Cutting for Stone: Behind the Title

                Cutting for Stone as a title carries considerable significance for the novel. The title is a play off a quote from the Hippocratic Oath, an excerpt of which appears in the novel. "I will not cut for stone, even in patents whom the disease manifest; I will leave the operation to be preformed by practitioners, specialists in this art," (221) is written on the title page for part three of the novel. To "cut for stone" refers to the practice of removing bladder stones, though the literal meaning is less pertinent to the novel. What is notable is that the text comes from the Hippocratic Oath, an oath of ethical codes that physicians must take. The book is moved along by vivid descriptions of medical procedures and is centered around medicine, so the quote coming from a medical text is witty nod to the oath.
               Beyond the text from which it was taken, this particular quote stands out for its reference to "Stone," the last name Thomas Stone and therefor Marion and Shiva. The twins are separated from their birth father for their entire adolescence, their only connection being the common last name Stone. The final sentence of the book, "'Stone here,' he said, his voice sounding so very close, as if he were there with me, as if nothing at all separated our two worlds" (656), takes place when Marion is in Africa and Thomas Stone is across the Atlantic in Boston. The two worlds Marion references are the worlds of Thomas and himself, both worlds of Stone. Stone, in a physical form, is hard and robust. The word stone has a sense of permanency to it, as rocks last millenniums, just as the connections between ShivaMarion Stone and Thomas Stone seem unbreakable as blood cannot be changed.
                The the word "cutting" in the title takes on the same form as in the Hippocratic Oath: cutting flesh, or surgery. The novel opens with Marion discussing his own decision to pursuer survey with the words, "Surgery was the most difficult thing I could imagine. And so I became a surgeon" (7). Just as the surname Stone, surgery becomes a common thread between Thomas Stone and Marion. Marion is taught surgery by Ghosh, who only learned surgery in the wake of Thomas Stone fleeing Mission, an action Thomas took because of the birth of Marion. Surgery weaves through the book like a stitch, suturing together the lives of Marion and Thomas.