"My Left Foot"by Christy Brown's, Its a breif description of the themes in my left foot.

The Themes of My Left Foot

Cerebral Palsy

"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"

-Sydney Harris

One of the themes in My Left Foot is Christy Brown's struggles with Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy is a disease that is caused from birth. Premature babies are most at risk for the disease, and most that are born with it do not cry in the first five minutes of birth unlike normal babies. The cause of the disease is still unknown like many "birth defects." The mother and father of the baby often feel guilty for the baby's condition, but the truth is that it still often occurs even when the mother has strictly followed her physician's advice in caring for herself and the developing infant. The disease disrupts bodily functions and the symptoms may vary. Many subjects are unable to speak but their brains are fully functional and therefore are trapped in their own world, unable to express their feelings or thoughts.

In the book the doctors told Christy's mother that he would never be able to communicate and would be a "vegetable" the rest of his life. Unlike a lot of patients with the same illness Christy with a lot of determination turned his life around. He learned to express himself through writing and painting, doing this only with the use of his left foot. Christy's story makes you look twice at your problems and reassess your life.

Inspiration

"A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world."

-Sigmund Freud

With the mass flow of books, movies, and media in the modern world it is hard to find a great book or movie.