Feet in smoke...

John Sullivan's Feet in Smoke was a hodge-podge of thoughts and ideas about the author's brother's near death experience.  I found the piece interesting in that he witnessed his brother's anguish like no one could, but he kept it to himself.  I don't think he wanted to tell anyone about witnessing his brother's seizure in the hospital bed because he didn't know how to help him.

A lot of emphasis was put on the medical terminology, and how Worth was only functioning at 1% of brain activity.  Sullivan states that he can imagine that while his body is unresponsive to the human eye, the brain is trying fervently to repair itself, causing the anguish that Worth experiences and Sullivan sees for a brief moment.

I like the tie into his near death experience, imagining himself on a riverboat with Twain's Huck and Jim.  It may seem a little random but I think that is what Sullivan wants to convey.  The idea that the only person will understand what happened on Worth's deathbed was Worth himself.  It's suggestive that each individual has a unique experience in combating death, that no one will ever know the feeling of death until it comes there time.