Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors
John Flanagan
There are activities that could be compared to games of chance or fortune cards when a player might draw a bad hand of cards during his life time. Death (illness) is of course a major card we wish to immediately trump with a stronger suited character or number—to become well—each time this card is dealt. In Susan Sontag’s, Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors, readers experience a style of medical, historical and informative metaphorical labels used to shield the truth of serious diseases. Susan Sontag’s is distinctive on the theme there is no worse description than a sugar coated fantasy rhetoric explanation of a person’s serious illness. From discovery in pertinent yesteryear’s medical histories Sontag uncovered fantastical fallacies connected to the definitions of both individual and community diseases. She provides readers persuasive proof of nonsense information doctors’ used to tell patients on painful TB; shameful cancer; demeaning syphilis and the environmental cholera. For example, cancer is voiced similarly to the once dubious TB illness, where no one knows anything or if they did, they would not tell you about it. She complains the professional spirit has let patients hear a glossing over in metaphoric or symptomatic explanation of (understated imagery) for terrible known problem diseases. In a philosophical polemically narrative she develops a cultural criticism. She tells us the use of divine wrath or supernatural punishment in less understood medical territory only disguises cover ups for fear the patients would react with additional dilemmas.
The cultural activity we find significant here is to voice reform for this neglected condition. Susan Sontag’s argues metaphorically inherited imagery which identifies the body’s sickness is an unsatisfactory scientism. The defining terms with these obscure obsolete identities proves to be only confusion not a reliever of suffering. On investigating, comparing and contrasting these absurd descriptions for critical diseases she determined only a misanthropic would appreciate such nonsense. Confusing logics and lack of values to her were only horrendous medical obstacles not very well researched. These legendary dais and dial letters of resignation to Sunday were outdated cheap villainous frustration of the old soul card death.
Aids and Its Metaphors is the second part of Sontag’s book, where the descriptions of serious illness have done us wrong. She processes an instructional outlook on historical medicines and surrounding societal events that complement her crusade against the crippling comprehensions that encourage incorrect labeling and defining of serious maladies. She points out that man’s nature orientates towards a body’s space (risk group) to describe social conflicts. Disease, Aids, that develops in stages is social medical conflict. Sontag plots triumphant expressions of reason on how through metaphor we catalog perceptional intelligences of those foul diseases. She promotes a broad spectrum of fluid inoculations by recognizing the grounds of unmanageable illness, where she imitates a formidable defense parameter, through disclosure and meaningful antigenic stimulus. The plague, influenza, cholera and other bacteriological comparisons to aids, cancer and syphilis only build up in mind defenses creating a new type of immune criteria that indirectly strengthens awareness of the Aid virus. This is a preventive ideology. In many aspects of her writing we find a formulated type of new medical education from research history discovery, case study and experience that helps predict future outcomes of the spread or evil epidemic repressed.
