"The Lives of a Cell" Précis

Ian Dunne
Mr. Ehret
AP Language and Composition
April 16, 2008

“The Lives of a Cell” Analysis
By Lewis Thomas (p. 358 – 360)

Modern man has been separating himself from nature with artificial advancements. Man is a great force in the delicate ecosystems that already exist, and he knows this. Yet, Earth can withstand far more than a single human can; we are more vulnerable. Man creates himself the head of the nature that exists, and always has, embedding himself in nature and becoming a great part of it. We are becoming more aware of our relationship with nature and our unwarranted power we hold to it. Our existence is made of smaller entities, smaller pieces that control and enable our humanlike functions. Because these smaller pieces (e.g. mitochondrion, different parts of cells, etc.) enable us and make our lives possible, do they actually enjoy more of our life than we do? Plants are also made of smaller, symbiotic organisms that give them their traits. A single cell accounts for our uniformity in this world. Because of this, viruses are evolving and beginning to affect all types of organisms – insects, plants, mammals. To what can life be compared? An organism? A single cell?

Vocabulary
Transient - lasting only for a short time; impermanent

Tone
Informal, intrigued, excited

Rhetorical Terms

Simile – “My cells are no longer the pure line entities I was raised with; they are ecosystems more complex than Jamaica Bay” (p. 359)

Personification – “…we live in a dancing matrix of viruses” (p. 360)

Simile – “…the earth is pictured as something delicate, like rising bubbles at the surface of a country pond, or flights of fragile birds” (p. 358)

Metaphor – “Evolution is still an infinitely long and tedious biological game, with only the winners staying at the table, but the rules are beginning to look more flexible” (p. 360)

Hyperbole – “[Man] sits on the topmost tiers of polymer, glass, and steel, dangling his pulsing legs, surveying at a distance the writhing life of the planet” (p. 358)