Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Almost all of the action of Cutting for Stone takes place within one of two hospitals. The characters live apart from the societies that their hospitals serve. While outside there is chaos, danger,...
What's Up With the Title?
The title Cutting for Stone is a pretty on the nose, but it can take a while to figure it out if you're not a doctor who's memorized the Hippocratic oath. That's the professional promise that docto...
What's Up With the Epigraph?
Cutting for Stone is divided into four parts, each part with its own epigraph… or three. So hold on tight, Shmoopers; time to go epigraph hunting. . . . for the secret of the care of the patient...
What's Up With the Ending?
The very last scene in the novel has Marion, now a middle-aged man, calling up his father, Dr. Thomas Stone. Marion is in Ethiopia, and Stone in Boston. Marion has finally found the mysterious miss...
Tough-o-Meter
Cutting for Stone isn't too hard. It's straightforward and action-driven, it'll keep your feet moving one in front of the other, and it'll entertain you along the way. You may even be delighted by...