Deconstruction of Binaries and Role Reversal in Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air

Physicians’ stories of their illness attempt to bridge the divide between a professional doctor and a patient’s narrative by combining both the versions. This research paper undertakes a narratological analysis of latest illness narrative written by a physician-turned-patient Paul Kalanithi in his When Breath Becomes Air. The present study also finds out the role reversal happening between a clinician, patient and writer. It further aims to analyze Paul Kalanithi’s autobiographical memoir as a literary narrative of his last stage fatal lung cancer. The paper highlights the link between literature and the medical world and in this way generates a better understanding of the present interdisciplinary relation of both the disciplines i.e. literature and medicine. This research is qualitative and descriptive while textual analysis has been used as a research method. This study ends with the findings and recommendations for further research.