Exploration 7: Lauren Richards

1). Something that I marked in this chapter is on page 173 when it talks about public documents. It said that "Public documents can tell us a lot about the culture we're living in. The encounters people have with public documents reveal how writing links social institution." (173) Public documents help us understand the issues that people were facing and the actions that they were taking to change something, an example is The Declaration of Independence.

2).  The purpose of this story, From My Own Country by Abraham Verghese, is showing that the two official documents that are needed to help Ed are non-existent. There is no will that Ed has set for when he dies or is injured, this would have helped firmly establish whether or not he wishes to be put on a respirator or not. They can only base it off of the fact that Ed's boyfriend Bobby told them that his wish was to not be put on the respirator. Also there is no marriage license between the couple so Bobby does not have any right to make decisions upon Ed's behalf so the decision is placed with the family because of public record that they are related. I don't think Bobby's word is as effective as a legal document. Although he is in a relationship with Ed he has no proof whether or not Ed actually said that he wouldn't want to be put on a respirator. One part in the writing that stuck out to me was when it said "We are his family. I watched Bobby's face crumble as he suddenly became a mere observer with no legal right to determine the fate of the man he had loved since he was seven years old. He was finally, despite the years that had passed and whatever acceptance he and Ed found together, an outsider." (184). This part was emotional for me because you could really see that Bobby cared about Ed and wanted what was best for him but now he could not grant him his wish to die peacefully as opposed to struggling on the respirator.