Gifted Hands by Benjamin Solomon Carson

A famous book Gifted hands is an autobiography of a talented doctor, Benjamin Carson. A pediatric neurosurgeon working at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore saved a lot of children, whom the other doctors presaged death. A young neurosurgeon helped children, who were meant to be inoperable. The atmosphere of hope, wisdom and thirst for life flooded the narration. Ben Carson argues that if you work really hard, learn a lot of useful things and use your experience for self-development you will become a good specialist, and if you evolve your talent you will become successful, whatever you do. He writes throughout the book that whatever you do, you must do the best you can. Carson encouraged his readers never give up. He assures that one should never stop going to the chosen aim.

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Ben Carsons book Gifted hands highlights the themes of searching for oneself; professionalism and race prejudice. Being a ghetto child, Carson never gave up going through race prejudice. An Afro-American surgeon describes the situations of prejudice: when he was beaten, when at the beginning of his career some patients did not want to have a doctor with another skin color. Carson himself was never prejudiced. He argues that no matter who you are, the important is only what are you doing. A lot of people did not get success because of the believing that they cannot because of their difference. To encourage such people to change their lives; Carson retold the wise advices of his mother and her simple explanations of some life-truths.

The brightest example of this problem is in the portraying of the Carsons first years as a doctor. The reader notices that the people were hardly believed that such a young Afro-American could be a good doctor, but Carsons professionalism changes their minds, and in a couple of years after he started his medical career, people stopped paying attention to his young age and color of skin.

Gifted hands is written in a sort of memoir with and add comments of the witnesses of the described events. This book is not only an autobiography but also a collection of stories from the doctors practice. Ben Carson describes his life lessons and telling his biography, a surgeon uncovers his lifestyle and advises to the young people explaining his experience. The patients stories show his main statement of doing the best you can whatever you do.

The book begins with an introduction created by his wife Candy Carson, where she described the most known surgery made by her husband. He was first who managed to separate 7-month-old Siamese twins joined at the back of the head. This surgery gave children a chance for normal life. Mass media made this separation, a historic operation. Thats why; his work makes a talented neurosurgeon well-known. Among all that, this story grabs readers attention and awakens the desire to know how to become successful.

Then Carson describes his childhood, beginning with the situation, when his father left them: his mother, him and his brother who is a little older. Carson tells the story of his parents to show the wisdom and the value of his mothers advises. The woman was working hard to grow up her two sons alone, but she managed to give them all necessary and deliver her wisdom. Thats why he retells these advices to make the reader understand his general statement. Carson also explains why and when he decided to become a doctor and what he did to be a professional. He describes his hard study at school and his hard work at Yale, explaining the problems which he has at the beginning of his professional education. He became one of the best pupils at the school, but he has some problems at Yale. Then Carson describes the years full of hope and enthusiasm studying in A University of Michigans school of Medicine and his first practice as a doctor. All this piece of his personal story shows that the principle of doing the best he can whatever he does brings him success.

Carson did never stop how difficult the obstacles were. Speaking about his summer works, he tells how the experience helped him to develop his skills. He learned a lot of useful, practical things during summer jobs. These parts of the narration are full of encouragement for other young people, because Carson pays attention, to how this experience helped him in his medical career. This element of the narration also highlights his general statement about doing the best you can.

In his autobiography Carson also describes his first meeting with his wife Candy and the problems which they both went through. Carson widely describes their experience in Australia, his busyness at work and Candys comprehension and her imperceptible help; she always goes with him whenever he goes to work. Carsons mother helped them with their children. In this part of the book, he argues that the family is one of the most important things in a life, and relatives are the only people who could give support no matter what happens, describing his wifes support at hard moments of his life.

In Gifted hands, the author narrates some stories about his patients. Describing his work, Carson shows his life principles and portrays the other side of surgeons work. Each story about the single patient is a piece of wisdom and the desire to help children, the desire to save their lives. Another good thing about this book is that, in one of the patients stories we have the piece of narration from the point of view of the relative. It is written like a fragment of a diary. This narration technique is used in a story of Craig Warnick. A young nurse- Susan asked Carson to help her husband, who had a tumor. In this case, a story breaks off by Susans thoughts and feelings about the operation of her sick husband. A young nurse was very nervous. She was full of doubt. Susan feared to become a widow at thirty, she was afraid of losing her beloved husband. This story shows that, whatever happen, one must believe in oneself, and do all you can, to change the situation.

Ben Carsons story ends with a conclusion, where he tells about his desire to help young people and teenagers. He argues how one can help teenagers and young people find their place in a world. This part of the book is especially full of wisdom. Carson advises talented youth how to be successful in whatever they do and how to study effectively. A famous surgeon encouraged young people and tells about his attitude to his popularity. He dislikes the attention of the press, but the doctor is glad that his story helped a lot of people to change their life or to start their life.

Speaking about the terminology, Ben Carson uses such terms as Black, White and ghetto child to describe the racial prejudice and his attitude to the problem. Carson also uses a lot of medical terms, portraying his work. He gives explanations of all the used terms incomprehensible for people without medical education. In such way, he tries to get to know ordinary people what all these strange words mean, supposing that it will help parents of his future little patients not to be afraid for their children. These terms also make the specialist understanding about the complexity of his work.

The time period in this book is shown throughout the dates. The author takes the period of almost half a century, returning during the description of his childhood to the story of his parents, began in 1950-s. The story ends in late 1980-s, with a description of Carsons work. Everywhere he gives a date at the beginning of the story-element: chapter, a description of the particular situation. Retelling the stories of his patients he gives dates and explain how much time he spent in preparation and how long the patient recovered.

To draw the conclusion, one can say that Gifted hands is a work of encouragement and wisdom. The arguments presented earlier prove that in all the elements of this story is one statement: if one will work hard trying to make the best possible, one could become successful no matter who he or she is. As an autobiography, this work is subjective. An author described the problems with which he interfered according to his personal view. The style and the dates as in memoirs, making one feel that the person telling you the story is trying to recall when and where the event took place. So, this book could be an example and inspiration for the young people.