife as “...cold, gleaming...”(1). The knife represents hope to its patients, but at the same time it shows fear to both the patient and surgeon. Selzer represents the idea of fear by

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