Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis

Chapter two begins with a quote from poet John Donne, who muses about the frustration and indignity of being a doctor's patient.

The body of this lengthy chapter begins with the author's commentary on the almost machine-like efficiency of the process of being registered as a patient at the London hospital where he is to have his surgery. He finds himself in a small but comfortable room which he nicknames The Monad, is reassured by his brother who is a surgeon at the hospital, and muses on whether every patient feels as alienated, almost dehumanized, by the process as he does. His efforts to take a more active, informed role in his own treatment (he is, after all, a physician) are met with firm dismissive-ness, and he is scheduled for surgery with orthopedic surgeon Mr. Swan, with whom he hopes to...