Mask on the Face of Death

I loved reading this article because I felt that there were so many surprising facts that popped up as I kept reading. I was extremely confused at the beginning of the story, but I liked how Richard Selzer began the article in one of the main places where AIDS is spread. It is shocking that the brothels don’t get shut down and even more shocking that people continue to go to them. The prostitutes are clearly in denial because it would be bad for business, even though they are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Haitian men. I was also surprised when I went back to the into and realized that this article was written in 1988. That was 22 years ago, and its shocking that AIDS was so rampant then, and disheartening once you realize that it is definitely more widely spread now.
I liked how this article was written because Selzer was not trying to scare people into avoiding AIDS, but was trying to educate people and get rid of widely-believed myths. When he described the patient’s diseases, he was being factual and was not overly gory like George Orwell was in Shooting an Elephant. The facts that he added in the end of the article were to clarify everything that he had said in the article to make sure that no one took away any false information. I liked that it raised AIDS awareness but did not force the reader to have to donate or scare them into it.
The usage of the Haitian language was also very interesting. Selzer did not make it difficult to understand, but its incorporation made it even clearer that AIDS is extremely prevalent in poorer countries. Some of their lifestyle choices were a little graphic and horrible. If there was more sex education in the country then there would be a smaller outbreak of the AIDS virus. But luckily articles like this make people more aware of dangerous viruses like AIDS.