Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

When Courtney and I (Garrett) thought about an everyday object that has a strong relationship with both the mind and body, we asked ourselves; what is something that can be found in just about every modern household.  After some contemplation, we decided that pills or medication would be a fine candidate.

What are pills?  Pills come in a large variety of different shapes, sizes, and colors.  They are typically ingested orally by humans, mostly to prevent or treat illnesses.  Pills are set to treat a wide variety of human afflictions that affect their bodies.  Most treat infections, anxiety, heart/cholesterol problems, and depression.  Most humans today have taken a prescription in their lifetimes.

Pharmacy: Arrived at the big building with big huge clear doors that opened automatically when we approached.  Inside was a big ladder-like thing that had people walking up them to get to what looked like another level of the building.  To the left was area with a bunch of places to rest our legs and sit down with a row of endless windows.  The windows had a person behind each one and would use a black stick to make a loud sound with (calling out numbers) and then a bright sign would appear with 197, 282, etc.  We realized we were supposed to go to this machine, press this marked button and get a slip of paper with these markings on it.  When that marking showed up on the screen, we were to go up to the window.

When our number, 107, was called, we brought up a slip of paper that was allowing the window person to dispense what they called medication or pills.  Once we were finished with the pharmacy, we went to go check out these pills.

Inside the brown paper thing with this cylindrical container was a piece of paper with writing on it.  In the English language, this paper is the medication’s interaction and implication guide.  This guide told us what the pills would do and how to take them.  

Apparently, pills are given to humans by “doctors.”  Doctors go to school for a long time in order to prescribe pills and heal sick people.  Some may debate this being a good thing.

Now that we have our “alprazolam,” the person the prescription was written for has a diagnoses requiring tranquilization or a calming down effect.  

From our studies, we can conclude that pills are an everyday staple for many people that have a far-ranging effect on the bodies of those people.