Insignificant Gestures Essay

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Insignificant Gestures by Joe Cannon “Insignificant gestures” is a short story written by Joe Cannon in 2007. The story revolves around a psychiatrist, who had been working in Africa for a couple of years. The main character had a very depressing everyday life. He would work most of the time under bad circumstances and then come home to nothing. At home he would spend his time drawing. One day he notices his maid, Celia, who followed the house. At first the doctor did not accept having one, because he thought it was weird, but when he learned that she needed the money he accepted her, although he still cooked his own meals. Celia became the light in his life. When he came home they would draw together even though did not speak a word to each other. One day Celia became the doctors’ patient. She was covered in bruises and her eyes were swollen. The doctors panicked and send her to another hospital. There was a rumor about Celia’s boyfriend being the one to put her in that condition therefore he was quickly put in jail. The prison was terrible and most criminal would not survive because of malnutrition or cholera or beating. A couple of weeks later the doctor got a letter saying that Celia died of meningococcus, which the doctor could have prevented. The doctor felt guilty and even more because he could not get Celia’s boyfriend of prison. When the doctor came back to the west he quit his job as a psychiatrist because he never wanted to see or smell blood again. One day he meets a female nurse from Africa, who gives him a nostalgic feeling of Africa and he begins to feel better. The short story told in a first-person-perspective. The whole story is a flashback except the last part, which is in the present. It is told from the doctor’s angle. There is no real dialog it is just the doctor telling, and the personalities of the characters are also only known from the

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