Reflections of "incarnations of a Burned Child"

Screeching tires, busted glass, sirens echoing through the night air as rescue workers race to the scene of an automobile accident. We have all had to pull over to allow an ambulance the opportunity to pass and normally we give little thought to the screaming behemoth as it flies by. Everyday in America horrible accidents occur that forever change the lives of all the people involved. Many times it is the decisions made in a split second that determine the difference between life and death. It is during these situations that men are generally more capable of controlling their emotions and thinking clearly so that the situation can quickly be neutralized. The story "Incarnations of a Burned Child" by David Foster Wallace transports the reader into a rural kitchen in the midst of one of these situations and I will present evidence within the story to solidify this belief. In "Incarnations" the daddy is superior to the mother in handling the horrific accident involving their son, he thinks while she feels, he responds quickly and she is frozen with fear. However, despite the heroic acts of the daddy the child still dies.

The daddy responded with lightning fast speed to aid his son. The situation discussed in the story involves a young child who lives with his mom and daddy. The boy was in the kitchen and his curiosity tragically lead to a pot of boiling water to cascade upon him from a burning stove, the daddy was quicker to respond to the boy's aid even though the mother was suppose to be watching him. The mother's screams rang out almost simultaneously with the child's which pierced the ears of the daddy who was outside hanging a porch door. "H e could move fast, and the back porch gave onto the kitchen, and before the screen door had banged shut behind him the daddy had taken the scene in whole,". It took only seconds for the daddy to begin aiding his frantic son while the mother exhausted herself by screaming and mindlessly dabbing the child with a dishrag! The mother's screams no doubted did nothing but frighten the child even more while the towel would have exacerbated his pain, the rough fabric acting more as a cheese grater against his boiling skin than an element of comfort.

Critical and rational thinking is imperative in any emergency situation in which the daddy displays with crystal clarity. The scene that the parent's were exposed to is described as "the overturned pot on the floor tile before the stove and the burner's blue jet and the floor's pool of water still steaming… the toddler in his baggy diaper standing rigid with steam coming off his hair…". It is in these moments that critical thinking in an emergency situation is the difference between life and death. Emotions electrically wage war against critical thinking at speeds greater than the speed of light. The mother is overwhelmed by hysteria; rational

...