Muriano 1

Jack Muriano
AP English 11
Meyer
Nov. 17, 2014
Plague Doctor
Ten years after the bloody losses at Columbine that shocked the entire nation, The CWord in the Hallways flowed from Quindlens pen, through the press, and into hearts of the
nation. Years later, it still strikes a chord with rising events in the world around us. In her piece,
Quindlen urges parents to reconsider how mental illness is defined and treated in America
through brazenly criticizing the ignorant populace of American adults and demanding
accountability by directly beseeching parents.
Like a renaissance doctor in a bird-mask, Quindlen begins by calling Plague! on all
our houses. Like those doctors of old, she aims to spread a sense of reasonable fear, and in
addition to their goals, also aims to purposefully elicit a feeling of sadness from her audience.
From the very first sentence, the reader is stunned by the directness of the piece, as Quindlen
discusses the psychological autopsy preformed on troubled child, post-breaking point. By
going right for the readers attention and blundering through the normal niceties, Quindlen shows
that she means business, and begins the raw ride readers are about to go on. By providing
numerous case studies as examples, the Author creates a feeling of sadness, anger, and maybe
even sympathy; feelings that might drive an audience to change something. In perfect timing, a
way out is offered- there is a vaccine! The cure to this plague is simple; move it to the
mainstream of health care.

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Now that the reader has begun to grasp that theres an issue and it can be solved,
Quindlen goes on the attack. Excuses, Excuses, she says vehemently, in a tone designed to
bring to mind an angry parent like she her looking down on the audience. In a line designed to
This line serves to inflame readers by belittling those who believe mental health issue are just
something kids need to get over to an almost child-like state of misbehavior themselves. Its
often partially the fault of the family itself, she states, with such points as Kip Kinkels father,
who had no desire to hide his disapproval of the therapy his son was going through, buying the
weapons-crazed child a pistol that would later be used on him among several others in the
worlds ultimate sense of irony. The system is to blame as well, with poorly operating
psychologists, often chosen by families for their price rather than their skill. The push Quindlen
makes here is to make the parents, the judges, the counselors, the families, and the rest of us
blame ourselves, and feel internal guilt and drive to make things right.
In case anyone wasnt convinced yet, Quindlen launches a third and final attack on our
emotions and logic. With harsh comparisons of treatment having gone from lobotomies to prison
time, and such raw facts as at least 6 million children in this country suffering under this
plague, she tries to prove to the audience that we really arent treating our sick relatives any
better. A logical approach states that intervention is cheaper than a life in prison. Think of the
children is the vibe being passed on here, as Quindlen plays with guilt using such phrases as if
only and providing much better potential endings to those case studies mentioned earlier. This
goes to convince us, as readers, that there IS a solution, and these children of ours, these people,
can be saved, if we take the right steps. If, instead of leaving so many of our children
metaphorically unvaccinated, we begin to standardize treatment.

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Through the piece, Quindlen works with anger, sadness, and guilt, using often-personal
attacks to drive the current and future parents of the world reading this to action. We, as a nation,
can prevent the further spread of this deadly disease without our own houses with simple steps
toward treatment. This is why Quindlen so vehemently calls upon the parents of the country to
change their ways, bring this to attention, and take some responsibility. If we do not take heed, if
we do not pay attention, if we do not give these issues the seriousness they deserve, well be
lucky to be living a life of guilty regret when someone snaps. If were not so lucky, well be
nothing more than another number on a newscast and a body bag to be removed for our own
autopsy after another child merelybreaks.

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First Draft
Mental health issues are a medical concern suited only to treatment by the best-trained
and qualified of medical professionals. While they may not be an infectious disease, it still ruins
```unavoidably hurt bystanders, random and no t, who have never been subject to it themselves.
Unlike any other disease, the symptoms can be near-impossible to detect even with the most
advanced of tools, especially if the patient doesnt want them to be detected. Unlike any other
disease, it often worsens other cases it comes into contact with. In The C-Word in the Hallway,
Quindlen expresses to her readers this need for education, understanding, and treatment of our
friends, out family, and the strangers we pass every day without ever knowing that theyre
considering stringing up some rope or pulling a trigger, rather than the continuing dismissal of
the entire issue as a problem of attitude or mindset.
Psychological Autopsy. A powerful phrase in and of itself. Quindlen drops that
particular term in the very first line, catching the readers attention and setting a sober, serious
tone. This is an article about death, about misguided and sick children who kill themselves,
others, or both. If the reader wasnt focus enough yet, the author then imparts a resounding clang
of solemnity by metaphorically comparing the runaway path of unseen mental, unseen by most,
to an unannounced plague throughout our quiet suburbs and busy cities. To emphasize that
its youths shes talking about children with bloody hands, Quindlen uses the imposing phrase
murder suspects with acne problems. She sets the tone and engages the viewer in the very first
paragraph, and only then lays out her goals of ending the ignorance about mental health and
moving it from the margins of care. By ending that set of ideas with a simile comparing such a
course to a vaccine in terms of lives saved, the author uses connation to deliver the message that
treatment for mental issues is a valid medical course of action that is safe and entirely necessary.

Muriano 5

Over the next several paragraphs, the author uses word choices with heavy connotation
like luring alongside pure facts to imply and enforce that mental illness is dangerous. Quindlen
expresses disgust this those who consider the whole deal childish with diction like ludicrous
[spankings] and excuses, excuses by adults as to why these children were never treated. Some
tsy, but are stymied by costs, attitudes, and other parents. Further conveying her attitude towards
those who dismiss these problems are both the fact of incredible irony that in one of her chosen
examples, the father bought his son, in the middle of treatment for an obsession with violence, a
pistol he was later murdered with, and her statement that the other was assessed not to be an
issue in less time than it takes to eat a happy meal. The juxtaposition there drives home the
renewed fact that these are children were dealing with here.
As the essay draws nearer to its end, Quindlen reviews the not long passed methods of
treatment for these injured people, with such popular methods as lobotomies being considered
acceptable treatment not too long ago. While that may have left them to peacefully but
brainlessly loll away their days, harsh juxtaposition deliver the message that now lots of them
wind up in jail, displaying that our methods today are only slightly less barbaric. In case that
particular appeal to emotion failed, she switches rapids to logos, logically stating that curing is a
lot less expensive than a life of care in a cell. Rapidly rebounding back to pathos, she pleads for
our hearts by comparing the lack of treatment for two thirds of our injured young ones to a
failure to vaccinate them; by connotation, a standard, necessary medical procedure. The harsh
and plain reality of her writing continues- Fathers who sissify talking about problems may
soon have to put a name on a cadaver. Quindlen softens no blows. Finally, she hits on the what
ifs inside us all with a string of commonly felt rhetorical if onlys that strike at the readers
personal guilt and intends to drive them to action.

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Throughout her piece, Qindlen uses steely and uncensored phrases and harsh
juxtaposition to hammer in the severity of her argument. She continually compares treatment to
existing accepted medical procedures to confirm its legitimacy, and gives warning of the
consequences otherwise. Mental illness is a dangerous, terrible, but ultimately treatable disease,
with the right actions, and Quindlen does an excellent job of using every method at her disposal
to send this message to the reader.