"My Father/My Husband" by David J. Lawless

     "My Father/My Husband" is a story that portrays the daily lives of an elderly couple; the wife in the story suffers from serious medical issues, including Alzheimer's, dementia, and heart failure. Even though living with someone with conditions as major as those is tough, the husband handles everything calmly and carefully, which shows that Lawless's purpose in writing this essay is to depict a story of martial love. This essay is written for any audience who would enjoy a heartwarming anecdote about a man's love for his wife. "My Father/My Husband" was published in PRISM Magazine, a journal created by the Creative Writing Program of the University of British Columbia; author David J. Lawless won the grand prize in a nonfiction contest held by the magazine.
     Lawless used pathetic appeal in order to achieve his purpose. The affectionate tone used in the essay helps the audience understand how much the husband cares about his wife. For example, even when the wife would wake up at 3 a.m. and not recognize him, he would reassure her and take care of her with compassion and love. Another device that the author used is dialogue. The dialogue in the essay made Lawless's audience understand the emotions his characters were feeling. When the wife asks many questions, like, "Are we in Madrid?" and "Why are my paintings on the wall? This is Madrid. I bought these paintings in Madrid," the reader really understands the confusion the wife is feeling as well as the frustration and exasperation the husband must be feeling after going through the question routine every single day. However, Lawless fully achieves his purpose when highlights the love they feel for each other at the end of the story, when the wife says, "You are not my husband. I never had a husband," and the husband replies with, "Yes, I am." The last line of the story reads, "She kisses his cheek and they both smile," showing that she did recognize him as her husband, and that her affection for him overpowers her confusion.

Dementia

The wife in the story is known to suffer from severe Alzheimer's, a form of dementia. Symptoms of Alzheimer's include confusion, aggression, mood swings, and long-term memory loss, which are definitely issues with which the wife dealt with.

(Source: http://www.healingtalks.com/natural-health-2/aging-longevity/fighting-alzheimers-is-possible-counterpoint-inspiration/)