“...It Might Be Cancer...”: A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Richard Selzer’s “ The Consultation” Anonymous College

One of the themes that is dominant in Richard Selzer’s “The Consultation” is cancer.The story shows how both the doctor and the prostitute react to cancer; the reactions to cancer can be analyzed psychoanalytically. A doctor’s long experience in the profession does not cushion him or her from psychological issues and fears. The doctor’s psychological behavior plays an instrumental role in the plot of the short story. The actions of the doctor are based on his fear of cancer and fear of intimacy; a psychological reading of Richard Selzer’s “The Consultation” brings out the doctor’s psychological insecurities.

Notably, the doctor’s biological pressure to have sex with the prostitute is the drive eros which defines him as a heterosexual man with sexual feelings. Therefore, no matter how hard he works in his profession, his sexuality cannot be repressed. Therefore, the sex is the doctor’s conscious way of expressing his sexuality.

Psychologically, the doctor depicts fear of intimacy. He enlists the services of a prostitute to help him deal with his boredom; he is not interested in forming emotional ties with her, so, he offers her money. The doctor wants an “illusion of romance” and not real emotional ties with the prostitute; the...