Madeline Stocks

A.P. Composition

Dr. Ray Gen

04-30-09

The Great Influenza: Certainty Creates Questioning

To John M. Barry, certainty is critical. It is the blood off of each human being lives off of. He compares it to nature and science with a colorful and expressive tone. His strong opinion is expressed by various rhetorical devices such as metaphors, allusions, and hypothetical examples. Certainty is the most important thing to Barry as he so bluntly points out. Certainty, in essence, is what we as humans, build our decision making on.

Barry exemplifies this when he uses descriptive hypothetical examples about scientists and how they deal with certainty. He is describing the qualifications of a scientist, when he says, “A scientist must accept the fact that all his or her work, even beliefs, may break apart upon the sharp edge of a single laboratory finding.” (Lines 14-16). This shows a perfect example, of the scientist who say believes in God, yet finds proof, actually scientific evidence that he is not real. This will make that particular scientist uncertain if he should pick his own beliefs over what he is told to be true. In addition, he uses another hypothetical instance while describing the frontier scientists have to balance between moral and actual facts. He comments that, “even the least ambitious among them deal with the unknown, if only one step beyond the known.” (Lines 23-25) The “one step beyond the unknown” is that other world that is presented in the hypothetical example. It stresses the point that the scientists have an uncertainty that their whole practice will override their morals they have cherished all their life.

In addition, Barry uses metaphors to convey his thoughts of certainty. When he comments he states, “Ultimately, if the researcher succeeds, a flood of colleagues will pave roads over the path laid, and those roads will be orderly and straight…”( Lines 49-51)  His metaphor off a researcher’s success that “floods” over him/her, shows that it is an overwhelming feeling to have a success after so many fails. And after that particular researcher finds the truth, they again doubt their own beliefs. There is the rotting of uncertainty within them. How do they solve it? It is impossible to have 100% certainty according to Barry’s writings.

Lastly, when Barry uses powerful allusions in this writing, he conveys the strong feeling of uncertainty. He questions, “if the rock is impenetrable, if dynamite would destroy what one is looking for, is they another way of getting information about what the rock holds?” (Lines 43-45) He is talking literally about an impenetrable rock, but about the impenetrable truth. The pick described earlier in the passage is the morals that a person lives up to. The dynamite on the other hand, is a representation of the scientific facts of research. In addition, he uses another powerful allusion when he says, “there is a single step can take them through the looking glass into a world that seems entirely different.” (Lines 30-32) His allusion of the looking glass as a portal or a border between facts and beliefs clearly explains the need for certainty. Without it particular people like researchers, scientific investigators, and others in that field, may go crazy without an answer. The point of a scientist’s job is to find an answer, and if they can not achieve that personal and professional goal. Barry is very perceptive with his allusions, metaphors and hypothetical examples. His writings make a good point: Will we ever have complete certainty?