Anita Vacation
Ms. Liu
AP Lang. & Comp., P. 9
11/13/10
The Cripple
“I am a cripple. I choose this word to name me.” As the opening to Nancy Mairs’s essay,
this quote indicates her confidence and acceptance of the condition with which she lives:
multiple sclerosis. Her tolerance of this harsh reality drives the essay through a series of
arguments, as she utilizes pathos, logos, and ethos to communicate her opinion. With a cynical
realism, Mairs criticizes the vagueness with which society describes controversial subjects. But
despite her disillusionment with such terminology, she understands that only she can accept her
life for what it is. The author justifies her choice of the world “cripple” by clarifying its
connotation through rhetorical structure and argument, but also by using it to indicate acceptance
of her own reality.
Opening her writing and expressing her opinions without hesitation, Mairs has a tone of
confidence and honesty from the very first lines. She expresses the way she hopes people to react
to the word “cripple” by saying: “Perhaps I want them to wince…to see me as a tough
customer…who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely” (lines 10-13). This quote
features rhetorical structure, allowing the author to connect to her reader, grasping attention and
respect. Through pathos, any reader can empathize with her desire for pity, for recognition as a
“tough customer.” To justify her word choice through fact rather than emotion, the author
utilizes logos within an exposition. She claims “cripple” has “an honorable history,” (lines 1617). Going on to specify its origins in the 10th century Lindisfarne Gospel, she provides a
connotation of purity to contrast with the negative light commonly given to the word. This
discussion of the term as being accurate, clean, and honest, allows the reader to see a logical
reasoning behind her term preference.
After the dramatic reveal of Nancy Mairs’s condition, the tone and utilization of
rhetorical tools change noticeably. She argues the superiority of “cripple” over similar terms like
“handicapped” or “disabled.” To her, these terms imply a lesser degree of infliction, “widening
the gap between word and reality” (line 28). In targeting the “semantic hopefulness” with which
society approaches such harsh realities as poor countries, she accuses society of coining
meaningless terminology. A bit cynical, she references George Orwell’s thesis to support her
own, claiming that certain words are devalued by their vagueness. This argument, with a
confident but harsh tone, leads into her conclusion. Realistically addressing the hopefulness of
society, she compares avoidance of such controversial topics as “death, war, sex, sweat, or
wrinkles” (line 53) to the way a person may wince at crippledness. Having established her ethos,
Mairs acknowledges an acceptance of society’s fear of that which they cannot control.
With confidence and strength, Nancy Mairs argues her opinion, illustrates her reality.
Connecting through pathos, the reader is able to sympathize with the tragedy of her infliction,
while logos justifies the purity of “cripple” in contrast to its common connotation. By criticizing
society for the dilution of terms for those who are “handicapped” or “disabled,” the author
appears cynical, but later seems more realistic in recognizing her ethos. Society is unable to
accept her reality, as it is unable to accept poverty or wrinkles, for only she has experienced her
situation. With this experience of the most horrible of physical disabilities, Nancy Mairs can
accept her condition like no others can; only she can call herself a cripple.