Analyzing My Text's Cultural Setting

In the following post, I will analyze my article's cultural setting. My text was published on the New York Times website, on September 25, 2015. The writer is from the New York City, NY,  and is writing about the specific time she suffered from breast cancer due to lack of testing. She also holds degrees from Harvard and Yale.

Fayram, Dave. "Glowing Genome". 01/04/2010 via Flickr.
Attribution 2.0 Generic License. 

What values ideas, norms, beliefs, even laws of the culture play an important role in the text?

• The value of innovation and improvement in welfare of others is what the text portrays. The author wants to prevent the suffering of others the way she suffered, so she is strongly advocating that women get tested for the BRCA gene mutation. The culture in the text strongly wants to ease the suffering of people.

Does the text address the cultural values, beliefs, etc., directly (by directly mentioning or responding to them) or indirectly (by presenting a scenario or narrative that addresses them)?

• The text addresses the cultural values indirectly, by the author presenting her situation. The anecdote includes the pain and agony the author endured due to the lack of testing, so getting tested will definitely better for people who have the misfortune of being diagnosed with breast cancer.

What is the relationship of the text to the values, beliefs, etc.? Is it critical of these aspects of the culture? Is it supportive? Does it seek to modify these aspects in a certain way?

• The text supports the values and beliefs of the culture. It doesn't seek to modify the aspects of the culture in any way- it seeks to reinforce it. It wants to reinforce the idea that getting tested is a good idea, and it wants to reinforce the values of innovation and improvement in the welfare of others.