Topic of Cancer by Christopher Hitchens

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It is important to notice the little things in life before one realizes that life is almost over. The author of this essay lost his life due to cancer, and did not notice the little things that cancer affected until they were gone. 

The author in this article wrote about his cancer he had just been diagnosed with, his thought process during the days and months following his diagnosis, and little things that cancer had affected while he was trying to continue living a normal life. Christopher Hitchens was an author and journalist contributing to multiple publishers such as New Statesman, The Nation, The Atlantic, The Times Literary Supplement, The London Review of Books, and Vanity Fair. After having three New York Times best-selling books, Hitchens died of cancer. In this article, he is credible to the topic of cancer because he speaks about his experiences dealing with cancer. Hitchens touches on personal cancer moments like when he was told his "immediate next stop would have to be with an oncologist" (85 Danticat). Terrifying realizations he writes about like "how I discovered that my cancer had spread to my lymph nodes, and that one of these deformed beauties--located on my right clavicle, or collarbone--was big enough to be seen and felt" (86 Danticat). Talking about these experiences also leads into Hitchens's rhetorical devices used. The detail and pathos in his diction on the personal level connects with the reader because he is letting the audience feel more connected to him. The audience targeted is young adults to old individuals that understand the topic of cancer. Even if someone has not been affected by cancer, he makes it easy to let the reader connect with him by sharing his personal experiences. The context is because Christopher Hitchens was stricken with cancer, a modern disaster that affects almost everybody, directly and indirectly. The author's purpose was to connect with the audience by sharing his thoughts, thought process, and his life on the topic of cancer after being directly affected by it. I think the author achieves his purpose. He connects with the audience by sharing details about trying to live a normal life while he notices cancer is affecting little things he does as apart of his daily routines. Detail like realizing he no longer has hair to shave on his beard, or his upper lip started to look like somebody's maiden auntie achieves his purpose of connecting with the audience on the topic of cancer.