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J. T. MacCurdy
Jay Freireich is a doctor who grew up in extreme poverty. The son of Hungarian immigrants, his father died when he was a very young boy, leaving him and his mother nearly destitute. Throughout his childhood, Freireich experienced numerous hardships but decided upon meeting a doctor that he wanted to go to medical school. Because he did well in school, he managed to fulfill this dream. A quick-tempered but affable man, Freireich’s first posting was on the childhood leukemia ward at the National Cancer Institute—a hopeless place where it was all Freireich could do to keep children from bleeding to death. However, Freireich remained undeterred because, according to Gladwell, he had already been through worse in his life. Because of this outlook, Freireich managed to maintain a sense of optimism even in extremely bleak circumstances. He also wasn’t afraid to try new things, despite the fact that his colleagues often criticized him for experimenting on children. However, Freireich believed there was nothing to lose because these children were going to die anyway, so he worked with his colleague Tom Frei to develop a cure that is still in use to this day. Today, 90 percent of childhood leukemia cases are successfully cured, and Gladwell argues that this is because of Freireich’s refusal to give up—an approach to life he developed in response to his difficult upbringing.
Emil “Jay” Freireich Quotes in David and Goliath
The David and Goliath quotes below are all either spoken by Emil “Jay” Freireich or refer to Emil “Jay” Freireich. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5: Emil “Jay” Freireich
Quotes
But the question of what any of us would wish on our children is the wrong question, isn’t it? The right question is whether we as a society need people who have emerged from some kind of trauma—and the answer is that we plainly do. This is not a pleasant fact to contemplate. For every remote miss who becomes stronger, there are countless near misses who are crushed by what they have been through. There are times and places, however, when all of us depend on people who have been hardened by their experiences. Freireich had the courage to think the unthinkable. He experimented on children. He took them through pain no human being should ever have to go through. And he did it in no small part because he understood from his own childhood experience that it is possible to emerge from even the darkest hell healed and restored.
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Emil “Jay” Freireich Quotes in David and Goliath
The David and Goliath quotes below are all either spoken by Emil “Jay” Freireich or refer to Emil “Jay” Freireich. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5: Emil “Jay” Freireich
Quotes
But the question of what any of us would wish on our children is the wrong question, isn’t it? The right question is whether we as a society need people who have emerged from some kind of trauma—and the answer is that we plainly do. This is not a pleasant fact to contemplate. For every remote miss who becomes stronger, there are countless near misses who are crushed by what they have been through. There are times and places, however, when all of us depend on people who have been hardened by their experiences. Freireich had the courage to think the unthinkable. He experimented on children. He took them through pain no human being should ever have to go through. And he did it in no small part because he understood from his own childhood experience that it is possible to emerge from even the darkest hell healed and restored.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
