She asks about it and the man is pleasantly surprised by the courteous nature of her query, while the woman observes that some of the strongest and most interesting bonsais are those that have gone overlooked because they were oddly shaped or suffered other problems.
On reaching his laboratory, the man explains his theory that electrical imbalances in individual cells can cause these to function improperly, leading to cancer.
The man identifies the presence of a malignant tumor and the woman, unable to deal with this confirmation of her worst fears, faints.
She begins to thank him, but he suddenly becomes angry saying that he does not want to hear speeches about how he owes it to the world to share his cure and warns her against telling anyone or he will take legal action to save himself from accusations of medical malpractice.
Lahna Diskin wrote in her biography of Sturgeon that this theme rings out in "Slow Sculpture" where the young woman compares making a relationship work with handling a living thing, such as a bonsai.
[4] While it is a story about the power of love,[4] it also suggests that industrialists and politicians will suppress technological advances if it serves their own interests by maintaining the status quo.