Strong Shadows :: essays research papers

1. I believe that Dr. Zuger chose the people she did because she was trying to get a large amount of differences of infections the patients could contract and also show the patients' similarities in lifestyle and the similarities in the way in which they grew up to try and educate people on the lifestyle one must live to put oneself at higher risk for contracting this terrible disease. The characters all seemed to have come from a home without much love from their family members, or they had something major missing in their life that could have caused a great amount of stress not normally experienced in an average person's life. All of them were uneducated and careless leading us to believe that Dr. Zuger was trying to show that education and responsibility are the best ways to prevent one's contraction of this disease. Some of them got HIV from reckless lifestyles such as drug use involving needle sharing to prostitution while others got it merely by having sex with casual partners. The decision to pick this array of patients again strengthens the fact that Dr. Zuger is trying to tell us that it is possible to get AIDS in many ways and that just because one is having casual sex does not mean that he is immune from its effects. These are probably a few reasons why Dr. Zuger chose them for her book. 2. The human frailty that Deborah Sweet possessed was that she was untrustworthy, she was always trying to get Dr. Zuger to get something for her such as prescriptions for drugs that would sell on the street or get her to write her a note to be allowed to miss court. The human frailty that Michael Soto has was when he first got the HIV virus and when he was using drugs. He is a very nice and willing patient and does not want to burden others with his problems. This shortcoming was very hard to decide on because he was such a good person. Cynthia Wilson's human frailty was that she needs help and that she is uneducated. She thinks that they should just be able to fix her problem without a problem and without delay. She seems to be very ungrateful for all the help she is receiving. She also does not know how to teach her children how to avoid becoming like her.