Snapshots- Chapter 7: Birth

English
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Chapter 7: Birth

CLASS: XI
(Snapshots)

Exercise number – 1

Question 1

"I have done something; oh, God! I’ve done something real at last." Why does Andrew say this? What does it mean?

Answer 1

Andrew, the lead of the story Birth, speaks these words as he is able to bring a still born child back to life which didn’t seem to be possible in the very beginning. The child is born still to Joe Morgan’s wife. It’s the 1^st child of the couple that has been married for about 20 years. The child is born under dangerous condition. Both, the mother as well as the child are in a very critical condition requiring pressing attention. The nurse dumps the child thinking it to be dead. Andrew first takes care of the mother & seeing her on the path of recovery he turns his attention towards the newborn. Andrew pulls the child out. It’s a perfectly formed boy. Its limp white body is soft & white. Its head hanged loosely on its thin neck. Andrew understands at once that it is a case of asphyxia pallida. He instructs the nurse to get him hot water, cold water & basins. He lays the child upon a blanket and begins the special respiration method. 15 minutes passed but no breath came from the body of the child. In utter despair, he rubbed the child with a towel, crushed & relaxed the chest with both his hands. In its response a miracle happens. The little chest gives a short, convulsive heave and later one more. Andrew again doubles his effort. The child is now gasping, deeper & deeper. Then the child starts crying. Andrew then hands over the child to the nurse and climbs down the stairs. He then utters the quoted words out of deep satisfaction on achieving the seemingly impossible task.
It means that Andrew has been able to do something amazingly wonderful. He has been able to apply whatever he had learnt in his medical textbooks and even beyond that level. It’s a huge achievement for him. The quoted words mean that God has a medium through which he can grant life to the patients and that is a doctor. The wonder happened by the grace of God. Andrew realizes this fact in the above mentioned words. These words prove that saving the life of a patient is the most desirable achievement of any doctor.

Question 2

There lies a great difference between text book medicine and the world of practicing physician. Discuss.

Answer 2

The job of a doctor is very critical & delicate. It involves fighting pain along with accepting the challenge of death. In the doctor’s profession, three things matter the most - first being training, second being knowledge and third being experience. A physician gets to learn a lot from experience which he can never learn from the textbooks. There’s a huge difference between practical and theoretical training. If Dr. Andrew had gone by the textbook suggestion alone, he wouldn’t have ever saved the life of the child.