![]() ![]() But some metaphors-particularly those of battle, with the inevitable outcome of either triumph or failure-are harmful to those living with cancer. We employ metaphor, she noted, to express our prejudices toward cancer and toward those afflicted with the disease. ![]() In her landmark book, Illness as Metaphor, Susan Sontag decried the ubiquitous metaphors we use about cancer. In another era tuberculosis or leprosy might have ruled, but in its ability to evoke unmediated responses to our own mortality, cancer reigns supreme over the modern western world. No other disease seems as powerful in this regard. It betrays our most primal fears and leaves us vulnerable, embarrassed. What is it about cancer that betrays us so? Like a heavy rain that washes the soil from a tree’s roots, cancer has a way of revealing our most basic and heretofore unexamined beliefs. ![]()
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