Still Alice for Journal of Medical Ethics - myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theStill Alice for Journal of Medical Ethics. Answer: John Howland is the husband of Alice. He is a professor of Biochemistry at the Harvard University and his wife Alice Howland is a psychology professor in Harvard. She is proud with her intelligence as well as command of language. Her husband John was equally brilliant. Their three kids were also settled in their own lives. There should not have any problem in the life of these two couples and marked by success. However, this happy existence seemed to be cursed by the disease that Alice was suffering in. Her rapidly worsening condition due to significant lapse of memory created tension in their lives (Mendes, 2015). Alzheimer's affected her career as well as her conjugal life. Alice was continuing to increase her self-control after she came to know about her ailment. She knew that she would be engulfed by the negative effects of the disease gradually. Therefore, the readers find her to cope up with her own and preferring not to disclose anything to her husband. Initially she thought her situation to be a consequence of financial stress or a symptom of menopause. She herself visited a doctor and done with necessary diagnosis (Davis, 2014). After knowing the true reason, she wanted to continue her life in a normal fashion and not like a patient. She celebrated birthday with Anna and Tom usually but it was the moment the doubts started brooding. She was gradually losing memories related to her course materials that she was supposed to teach in her class. She remained in Cambridge and forgot to attend the Chicago conference. She started to forget recognising known people. She hides everything from her family members as she did not want loose dignity as well as self. Johns attempt to understand Alices disease: As a husband John Howland was trying to cover the diagnosing initially. He eventually becomes the primary caretaker of his wife and sorrowing over her diseased wife but cannot express emotions positively. Gradually, he fails to remain by Alices side as Alzheimer robbed her of herself. He leaves her wife for a new professional chance at the end. All the promises of marriage and love between them became non-existent. Some analysts may consider that he could not bear Alices thought of committing suicide but the author has portrayed Johns character to demonstrate the helplessness and isolation od Alice (Genova, 2014). Therefore, final chapter records Johns selfishness and abundance of his ailing wife. The novel records the relationship between a mother and a daughter. The emotional ties that Lydia shared with her ailing mother is reflected in her act. Alice pathetically had lost all emotional attachments where she often mistook her daughter to be her sister. This scene is the most hard-hitting, most humane and most surprising. It was love that she needed from her husband and children but devoid of. Her recognition of that forgotten emotion displayed that Alice was still capable of feeling. She identified herself to be a mother friend and most importantly a wife. She stated that though her situation was no better but still she could feel and listen. She listened more carefully to others than she used to do it before the disease. She could feel warmth of an embrace more than she used to feel previously (Veazie Johnston, 2015). She wants to live with the disease rather than dying with it. These chapters bear the most powerful, and emotional to unravel the elements of hope, dignity a nd a little bit of Alice. Butterfly is a symbol of little, but attractive life with which, Alice had always been fascinated. In her childhood, she used to cry over their miserable fate but her mother always comforted her by making her realise that though their lives are short, they are not always tragic. Alice remembered that and compared her life with a butterfly (Genova, 2014). In the computer Alice created a folder and named it Butterfly where she inscribed her present situation and its cause. She had spent 50 years of full as well as active life. The butterfly folder serves as self-reflection and a little space where she talks to herself. The butterfly can be seen in the pendant she used to wear. Butterfly image becomes more striking when the readers find that the secret message of suicide was written carefully and indirectly so that nobody could understand how she wanted her life to end happily. References: Davis, D. S. (2014). Alzheimer disease and pre-emptive suicide.Journal of medical ethics,40(8), 543-549. Genova, L. (2014).Still Alice. Simon and Schuster. Mendes, A. (2015). Raising awareness through film: the themes raised by Still Alice.Nursing And Residential Care,17(11), 638-640. Veazie, N. C., Johnston, E. (2015). Still Alice, an Independent Film.Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture,6(2), 89-94.