Review of Mairs Autobiography Entitled, On Being a...

â€Å"On Being a Cripple† is placed under the genre of autobiography because it focuses on a significant personal experience in Mairs’ past and draws out the meaning as she tells her story and reflects on her experiences. The key factors of an autobiographical essay include dramatic events or episodes, vivid details and narration, and an interweaving of narration with reflection on and interpretation of the essayist’s experiences (Norton xxvii). This essay focuses on Mairs’ experiences and personal struggles with multiple sclerosis. Nancy Mairs was born in Long Beach, California in 1943. Throughout her life, Mairs has experienced numerous physical and emotional struggles. Mairs was hospitalized for six months in a state mental†¦show more content†¦She will name herself, â€Å"I am a cripple. I choose this word to name me† (Mairs 59). In choosing this word she has represented her reality in a way that empowers her. â€Å"I want them to see me as a tough customer, one to whom the fates/gods/viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely. As a cripple, I swagger (Mairs 60). Mairs describes the uncertainty of an incorrect diagnosis of a brain tumor, followed by a correct diagnosis of multiple sclerosis a year and a half later. She tells of the physical changes that came on slowly, and how they led to forced changes in her routines and ultimately her way of thinking. Yet through these hardships a sense of humor is persistent in her writing. She tells of an afternoon out with a friend in which she trips and falls, flat and hard, onto the asphalt, interrupting her friend’s story in mid-sentence. This may not be something most people would find entertaining, but Mairs does, citing that humor is important in any life threatening illness. She describes her dependence on her family and how unusual it is to have a successful marriage and family even after her illness had taken root . She discusses her need for assistance and her hatred of it as well. Tugging at the fringes of my consciousness always is the terror that people are kind to me only because Im a cripple (Mairs 64). Mairs balances this by explaining that