Outside Reading Week 3 Post A =)

VOCAB!

Convalescing(173): to recover health and strength after illness

Agnostic (164): a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause



APPEALS!

1.) "Im going to beat this thing, whatever it is"(76). This is an emotional appeal because Lance is so determined to beat his cancer; almost like how he is determined to win a race. You could think that he was talking about beating an obstacle in a bike race...that was how much he fought.

2.) "Why did i ride when i had cancer?"(85). This is a logical appeal because most people would think the logical thing to do when you have cancer is to mope, and lie around. Lance, decides it was necessary to ride his bike and to lift some of the weight of cancer off of his shoulder.

3.) "The Porsche that i so treasured now seemed like an item of pure decadent self-indulgence"(87). This is an emotional appeal because Lance realizes that his prized car was really not that big of a deal compared to his new problem: cancer. He knows that cancer has changed him, and now the little things in the world like accesories dont interest him.

QUOTE!

"Those questions, Why me? What are my chances? were unknowable, and i would even come to feel that they were too self-absorbed. For most of my life i had operated under a simple schematic of winning and losing, but cancer was teaching me a tolerance for ambiguities. I was coming to understand that the disease doesn't discriminate or listen to the odds--it will decimate a strong person with a wonderful attitude, while it somehow miraculously spares the weaker person who is resigned to failure. I had always assumed that if i won bike races, it made me stronger and more worthy person. NOt so"(95). I really really like this quote. Lance finally learns how he is going to have to adjust to having cancer. I always thought of lance being some guy who was this big biker guy who got cancer. i guessed that he just wanted people to feel bad for him, but now i know that he knows he has changed and is a better person than who he was before.

THEME!

Another theme for this memoir is having friends and family who love you. Lance's family and friends really help him out while he has cancer, and i think that without them, Lance would have given up. He loves them all so much and appreciates their help!