Baptism by Rotation by Mikhail Bulgakov Essay

Reading the short story "Baptism by Rotation" by Mikhail Bulgakov exposes the reader to different feelings and emotions on how the author recounts the events and conversations between the new doctor and the nurses. The irrational appeal communicated to the audience of the text creates and evokes tension, emotions, empathy, and compassion as the events unfold (Bulgakov, 2008). This paper will explore these four pathological appeals tension, emotions, empathy, and compassion to give a rhetorical understanding of the dialogue between the doctor and the nurse. Initially, unearthing the tension displayed in the dialogues between the nurse and the doctor demonstrates to the reader the uncertainty and pressure of the situation facing the new doctor. The rigid situation when the doctor gets his first surgery emergency to attend to only six months after his qualifications. The author uses hyperboles to evoke the readers' sensitivity to the tension of the things that could go wrong during the procedure. Again, the tension created by the presence of Nurse Anna Nikolaevna the feldsher, and the midwife clue dependence on the new doctor's confidence to conduct the caesarian section despite their prior knowledge he had not conducted such a procedure before. The text heightens the tension for the reader with the comments from Anna Nikolaevna showing the uncertainty on the life of the patient. Further, the tension increases when the baby fails to cry.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

On another hand, the text evokes empathy from the reader when the new doctor shares his workload on the theoretical perspective on understanding the operative obstetric procedure. The doctor's panic and loneliness are understandable to the reader in sharing the author's feelings during his first technical task. The audience shares the author's inner fears when he tries to console himself that he could do it by selecting the best method that would apply in the case. He brings out admirations from his audience when he relates how he repeats the procedure to ensure that the diagnosis was right showing that though he was inexperienced but was committed to his professionalism in the practice.

Conclusion

The entire text creates an emotional experience for all the characters, the doctor is traumatized by the cause of his action and he moves his audience. The experiences and agony of the woman evoke the painful emotions going through the preparation of the obstetrics. The nurse tries to console the patient to have confidence everything was going to be fine. The whole tensed emotion is overturned when the baby cries and the mother wake from anesthesia and is wheeled to the ward. Finally, the reader is swayed into compassion feeling when the doctor constantly thinks of the unfortunate family waiting for the woman outside. Going through the text the audience evokes admiration feeling for the doctor's confidence to take on the challenge despite his inexperience.

References

Bulgakov, Mikhail. (2008). Baptism by Ration: In "A Country Doctor's Notebook. Trans. Michael Glenny, London: Harvil, EBSCOhost eBook Collection 2018, pp. 498 - 505.