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Chapter 15: The Disease of Despair
- Fordham University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
The chapter opens with the author's description of a doctor nicknamed the Toke, or "gecko," a nickname given to him as a result of his strange voice stemming from cancer of the throat. The author and his brother would visit the doctor multiple times, as this chapter relates, being diagnosed with vitamin deficiencies, beriberi, and scurvy. The author also recounts his alternating duties within the camp, such as pall-bearing or loading funeral carts, with working in the fields.