Wu 1

David Wu
Professor Holly Batty
English 114
17 September 2014
The Beating Heart
Lub-dub, lub-dub, it was still beating on the piece of paper. I stared at it. I could hear
his cry. I wanted to put it back in the chest, but my hands were stuck. Lub-dub, lub-dub
May 20, 2013, one week before the final. After Mr. Heard announced that we were going
to have a dissection, behind me, a cheer sounded, and the biology class erupted into a noisy
atmosphere. I was delighted. I peered through the door when I walked by the lab everyday.
Throwing aside the tedious vocabulary list, I finally got the chance to wear the white gloves and
hold the scalpel. Sitting in the lab, I fiddled with the scalpel and the tweezers like a child. Mr.
Heard came in, pulling a blue basket into the room. I saw a frog leg at the edge of the basket.
One girl screamed in a low volume. I sneered, They are dead, I thought in my mind. I didnt
feel sorry about the frogs because I believed science needs sacrifice. Clones would not have been
invented if the scientist didnt do countless experiments on animals. With the curiosity that I
could see the real organs rather than the boring textbooks pictures, I took the frog back to my
seat.
Fixing the frog on the dissecting pan with needles, I used the scalpel to slip through the
frogs abdomen with my partner, Gabriel. Under her instruction, I took out the stomach,
following the intestines. After we measured the length of the lungs, Gabriel and I took a picture
with the frog. Everything was going well. The next step was to cut the spinal cord. Gabriel
handed the scissors to me. Ah! Both Gabriel and I screamed. The frog jumped up, and with

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such an immense amount of force that it flicked the needles off. It fell on the pan with the
abdomen toward the ceiling. I forgot to mention, Mr. Heard walked by and said, I just bashed
these frogs on the wall this morning. I was shocked. Their head were smashed on the wall,
maybe with their shrill cries. Some of the frogs organs were spilled all over the ground. Dark
red blood streams dripped down from Mr. Heards hands. Is this the science that I love? I
wondered. It seemed that Mr. Heards action was no different from the worker who sawed off
pigs legs and skinned them while they were still conscious (Foer 182). They were both killing
and torturing animals to death in an inhumane way. I thought it was cruel to dissect a frog when
he was alive. Maybe he was watching his organs being taken out? Maybe his parents were
looking for their loved one, while I was boasting in front of my parents that I did a frog
dissection. It was immoral to establish my pleasure on others pain. I put down my scalpel.
Take out the heart, Gabriel instructed. I looked into the frogs body. Along the top of
the lung the heart was still beating. I started to question the purpose of the dissection. I told
myself that I was going to kill a living creature. I hesitated. David! What are you waiting for?
Are you scared? Gabriel sneered. I took up the scalpel. I did not want to be a coward in front of
my peers. There was a moral voice in my head telling me that I should not do it. My hands were
shaking. I made an eye contact with the frog. It was like They look at me and I tell them,
Please forgive me. I cant help it (Foer 115). I closed my eyes, cutting off the artery and the
vein of the heart. I put it on a piece of paper.
Lub-dub, lub-dub. It was still beating. I stared at it. I could hear his cry. I wanted to put
it back in his chest, but my hands were stuck. Tick-tock, tick-tock. It stopped beating.
I raised my head, and glanced the biology book. There was an image of a frogs heart in
the textbook, just as the one in front of me. Through dissection, I did not find any new

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discoveries or knowledge. It was pointless, just like other the mice experiments that are
mentioned in Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat, most of the time scientists did not
have prominent discoveries after killing countless mice. Consequently, those mice died in suffer
with unnecessary sacrifice. Doing the frog dissection only satisfied my curiosity and vanity.
Looking at my bloody hands, I smiled bitterly.
The frog dissection changed my point of view toward human and animals, even plants. I
realize we are all equal living creatures, who can feel pain and love. I admitted that humans have
the power over animals because we are more intelligent. However, it doesnt mean that we can
treat other animals lives hastily. Although maybe I will never become a vegetarian, I will
oppose those people who hurt or kill animals with pointless reasons. For animals research, I
hope there will be a strict law that can monitor each experiments rationality. Someone might
think there is no point to save those mice in the lab; they are going to die anyway. However,
although mice or other animals are appealing compare to humans, they should gain equal and
moral treatment from humans. If there is nothing matter, there is nothing to save (Foer 17).