Doctor-patient Conflict in The Fifth Child from the Perspective of Narrative Medicine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54691/wm4h9s18Keywords:
The Fifth Child; doctor-patient conflict; temporality; singularity; intersubjectivity; ethics.Abstract
The Fifth Child tells the story of a child in the Lovett family being rejected and abandoned by the family and society. By describing the fear and expulsion of marginalized people in middle-class society, Lessing portrays the indifference, cruelty of human nature, and chaos of social power institutions. The dark side of humanity and society is revealed. This study will analyze the phenomenon of doctor-patient conflict in this text, as well as its causes and evolution, based on the theoretical framework of narrative medicine. The analysis is mainly divided into two parts. The first part analyzes the conflicts between different characters and different identities in the novel and summarizes them as the relationship between doctors and patients excavates the psychology of both parties and reveals the metaphor in the real meaning of the plot. The second part is guided by the theory of the five characteristics of narrative medicine to state the lack of "temporality", "intersubjectivity", "ethics" and "singularity" in the relationship between doctors and patients and analyzes the causes of conflicts between doctors and patients.The analysis exposes the darkness and ugliness of society, the indifference of human nature to life, and the powerlessness of people being overwhelmed by order. It shows the expectation and pursuit of the humanitarian spirit emphasized by narrative medicine.
Downloads
References
[1] Charon R. At the membranes of care: stories in narrative medicine[J]. Acad Med,2012,87(3):342-347.
[2] Charon R, DasGupta S, Hermann N. The principles and practice of narrative medicine[M]. Oxford University Press, 2017.
[3] Charon R, Wyer P. Narrative evidence based medicine[J]. The Lancet, 2008, 371(9609): 296-297.
[4] Charon R. Narrative medicine: Honoring the stories of illness[M]. Oxford University Press, 2008.
[5] Charon R. Narrative medicine: form, function, and ethics[J]. 2001.
[6] Dean S L. Lessing's the Fifth Child[J]. The Explicator, 1992, 50(2): 120-122.
[7] Foucault M. Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison[M]. Vintage, 2012.
[8] Gendebien A W. Snow, CP," The Two Cultures-A Second Look: An Expanded Version of the Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution"(Book Review)[J]. The Historian, 1964, 26(4): 563.
[9] Kuiper K. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics[J]. Philosophy and Literature, 1986, 10(1): 114-115.
[10] Lessing D. The fifth child[M]. Vintage, 2010.
[11] Maria V. The art of medicine: Narrative epileptology[J].Lancet, 2011,377(9764):460-461.
[12] Miller J H. The ethics of reading[J]. Style, 1987: 181-191.
[13] Newton A Z. Narrative ethics[M]. Harvard University Press, 1995.
[14] Ricoeur P. Time and narrative, Volume 3[M]. University of Chicago press, 2014.
[15] Thiroux J P, Krasemann K W. Ethics: Theory and practice[M]. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009.
[16] Todorov T. La description de la signification en littérature[J]. Communications, 1964, 4(1): 33-39.
[17] Toombs S K. The meaning of illness: A phenomenological account of the different perspectives of physician and patient[M]. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
