Approaching Death through Experiencing Duality

Duality- complete opposites together as one

A quote that I think beautifully sums up what Dr. Kalanithi has left for us

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Intro and Inspiration

Death; it’s a word that holds a lot of meaning for some people, and holds none for others. Some people understand that death is inevitable and therefore let it run its route. Others are scared of death, living life avoiding it or trying to fight it off. I realized that this uncomfortable feeling around this term was something that people believe is ingrained in American culture, something relatable to many (“Asian Interest”).

 I too held the feeling of trying to avoid thinking about it, that was until I finished reading Paul Kalanithi’s emotional and truly eye-opening memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, and couldn’t stop thinking about it. This was the only piece of literature I could think about after returning from winter break; I knew I had to write about it. Since I felt death was such a central topic of this book, I started looking for other literary works that also revolved around this theme. Despite an afflictive topic to discuss, I was surprised with how centered it was in literature.I found the play Fences to be a complete contrast when portraying the same central concept on death that is prevalent in When Breath Becomes Air, therefore allowing me to analyze death from two perspectives. Furthermore, I found that duality was something I wanted to analyze in terms of death in both pieces. Duality can be defined as any one single being or concept having two contrasting sides (being dual), a commonly known example is good versus evil.

Whether one encounters duality in their life through their experiences or not has an impact on how one views death. Experiencing duality allows one to become more compassionate, therefore changing their attitude towards death. This is shown through Dr. Kalanithi experiencing duality in When Breath Becomes Air and Troy Maxson failing to experience duality in Fences.

Discussion of Death’s Role in Literature

According to Skelton, a central goal of literature, similar to that of science, is attempting to conceive meaning in the world and uncover the role of humanity on this earth. Humans know that they exist in the moment, but avoid the fact of this existence ending until put directly in the situation; even when experiencing the angst of death we often dismiss its connotation (Uhlmann, Michael M.). Additionally, as part of the Mimetic Theory, Aristotle believed that “the object of art is an imitation of life”; therefore, death being something that everyone will experience, plays a large role in literature to portray that reality in different forms. 

Death has been explored in poems, fiction works, nonfiction/autobiographical works, Shakespeare dramas, Greek Mythologies, and interpreted in religious works. Death can either be experienced by the character, leave trauma for the character to heal from, or even appear as its own character/perspective (as shown when death was the narrator in “The Book Thief”). Overall, the purpose of death in literature is to “reduce [it] to the insignificance of an ordinary event that is mentioned with feigned indifference”, essentially attempting to bring a sense of normalcy to the topic (Uhlmann, Michael M.).

Discussion of When Breath Becomes Air and Dr. Kalanithi

In Paul Kalanithi’s memoir When Breath Becomes Air, Dr. Kalanithi tells his story of getting stage 4 metastatic lung cancer during the peak of his neurosurgical and research career. Whether it was through recalling specific patients he had to take care of during his residency, or whether it was showing us his experience as a diagnosed patient and his ongoing fight with cancer, death was almost inescapable for the reader of this story. Readers were shown that no one, not even doctors who have to deal with it on a daily basis, is ever prepared for it. However, no matter how emotional reading this memoir was at times, Dr. Kalanithi had a beautiful way of making such a stressful topic seem calm. He had a very logical approach to death, fit for his years of work in the medical field. This is shown when he states “Jeff and I had trained for years to actively engage with death… to confront the meaning of a life… Our patients’ lives and identities may be in our hands, yet death always wins” (Kalanithi). This shows one side of the duality, being a patient and understanding the meaning of death.

This memoir is quite unique because of its narrative perspective. Since it is in the first person point of view, we are directly shown the feelings that are evoked with the onset of approaching death. We not only get to see the shift from doctor to patient, but also what it was like to experience the duality of being a patient and doctor simultaneously.

Discussion of Fences and Troy Maxson

In the play Fences by August Wilson, the story of Troy’s bitter attitude and pushing his family away due to his rough past allows readers to see death in a different way than what's portrayed in When Breath Becomes Air. The main reason for this is because of how different Dr. Kalanithi and Troy Maxson are. Troy Maxson romanticizes death; when I say romanticizes, I don’t mean that he enjoys the idea of death, but rather that he views death as his enemy, constantly fighting it and finding success in being able to push death away, as shown when he states “I say… what you want, Mr. Death? You be wanting me?... I was ready to tangle…I wrestled with Death for three days and three nights and I’m standing here to tell you about it”, opposing Dr. Kalanithi’s logical approach, that even when against all odds “death always wins”. 

Compared to Dr. Kalanithi’s composed and tranquil persona, Troy holds a lot of anger within him; he speaks to his wife Rose with constant disrespect, often calling her “women”, and treating his kids with the same cruelty he was shown as a child. Troy’s experiences with a rough childhood prevent him from experiencing duality, from being able to understand the more loving side of a family; this is in contrast to Dr. Kalanithi because he grew up with a father who was a doctor, showing him the compassion you need to show others from a young age.

This play’s narrative perspective is dramatic objective, therefore it is void of a single narrator. Instead of a direct view into Troy Maxson’s mind, we only see his character through what he speaks. Rather than being able to see death definitively through Dr. Kalanithi, we see a more blurred version through Troy.

Exploring Duality

Duality appears in literature, but surprisingly it also parallels death when viewed through a religious lens. Religious dualism is the concept that our body and our mind/soul are independent of each other, and this brings up questions on if one can exist without the other (“Asian Interest”). To further understand this concept of dualism in death and death in general, I watched the Netflix Documentary Ram Dass, Going Home. Ram Dass was a Harvard psychologist and religious speaker. Interestingly, I found that Ram Dass’s character and approach to the world was at times analogous to both Troy and Dr. Kalanithi. His view helped me further understand the role duality played in both pieces of literature, Troy and Dr. Kalanithi’s character is specific.

In Fences, although there is duality in the symbol of the fence, the two opposing sides of a fence, as seen in the famous quote “Some people build fences to keep people out… and other people build fences to keep people in”, Troy himself doesn’t experience duality in life and through his experiences. This is because Troy consistently stays on the side of the fence that pushes people out and never encounters the side where he is trying to keep his family in, as far as the reader can see.

In the documentary, Ram Dass states “Up until drugs… I thought power was end-all and be-all… because I was a little individual”. I thought it to be thought-provoking because I believe this relates to Troy’s character. Although he provides the basic necessities for his family, he is unable to see beyond himself as an individual. SInce he had a rough childhood, he is very focused on proving to himself that he can provide for his family, but doesn’t show his love and care, therefore not experiencing the type of duality that Dr. Kalanithi does, by caring for patients and being cared for as a cancer patient himself. 

Additionally, Ram Dass also discusses how “In this culture, dependency is a no-no”. Troy Maxson also views life like this, as shown when he refuses to take the money that his child owes him and constantly defends how he built a life for himself on his own. However, when Dr. Kalanithi transitioned to becoming a cancer patient and doctor, he had to learn to rely on others even though he may not have been used to that while being a neurosurgeon, while still allowing his patients to be dependent on him at times.

Lastly, Ram Dass explains how the body, memory, and death all change, and that we should be willing to make friends with this change. Troy fails to acknowledge the change that death will bring, shown by his practically empty reaction towards his paramour’s death and his constant viewing of death as an enemy. Because Dr. Kalanithi was diagnosed with cancer and had to face a big life change, he was forced to confront this adjustment and become acquainted with it, further adding to his duality. A similar idea to religious dualism in death appears in Aristotle’s dialogue Eudemus that the “platonic view of the soul” can be freed when it leaves the body (Kenny, Amadio). This made me further reflect on how Troy never had a realization of the potential that death will eventually come and that he should live the remainder of his life happy and loving towards his family; on the other hand, Dr. Kalanithi knew to put his priorities (having children, leaving or staying with his job) and try to remain as happy as he can while confronting death.

Conclusion

Although I am aware that death is a topic that at times can feel so far-reached and in the unknown, it was intriguing to be able to dive further into it while exploring its significance in literature and the meaning of personally experiencing duality. Overall, it is truly intriguing to see the different attitudes in death and how literature helps humans to further understand that.

Interesting graph to check out on "Why people die in novels" from here

Works Cited

"Asian Interest Breathes New Life into Yale Professor's Course about Death." New Haven Register (New Haven, CT), 24 July 2017. Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A499076338/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=af695146. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.

Kalanithi, Paul. When Breath Becomes Air. Random House, 2016.

Kenny, Anthony J.P. and Amadio, Anselm H.. "Aristotle." Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Mar. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristotle. Accessed 12 January 2022.

Ram Dass, Going Home. Directed by Derek Peck, produced by Jonny Podell, performance by Ram Dass, 2017.

Watching this weekend.

Skelton, John. "Death and Dying in Literature." Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, vol. 9, no. 3, 2003, pp. 211–217., doi:10.1192/apt.9.3.211.

Uhlmann, Michael M. "How Do We Die?" World & I, vol. 13, no. 7, July 1998, p. 22. Points of View Reference Center, widgets.ebscohost.com/prod/customlink/proxify/proxify.php?count=1&encode=1&proxy=https://widgets.ebscohost.com/prod/customerspecific/mel/auth.php?url=&target=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=753852&site=pov-live.

Bibliography

Abshire, Martha A., et al. "What Matters When Doctors Die: A Qualitative Study of Family Perspectives." PLoS ONE, vol. 15, no. 6, 23 June 2020, p. e0235138. Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A627453490/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=438eb452. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.

"Asian Interest Breathes New Life into Yale Professor's Course about Death." New Haven Register (New Haven, CT), 24 July 2017. Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A499076338/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=af695146. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.

Kalanithi, Paul. When Breath Becomes Air. Random House, 2016.

Kenny, Anthony J.P. and Amadio, Anselm H.. "Aristotle." Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Mar. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristotle. Accessed 12 January 2022.

Meier, Emily A et al. "Defining a Good Death (Successful Dying): Literature Review and a Call for Research and Public Dialogue." The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry vol. 24,4 (2016): 261-71. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2016.01.135

Ram Dass, Going Home. Directed by Derek Peck, produced by Jonny Podell, performance by Ram Dass, 2017.

Watching this weekend.

Skelton, John. "Death and Dying in Literature." Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, vol. 9, no. 3, 2003, pp. 211–217., doi:10.1192/apt.9.3.211.

Uhlmann, Michael M. "How Do We Die?" World & I, vol. 13, no. 7, July 1998, p. 22. Points of View Reference Center, widgets.ebscohost.com/prod/customlink/proxify/proxify.php?count=1&encode=1&proxy=https://widgets.ebscohost.com/prod/customerspecific/mel/auth.php?url=&target=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=753852&site=pov-live.