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Paul Farmer Character Analysis

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Paul Farmer Character Analysis
Mark Amariyakoune
April 22, 2013
ENG 101
Essay 1
Paul Farmer: Man On A Mission How far will one man go to achieve the impossible? How far can one man go to reach his goal? The country of Haiti is one of the most under developed countries in the world, but one doctor, Paul Farmer, is determined to help cure this country. No matter what the costs, Paul Farmer is willing to do whatever it takes to help those in need. A doctor who has graduated from Harvard, is also the founder of Partners in Health, and is also a teacher at Harvard. In the book Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder, Kidder shows the perseverance, determination, and courage of Paul Farmer and how he tries to help cure an under developed country and how he treats his patients.
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He treats his patients with more care than an average doctor. In chapter 2 of Mountains Beyond Mountains, Paul Farmer is seen with a patient in Boston who is HIV positive. The patient, named Joe, doesn’t eat properly and doesn’t take his medication and is also a drug addict. Though Joe doesn’t follow the protocol of being healthy, Paul Farmer insists that he treats Joe with respect and care. The patient only wants to drink and wants somebody to take care of him. Farmer took the patient to a homeless shelter. During Christmas time, Farmer bought Joe a six pack of beer for Christmas as a gift. On a message board at the hospital, read “ OUT- cold, their drugs, ½ gal. vodka, IN- warm, our drugs, 6 pack bud.” (pg. 15) At the bottom of that message also read “Why do I know Paul Farmer wrote this? (Pg. 15) This shows how Dokte Paul Farmer cares for his patients and how the other doctors are used to his generosity with their patients. Not many doctors would go to the extreme in taking care of one patient, or bending the rules to suit a patient’s needs. This act of kindness shows how much Paul Farmer cares about his patients and the people of

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