The Irony of Being A Consciously Unconscious Standout
Lisa I. Iezzoni’s text entitled Standout is a prime example of one of Arthur Frank’s narrative forms; quest narrative. A quest narrative comprises illness as a “journey”. In Standout, the reader is taken on a journey of the author’s life (mainly in relation to her career) living with multiple sclerosis (MS). The achievements and success as well as the struggles and barriers that Iezzoni faced throughout her career are displayed in this narrative. However, the establishment of the quest narrative framework of this text is merely the backdrop for the main focus of this essay. This paper will discuss Iezzoni’s use of the figurative language of irony –unconsciously – to relay her illness narrative to the reader. From the onset, Iezzoni’s (2014) use of the word ‘standout’ as her title gives the reader the impression that the essay will discuss how someone or a group of people have excelled above others. Yet, almost immediately, the author shuts down this notion by stating that the word standout is an “artful metaphor” (Iezzoni, 2014, p. 97) that was used to describe who she could have been – if not for her disability. The author herself labels this use of figurative language as “unintentional irony” (p. 97). The unintentional ironies that are unknowingly present within her essay is what the remainder of this paper will discuss. “If the ADA had existed when my career began, I (ironically) might not have achieved the success that I did” (Iezzoni, 2014, p. 97). The unintentional irony of this quote is the fact that although Iezzoni (2014) viewed the American Disabilities Act (ADA) has something that could have been impediment to her rise to success; however, it is now regarded as one of her chief support systems; “It [ADA] is my touchstone, my backstop” (p. 97). In this quest narrative, the author takes us on a journey of how her acceptance into the medical profession was not as forthcoming as Iezzoni would have liked due to one of the four tensions discovered by Arthur Frank in his paper, Being A Good Story: The Humanities as Therapeutic Practice, that often occur when one …show more content…
98). This utterance by the CEO of a major academic medical centre, demonstrates the unintentional irony of having unlimited time to train the vast number of medical professionals but no time whatsoever to train just one person with a disability. Was it because the task was too challenging? Perhaps; however, many would argue that training one person takes less effort and is less time-consuming than training hundreds of people. The CEO’s statement also exhibits the unintentional irony of a medical professional claiming that there is no need for any more medical professionals. The irony is in the fact that he is stating this while dining at a function in which he is surrounded by medical …show more content…
“…my early academic recognition…resulted from my response to profound fear: fear of being fired, dismissed because of my disability” (Iezzoni, 2014, p. 98). Iezzoni’s fear of dismissal and rejection which, ironically, stemmed from previous incidents is what has made her into what she is today.
Standout, is an essay with the conceptual framework of a quest narrative, which details the illness journey of author Iezzoni. Iezzoni uses the figurative language of irony to document her narrative. However, it is the unintentional ironies embedded deep within her essay for the reader to discover, that truly make it a
Lisa I. Iezzoni’s text entitled Standout is a prime example of one of Arthur Frank’s narrative forms; quest narrative. A quest narrative comprises illness as a “journey”. In Standout, the reader is taken on a journey of the author’s life (mainly in relation to her career) living with multiple sclerosis (MS). The achievements and success as well as the struggles and barriers that Iezzoni faced throughout her career are displayed in this narrative. However, the establishment of the quest narrative framework of this text is merely the backdrop for the main focus of this essay. This paper will discuss Iezzoni’s use of the figurative language of irony –unconsciously – to relay her illness narrative to the reader. From the onset, Iezzoni’s (2014) use of the word ‘standout’ as her title gives the reader the impression that the essay will discuss how someone or a group of people have excelled above others. Yet, almost immediately, the author shuts down this notion by stating that the word standout is an “artful metaphor” (Iezzoni, 2014, p. 97) that was used to describe who she could have been – if not for her disability. The author herself labels this use of figurative language as “unintentional irony” (p. 97). The unintentional ironies that are unknowingly present within her essay is what the remainder of this paper will discuss. “If the ADA had existed when my career began, I (ironically) might not have achieved the success that I did” (Iezzoni, 2014, p. 97). The unintentional irony of this quote is the fact that although Iezzoni (2014) viewed the American Disabilities Act (ADA) has something that could have been impediment to her rise to success; however, it is now regarded as one of her chief support systems; “It [ADA] is my touchstone, my backstop” (p. 97). In this quest narrative, the author takes us on a journey of how her acceptance into the medical profession was not as forthcoming as Iezzoni would have liked due to one of the four tensions discovered by Arthur Frank in his paper, Being A Good Story: The Humanities as Therapeutic Practice, that often occur when one …show more content…
98). This utterance by the CEO of a major academic medical centre, demonstrates the unintentional irony of having unlimited time to train the vast number of medical professionals but no time whatsoever to train just one person with a disability. Was it because the task was too challenging? Perhaps; however, many would argue that training one person takes less effort and is less time-consuming than training hundreds of people. The CEO’s statement also exhibits the unintentional irony of a medical professional claiming that there is no need for any more medical professionals. The irony is in the fact that he is stating this while dining at a function in which he is surrounded by medical …show more content…
“…my early academic recognition…resulted from my response to profound fear: fear of being fired, dismissed because of my disability” (Iezzoni, 2014, p. 98). Iezzoni’s fear of dismissal and rejection which, ironically, stemmed from previous incidents is what has made her into what she is today.
Standout, is an essay with the conceptual framework of a quest narrative, which details the illness journey of author Iezzoni. Iezzoni uses the figurative language of irony to document her narrative. However, it is the unintentional ironies embedded deep within her essay for the reader to discover, that truly make it a