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tamingthemuse2010-10-16 11:36 pm
guardian-erin.livejournal.com) wrote in tamingthemuse2010-10-16 11:36 pm
Entry tags:
Prompt 221 - Teammates
Title: A Cool-Headed Clinician
Author: Guardian Erin
Summary: A literary analysis of H.P. Lovecraft's Cool Air
I'd write something more creative from scratch tonight but I just got home from 14 hours of marching band and my head kills. Still a good night. :) Looking forward to Nano.
Numbers in parentheses refer to paragraphs in the story.
In H.P. Lovecraft’s 1926 short story, “Cool Air”, the narrator finds himself in the presence of a doctor who has discovered that sheer force of will can keep a person alive, even after organs have stopped functioning. Doctor Muñoz explains his theory to the unnamed narrator of the story, that “will and consciousness are stronger than organic life itself.” (12) Munoz also believes, unlike Doctor Torres of Valencia, who taught him the technique, that preservation is key because in warm air, “the tissues can’t last.” (26) Because of this belief, Munoz is driven to keep his apartment at a near-freezing temperature at all times with a refrigerator, which is not a widely common technology at this time. However, the cool air was never necessary for the doctor’s survival, and his force of will was exclusively all that he needed.
The narrator first hears about Doctor Munoz and his need for cold air three weeks after he moves into his new apartment building (4). After a chemical spill from Munoz’s apartment, the landlady, Mrs. Herrero, tells the narrator about the doctor’s strange condition (5). However, the narrator would not have met the doctor at all if not for his own run-in with death in the form of a heart attack (7). Despite being house-bound and not equipped as a practicing doctor (5), Munoz casually cures the narrator with a few chemical mixtures and speaking to the narrator about his theories (12). Munoz’s continuous babble of words, rather than medicine, seems to relieve the narrator’s heart attack. The narrator describes his speeches as “tactfully consoling” (12) and finds himself “relieved of [his] seizure in a marvelously short while” (13). This incidence proves by example that the power of suggestion and state of mind has enormous influence on physical affliction.
Doctor Munoz himself takes the idea of mind over body to an extreme level. Another doctor named Torres is said to have "nursed [Munoz] back" (26) from a severe illness by teaching him how to live by will alone. By the end of the story, he confesses that he had "died that time eighteen years ago." (26) Doctor Munoz's variation on the technique taught to him is flawed, however. He certainly has the mental strength to keep himself alive by thought alone, but he treats himself like a corpse. For instance, he believes that he must live in near-freezing temperatures and that "any marked rise in temperature might, if prolonged, affect him fatally." (12) Munoz even stops eating, although the narrator notes that it appears to be a "pretense" (17), so Munoz may have only eaten in the narrator's presence to simulate life, and then abandonned the simulation. Most notably of all, he treats himself daily with spices and chemical baths so that his apartment "smelled like a vault of a sepulchred Pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings." (15) During the time the narrator knows Munoz, the doctor begins to talk "of death incessantly." (17)
While Munoz's thoughts are becoming completely consumed with death, the narrator notes that "mental power alone appeared to keep him from total collapse." (17) This mental power seems to rely on one crucial thing – that the refrigerator keeping his apartment cool is always functional. It is a machine that has to be constantly cared for, just as Munoz has to constantly focus on willing himself to be alive. Whenever the refrigerator breaks, his peace of mind is lost despite the fact that "he evidently feared the physical effect of violent emotion." (17) The refrigerator does break, and for good near the end of the story. The narrator immediately tries to fix the problem, but when he cannot "the moribund hermit's rage and fear, swelling to grotesque proportions, seemed likely to shatter what remained of his failing physique." (20) The house is still cool at this time, but because of his fear and anger, "a spasm caused him to clap his hands to his eyes and rush into the bathroom." (20) After that, the narrator "never saw his eyes again." (20) Munoz's emotion, rather than any warmth, is already having horrible effects on him.
Since Munoz's peace of mind rested heavily on the refrigerator being functional, there is clear evidence that once it broke down, as machines will, his focus was lost completely. He has already kept himself for eighteen years, and it is hard to believe that he didn't spend time in warmer temperatures, since at the beginning of the story, his room is "some 55 or 56 degrees Farenheit" (12), but later on he believes it is necessary to lower the temperature to "28 degrees." (15) If his theory about preservation being necessary were correct, then even a temperature of 56 degrees or more would cause his body to rot very noticeably in a few years' time, yet he managed this for eighteen years, which means that strong mental power, not temperature, was what kept him from decaying. Rather, it is his changing view of himself, seeing himself as a slowly rotting corpse more and more each day, that causes him to lose his grip on keeping himself alive.
Author: Guardian Erin
Summary: A literary analysis of H.P. Lovecraft's Cool Air
I'd write something more creative from scratch tonight but I just got home from 14 hours of marching band and my head kills. Still a good night. :) Looking forward to Nano.
Numbers in parentheses refer to paragraphs in the story.
In H.P. Lovecraft’s 1926 short story, “Cool Air”, the narrator finds himself in the presence of a doctor who has discovered that sheer force of will can keep a person alive, even after organs have stopped functioning. Doctor Muñoz explains his theory to the unnamed narrator of the story, that “will and consciousness are stronger than organic life itself.” (12) Munoz also believes, unlike Doctor Torres of Valencia, who taught him the technique, that preservation is key because in warm air, “the tissues can’t last.” (26) Because of this belief, Munoz is driven to keep his apartment at a near-freezing temperature at all times with a refrigerator, which is not a widely common technology at this time. However, the cool air was never necessary for the doctor’s survival, and his force of will was exclusively all that he needed.
The narrator first hears about Doctor Munoz and his need for cold air three weeks after he moves into his new apartment building (4). After a chemical spill from Munoz’s apartment, the landlady, Mrs. Herrero, tells the narrator about the doctor’s strange condition (5). However, the narrator would not have met the doctor at all if not for his own run-in with death in the form of a heart attack (7). Despite being house-bound and not equipped as a practicing doctor (5), Munoz casually cures the narrator with a few chemical mixtures and speaking to the narrator about his theories (12). Munoz’s continuous babble of words, rather than medicine, seems to relieve the narrator’s heart attack. The narrator describes his speeches as “tactfully consoling” (12) and finds himself “relieved of [his] seizure in a marvelously short while” (13). This incidence proves by example that the power of suggestion and state of mind has enormous influence on physical affliction.
Doctor Munoz himself takes the idea of mind over body to an extreme level. Another doctor named Torres is said to have "nursed [Munoz] back" (26) from a severe illness by teaching him how to live by will alone. By the end of the story, he confesses that he had "died that time eighteen years ago." (26) Doctor Munoz's variation on the technique taught to him is flawed, however. He certainly has the mental strength to keep himself alive by thought alone, but he treats himself like a corpse. For instance, he believes that he must live in near-freezing temperatures and that "any marked rise in temperature might, if prolonged, affect him fatally." (12) Munoz even stops eating, although the narrator notes that it appears to be a "pretense" (17), so Munoz may have only eaten in the narrator's presence to simulate life, and then abandonned the simulation. Most notably of all, he treats himself daily with spices and chemical baths so that his apartment "smelled like a vault of a sepulchred Pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings." (15) During the time the narrator knows Munoz, the doctor begins to talk "of death incessantly." (17)
While Munoz's thoughts are becoming completely consumed with death, the narrator notes that "mental power alone appeared to keep him from total collapse." (17) This mental power seems to rely on one crucial thing – that the refrigerator keeping his apartment cool is always functional. It is a machine that has to be constantly cared for, just as Munoz has to constantly focus on willing himself to be alive. Whenever the refrigerator breaks, his peace of mind is lost despite the fact that "he evidently feared the physical effect of violent emotion." (17) The refrigerator does break, and for good near the end of the story. The narrator immediately tries to fix the problem, but when he cannot "the moribund hermit's rage and fear, swelling to grotesque proportions, seemed likely to shatter what remained of his failing physique." (20) The house is still cool at this time, but because of his fear and anger, "a spasm caused him to clap his hands to his eyes and rush into the bathroom." (20) After that, the narrator "never saw his eyes again." (20) Munoz's emotion, rather than any warmth, is already having horrible effects on him.
Since Munoz's peace of mind rested heavily on the refrigerator being functional, there is clear evidence that once it broke down, as machines will, his focus was lost completely. He has already kept himself for eighteen years, and it is hard to believe that he didn't spend time in warmer temperatures, since at the beginning of the story, his room is "some 55 or 56 degrees Farenheit" (12), but later on he believes it is necessary to lower the temperature to "28 degrees." (15) If his theory about preservation being necessary were correct, then even a temperature of 56 degrees or more would cause his body to rot very noticeably in a few years' time, yet he managed this for eighteen years, which means that strong mental power, not temperature, was what kept him from decaying. Rather, it is his changing view of himself, seeing himself as a slowly rotting corpse more and more each day, that causes him to lose his grip on keeping himself alive.