Dhana Recelle L.

Vergara

2009 - 19440

Reflection on the Punctuation of Heart Disease

What is Heart Disease? Why does it make sudden changes on a person’s life, on a

person’s point of view, on a person’s heart? In the field of science particularly medicine,

Myocardial infarction, commonly known as heart attack, occurs when the blood supply in the

heart is interrupted causing some heart cells to die. It sounds severe. But what is more painful

is not the illness itself rather, it is the impact that it can cause to our precious lives. Dreams

will be broken, self worth will be lost, happiness will fade, lives will be meaningless. A single

blockage in your artery can literary cause everything.

In the short story written by Jonathan Safran Foer “A Primer for the Punctuation of

Heart Disease”, realities are being revealed about the disease itself, the person who has it, and

the family it affects. In the literary text, the author has been trying to convey a message to all.

In fact he made fourteen special punctuations being portrayed by a family who has history of

heart disease. Fourteen unique symbols with individual meanings explaining what it takes to

have it in your blood.

Silence is one important message of the story. It is for him and for some of us that

silence is directly opposite to what it means in the dictionary. Silence passes an instinct to us,

a feeling that is somewhat reliable and is usually correct even if not said. It is a language

without words but full of emotions. In the story, silence tends to be the medium of concern of

family to each other. It’s a rope that binds the group together despite the problems. It’s a

higher way of understanding in the absence of words.

In the context, adjustments were made. Opposites are developed. There comes an

unxclamation point that denotes the direct counter meaning of an exclamation point, From

over the top reactions to lifeless response. Whisper, thoughts that were said quietly even

though there’s no reason to be quiet. Feelings expressed incompletely realizing that silence is
way better than it. I find it confusing to say but as I read the page, I found it unambiguous. I

found out that sometimes, what we know is not for real.

Another thing that caught my attention is the “Low Point”. I know most of us have a

little reaction about this. We all experience low points in our lives. In the story it is presented

in a way that for a heart patient life is unforgiving, life is unfair. We all somehow think of this

when we have difficulties too but what they feel is a little bit of something else. A part of the

story shows how a man is fearful to be alone. The problem for me primarily is not within the

concept of finding someone but rather it is in the means of how a person can find you.

Acceptance is always an issue. Will they accept me? Can they stand a day with me?

The last thing that struck me is the “should-have brackets”. Because humans like me

usually made mistakes equal to this. Things that were supposed to be mentioned but because

of circumstances it doesn’t come up into words. Heart attacks are common to men because

they tend to hide their feelings, always making it a secret. In the story what could have been

said can be helpful in a way but because it stays inside then it becomes a burden. Telling

what you feel is not a crime, it’s a help.

The story is really packed with important insights about life. So much lessons can be

learned that will not only open our minds to cases like this but also will leave us the message

that the key is communication.