Dissecting Grey's Anatomy

  

   Through the characters in the show, Grey's Anatomy, we can observe how each character's background help define their characteristics in the medical field.

    It has been implied, through her emotions, that Meredith Grey did not have the best childhood growing up.  As her mother is a renowned surgeon that is well respected in the medical field, Grey already has to live up to everyone's expectations as her daughter on the first day of her job.  She establishes a professional behavior at work, in hopes that her coworkers would respect her for her own self, rather than the daughter of a famous surgeon.  In the beginning of the show, Grey expresses that she wants to maintain a professional relationship between Dr. Shepard once she found out that he was her boss.  Throughout the first episode, Grey is frequently trying to drive people away, not allowing herself to befriend her coworkers to maintain a professional relationship.  However, we are also shown a sympathetic side of hers when she works with her patients.  She especially sympathizes with a patient who grew up in a similar situation.  This patient does everything with the best of her abilities, in hopes to appease her mother.  Sensing her anxiety, she has a private talk with the patient to grasp what the patient is fearing.  At the end, Grey advises the patient that she should not push herself to live up to her mother's expectations, and begin to live for herself.

 

        Similar to Grey, Christina Yang maintains a professional behavior when working.  However, due to her strict upbringing, she is portrayed as uptight to both her coworkers and patients.  At the beginning of the show, Yang lists the elite universities she has graduated from, establishing her astute mind and high status.  She is often seen trying to scrub in in the surgeries to help her advance in her career.  Despite her eagerness, Yang completely disregards other's feelings, which causes a few complications while working.  This is observed when she finds a patient that is qualified as an organ donor.  When asking the patient's family for permission to extract organs, she continued to push the patient's wife and even questioned if donating skin was a possibility.  It is revealed that Yang has difficulty expressing her sympathies to families who lost their loved ones.  Although it is not stated, Yang may have grew up with tough love from her parents.  Unlike Western families, Eastern families express their feelings through tough love, hence her uptight characteristic.  She is seen avoiding expressions of thanks and love when informing patients that they are fine.  However, Yang develops a strong personality as she begins to grasp the concept of emotions and friendships.