Description
Sontag's 1978 book, "Illness as Metaphor", discusses how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of the patients. She argues that by demystifying the fantasies surrounding cancer, cancer can be seen for what it is - a disease. Sontag also wrote "Aids and Its Metaphors" in 1987, which discusses the AIDS pandemic and how the metaphors and myths surrounding it add to the suffering of the patients.
Sontag wrote "Illness as Metaphor" in 1978, while suffering from breast cancer herself. In her study, she reveals that the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of the patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. By demystifying the fantasies surrounding cancer, Sontag shows cancer for what it is - a disease; not a curse, not a punishment, certainly not an embarrassment, and highly curable, if good treatment is found early enough. Almost a decade later, with the outbreak of a new, stigmatized disease replete with mystifications and punitive metaphors, Sontag wrote "Aids and Its Metaphors", extending the argument of the earlier book to the AIDS pandemic.
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