Wednesday, September 24, 2008
That's odd...
Okay... so as I was reading chapter one, I noticed something very ironic. On page 4 it talks about Simon and how he stopped practicing medicine because he was afraid of being tempted into doing something against the glory of God. While I think this is good, it is odd that the next few sentences go on to say that Simon went and bought three slaves and established himself on the banks of the Alabama River. What I wonder is: why does he think that practicing medicine, and possibly helping people, could be unholy, while buying slaves is fine..... WEIRD! I do understand that this period is a time when owning slaves was common, but really, this is just very ironic. So, that's my insight... hope you enjoy it!
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6 comments:
Wow ... good observation for sure .. i never would have noticed that...
Medicine being unholy is just a weird thought in the first place.
But to think its more unholy then keeping slaves is completely absurd.. Slavery is wrong .. but medicine??
Where do authors get this stuff!!!
Medicine at the time was very unscientific and based on a lot of unscrupulous ideas: the phases of the moon, astronomy and cures such as bleeding and leeches and cod liver oil. Many doctors would fabricate illnesses to make money because their average patient was uneducated. Maybe there was a sense of guilt that he felt that made him quit practicing. As for slavery, it was not considered wrong; in fact, many Southerners believed that they were "saving" the blacks by taking them out of savage Africa and bringing them into America.
It definately tells us something about the time if doctors are considered more unholy than lawyer.
But i guess it all depends on the views of the time, ten years ago being gay would make you a social outcast. Which of course is completely wrong all people are suposedly equal.
Thanks for poiting out the irony Queen13, never would have noticed
I think that their reasoning behind thinking the practice of medicine is unholy is that in their mind, if God wants them to get better, then God will make them better. They think that medicine is just...unneccesary assistance.
Julie's explanation of their view of slavery is great. =]
Did you just go and research that??
Because otherwise i would be concerned about the capacity of your brain.. That's a lot of information to retain..
I would have to disagree with the second point you made about slavery. I think that the whites were fully aware that what they were doing was wrong, at least to some extent.
Alright... now that you say that (you being Julie) it makes much more sense. I suppose that with all of our modern advances in medicine it is silly to think that healing was "unholy". But thanks for the clarificaton!! It was very helpful!
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