Wanda Essay

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The story “Persons, Brains, and Bodies” deals with two characters suffering a tragic accident on their way to a college bar. Wanda starts to cross the street and is run over by a steam roller, witnessing this is her friend; who in turn has a stroke from shock. Luckily there was a doctor on the scene, a famous neurosurgeon who ends up rushing Wanda and her friend to the hospital. Once they arrive at the hospital, a controversial surgery is performed. Wanda’s body is not recoverable but her head managed to be out of the way of the steam roller and her brain is salvageable. However, her friend’s body is intact but the brain is no longer functional having suffered a stroke. The neurosurgeon ends up switching Wanda’s brain into her friend’s body. The surgery is a success and now the parents of both Wanda and her friend arrive only to find out that their kid(s) are dead; in theory. The question that remains is who is lying in the hospital bed and is it Wanda or her friend? Or is it a whole different person? My theory is that the person lying in the bed is a new person because the mind and body have to work together to relearn everything. Although I strongly feel that the brain would hold control of the body, it still needs to adjust with the new body. This adjustment will develop into a new person; a new identity. I am referring to this new identity as Schwanda. The following quote supports my theory: “An identity would seem to be arrived by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience” (Baldwin, 2011). Personal Identity is what is being discussed here and how do people define it. Schwanda has yet to become this new identity as she lies in bed but eventually her identity will develop over time. We have to discuss several theories to get anywhere with this story and the first is the theory of the Body. This theory is the one that we most relate to

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