Written By: Lauren Slater
In the essay Killing My Body to Save My Mind, the author Lauren Slater describes her struggle between various psychotropic pills and their affect on her obesity. She starts out the essay stating her issues with incredibly high cholesterol levels, however she then leads into her story that deals with her body’s “breakdown” due to her strongest pill, Zyprexa. Slater states that she used to be a petite young lady in her early twenties, nevertheless, she rapidly increased in weight when she started to take more and more psychotropics to deal with her complications with depression. Despite the colossal weight gain that Slater endured as a result of the Zyprexa, she declares that she would much rather be in a better state of mind than one regarding her physical appearance. The essay is not written to specific reader, largely due to the fact that her purpose is to tell the world her story and how she has no regrets sacrificing her weight for a better attitude, and happier outlook on life. Slater finds success in attaining her purpose with the help of rhetorical devices. One example of a rhetorical device Slater uses to achieve her purpose is an analogy. When examining her decision to take the Zyprexa pill (that had many side effects), Slater writes, “I would have rather been a happy elephant than a miserable hominid” (Slater 257). The use of this analogy helps Slater acquire her purpose because the reader evaluates the comparison between the lifestyle options Slater was dealt. As a result, the reader will also evaluate the analogy and will see Slater’s opinion, which ultimately allows Slater to achieve her purpose. I personally believe that Slater successfully achieves her purpose because of her use of rhetorical devices such as analogies, and also because of her well-explained reasoning that this decision was the best for not only herself, but also her children and husband.
In the essay Killing My Body to Save My Mind, the author Lauren Slater describes her struggle between various psychotropic pills and their affect on her obesity. She starts out the essay stating her issues with incredibly high cholesterol levels, however she then leads into her story that deals with her body’s “breakdown” due to her strongest pill, Zyprexa. Slater states that she used to be a petite young lady in her early twenties, nevertheless, she rapidly increased in weight when she started to take more and more psychotropics to deal with her complications with depression. Despite the colossal weight gain that Slater endured as a result of the Zyprexa, she declares that she would much rather be in a better state of mind than one regarding her physical appearance. The essay is not written to specific reader, largely due to the fact that her purpose is to tell the world her story and how she has no regrets sacrificing her weight for a better attitude, and happier outlook on life. Slater finds success in attaining her purpose with the help of rhetorical devices. One example of a rhetorical device Slater uses to achieve her purpose is an analogy. When examining her decision to take the Zyprexa pill (that had many side effects), Slater writes, “I would have rather been a happy elephant than a miserable hominid” (Slater 257). The use of this analogy helps Slater acquire her purpose because the reader evaluates the comparison between the lifestyle options Slater was dealt. As a result, the reader will also evaluate the analogy and will see Slater’s opinion, which ultimately allows Slater to achieve her purpose. I personally believe that Slater successfully achieves her purpose because of her use of rhetorical devices such as analogies, and also because of her well-explained reasoning that this decision was the best for not only herself, but also her children and husband.
When talking about the powerful psychotropic pill Zyprexa, Slater states "Zyprexa, I put the one pill in the center of my palm. I put it right on my lifelines, smack in their center–a reminder, a reassertion that this is the choice I've made–and then I send it down the chute, while high up in my head I look all around" (Slater 261).
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