Реферат: How Far Do You Think Whose Life

it a rough action, although it probably wasn?t because he is a trained doctor

and Ken is not putting up any opposition. I think it was the invasion of

privacy and direct contradiction of his wishes that he objected to. This is

just a small confrontation, but it is definitely a case of the authority versus

Ken. Ken is losing. ??????????????? At one point during the play Ken?s

lawyer, Mr. Kershaw, says to Dr. Emerson ?You wouldn?t like to find yourself

powerless in the hands of, say, a lawyer or a bureaucrat. I wouldn?t like to

find myself powerless in the hands of a doctor.? This is the most direct answer

to the question that is found in the text. And it?s not very direct. Dr.

Emerson is asked to accept the fact that he has unreasonable power over Ken and

that if he was in a similar situation he would not be content. This shows that

the medical staff are to Ken as a lawyer or bureaucrat would be to a ?normal?

person. The two occupations mentioned are ones generally mistrusted. Maybe this

is meant to point out that Ken mistrusts doctors irrationally, and the fact

that he actually has reason to now is merely a coincidence. This reinforces the

picture of a lone man struggling against the system. ??????????????? The subject under discussion

throughout the play is euthanasia. As this is illegal now, a play about it

would have to represent the individual in question vs. authority. The purpose

of the story might have been merely to present the ethical issues without

dragging in a question of how far bureaucracy has the power (and by what

authority) to run our lives. ??????????????? While Ken does try to distance

himself from the staff, and feels uncomfortable with the large part they play

in his life, he has friendships with many of them. He flirts and toys with

Sister and Nurse Sadler, he sees John as an equal because he is the most

sympathetic to his position, and Dr. Scott is a good friend to him. Although

all these people with the exception of John and possible exception of Dr. Scott

want him to live, I feel that they could be swayed one way or the other and if

he begged would allow him to die. His only real opponents to his plan are Dr.

Emerson and anyone else Dr. Emerson brings in to help his case. Because the