Personal Essay. A personal essay is a short nonfiction work on a single topic related to the life of the writer. Although based on real events, personal essays sometimes include specific details and dialogue that may or may not reflect exactly the way things happened in real life. These details and the dialogue help create an interesting perspective on the events in the story. What details in this story help make it particularly interesting?
Theme. A theme is a central idea in a literary work. In a personal essay, a writer may be freer to express his or her views on a given topic than a writer of another literary form.
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• Science Connection. Surgery is a branch of medicine in which diseases and injuries are treated, often through cutting and sewing, using the hands and various instruments. In 1846 anesthetics were discovered, and major surgery became standard practice. Anesthetics are gases or other medications used to induce sleep and numb pain.
• In the late 1800s the French scientist Louis Pasteur developed the germ theory of disease. Pasteur showed that infections were caused by tiny creatures called bacteria. Building on the work of Pasteur, Joseph Lister developed ways to keep wounds from becoming infected by cleaning them and sterilizing them to kill bacteria. Bacteria-free dressings, instruments, hands, and wounds are said to be antiseptic. Anesthetics and antiseptic methods made modern surgery possible.
• Today surgeons routinely perform operations that would have seemed like miracles in earlier days, repairing and even replacing major organs of the body. Even veterinarians are able to practice sophisticated procedures that 100 years ago were unavailable to humans.
As you read “Cat on the Go,” think about what the main topics are. What is the author saying about those topics? There are three main steps in finding a story’s theme. Fill in a chart like the one below to help you find the theme of this selection.
What causes certain people and animals to behave in ways that most people find unusual? Why are some individuals so different?
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