Six Million Dollar Man Summary and Question Answer

    

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The Six Million Dollar Man

1. Introduction:

Dr. Harold Morowita is a professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. He is scientist, teacher and writer. "The Six Milliom Dollar Man" is a very popular essay. Here he examines the statistical statement that 'the chemical value of human body is only 97 cents. By the end he redefines the statement and arrives a more accurate definition.

From a bio chemical catalogue, he collects information about the prices of the ingredients by which  a human body is made up of. Then he calculates the average value of a gram dry weight of a human being and his own dry weight. When he multiples both, he finds his price, that is, Six Million Dollars.

But soon he realized that each human being is priceless, and so is infinitely precious.

The message of the article is that there is a difference between a human body and a human being. Human body can be thought or considered in the terms of elements, materials or even in the terms of money. 

But a human being can't be thought in any such terms. A human being has different emotions like love, hate, anger etc., and in fact, such emotions make a human being.

 So Human Being is priceless.

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2. Short Summary:

One day the writer got a birthday card from his daughter and his son-in-law. The card stated that price of a human body 'is only worth 97 cents'. The writer was not satisfied with this definition. So, he started to investigate the matter himself. He consulted a catalogue which contained the names of the ingredients by which a human body is made.

The prices of such materials (different chemicals) were written there along with their prices per gram. After a lot of computation he came to the conclusion that instead of 97 cents only , a man's (of the writer's weight) real worth (price) was six million dollars. He became very glad at this discovery and the amount. He thought himself to be a very rich rich person.

But again he started to think in a new way. He thought that the chemicals on the card were only crude materials. So they cost less. Again, the next difficulty was that if at all he bought all the necessary chemicals and put them in fridge, and gave them a good shake, he was not going to get a human body. Some organism was needed to change the chemicals into bones, flesh, blood and different organs of human body. No such method or organism has been invented. 

Even if there was any such organism, the product was not going to speak, to feel, to be angry, or to be glad, to love or to be hate. In short, although science can make a human body artificially , (although it is not possible yet), it can not make a human being. Human body can be talked in terms of money. The parts of human body can be bought or sold. But a human being is priceless. This is the final definition given by the writer.

 Human body and human being are  different from each other. Human body is made up of different chemical organisms, but a man becomes a human being because of consciousness, rationality, certain emotions and some other indispensable human qualities. 

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3. Some Important Question-Answers:

Question 1. Explain the title of the essay and the author's joy in discovering that he is a six million dollar man.

Answer : The title of the essay is quite catching. It draws the reader's attention very easily. It seems to be slightly sarcastic as well, because a man's real worth can't be estimated in terms of money. 

As the card bore the information that the worth of human body was 97 cents, the writer was not satisfied with with it. He studied a catalogue from a Biochemical company  and calculated himself. Suddenly he discovered that it was not 97 cents only, body is worth six million dollar.

The sudden realization that he was a six million man, overjoyed him and he jumped at it.

Question 2. Explain the writer's joy in discovering that he was a six million dollar man .

Answer: The writer ­ received a birthday greeting card from his daughter and son ­ in- law. It was written on it that “According to biochemists, the materials that make up the human body are worth 97 cents". 

This statement shows that the human body is very cheap. Then he visited a biochemist's and took  a price list of all the chemicals by which a human body is made up of. Then he calculated them. Then he calculated the dry weight of his body. It was 2444.36 grams. On that basis he calculated that the price his body was $ 6,000,015.44. So he called himself a six million dollar man. 

He became very very glad at this discovery . He thought himself to be really a very rich person.

Question 3. What definition of human body is implied in the statement on the greeting card ? Why does Morowitz (the writer) question it ?

Answer : The definition of human body implied in the statement on the greeting card, is that the human body is worth only 97 cents. The writer questions it because it does not satisfy him. He thinks that the definition has reduced a man's real worth to a lower level.

Question 4. At what strikingly different definition does the author finally arrive ?

Answer: After a long and complicated calculation of human body in terms of money, the writer finally arrives to a strikingly definition that each human being is priceless. It is improper and impossible to consider human being in terms of money matters. 

Although a  human body is made up of the chemical organisms, but a man becomes a human being because of consciousness, rationality, emotions like love, hate, anger etc. and some other  indispensable human qualities. So a human being is priceless. This is the final definition given by the writer.

So by the end we find him agreeing with Mr. Whitehead's conclusion that 'the human body is an instrument for the production of art in the life of the human soul'.