Tomorrow you are an intern. You will work both night and day. You will be tired, I know, and I don’t want any more of that kind of tired. An intern, like a poet, is at the disposal of his night.”
Richard Selzer informs the young surgeon interns about want it takes to be an intern. An intern must be ready to work during the night when other people are sleeping. According to Richard Selzer's confessions, working as a surgeon is not easy because one must be ready to patrol the wards into the wee hours of the night. The comparison between the intern and the poet implies that the interns should condition their bodies to work even when it is dark. Surgery requires professionals that are as alert as the poets.
An operation is a reenactment of the story of Jonah and the Whale. In surgery, the patient is the whale who swallows up the surgeon. Unlike, Jonah, however, the surgeon does not cry out non serviam, but willingly descends into the sick body to cut out of it the part that threatens to kill it."
This quote is a biblical allusion of Jonah who was swallowed by the whale. According to the quote, a successful surgery makes the surgeon feel like he has been spewed by the whale thus it heals both the surgeon and the patient. However, unsuccessful surgery does not result in full healing because the surgeon bears the guilt of failing to rescue the patient. Richard Selzer implies that a surgeon must strive to be vomited by the whale failure to which he or she will not find fulfillment in his work. The greatest responsibility of getting out of the whale lies with the surgeon.
“The doctor so one of the angels. He has finished the work of God. My Daughter is beautiful."
Here, Imelda’s mother praises Dr. Franciscus because she believes that he fixed her daughter’s lips before she died. Imelda’s mother is naïve because she does not understand the doctor operated on her daughter’s lips after she had died. Her consolation comes from the idea that her daughter will look beautiful in the afterlife.
"And she (Imelda's mother) was happy now that the harelip had been fixed so that her daughter might go to Heaven without it."
Dr. Francesco's objective is to prove that he is a perfect surgeon that can fix everything. He is a perfectionist, and he operates on Imelda's lips even though she is dead because he does not want the world to know that the girl lost her life before the harelip would be rectified. The doctor is more concerned with his reputation that is why he indulges in this unprofessional act.
"The words of the mother had not consoled him; they had hunted him down… he would not accept that Imelda had died before he could repair her lip."
It is ironical that Imelda's mother accepts her death, but Dr. Franciscus does not accept it. For the doctor, the ability to fix the harelip is an indicator of his sublimity. When Imelda dies before the procedure is complete, the doctor feels humiliated deep down because it confirms to him that he is not perfect and he cannot reverse the events in the life of another human being because he is not God.
"Only a month’s vacation can save you. It is wrongheaded to think of total submersion in the study and practice of Medicine.”
Dr. Richard Selzer underscores the importance to rest for all the medical practitioners. Failure to rest may result in burnout, and the burnout will result in errors in the medical practice. Taking vacation is crucial because it helps the medical practitioner to distract himself from the monotony of dealing with patients. A doctor should not endanger his or her wellbeing in the course of executing his or her duties. Burnouts are detrimental in the medical profession thus they should be minimized.
