Illness as Metaphor/AIDS and its Metaphors

In Illness as Metaphor, I personally like how Susan Sontag first compares the idea of illnesses to people being born with a dual citizenship, "in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick" (3). As Sontag describes what illnesses are, I found it interesting when she said how "the very names of such diseases are felt to have a magic power" (6). I strongly agree with this statement; when you hear the word "cancer" or "AIDS", what is usually the first thing you think about? Is it "death? Is it "getting healed"? What ever idea that comes into your mind, that's what the names of such diseases makes you think.
I also agree with how she explains that the "solution is hardly to stop telling cancer patients the truth, but to rectify the conception of the disease, to de-mythicize it" (7). A main point Sontag brings up is how getting cancer has real effects. It can jeopardize one's love life, one's chance of a job, or in other words, completely turn their life around. Doctors need to be optimistic towards their patients.
In AIDS and its Metaphors, I agree with the military metaphors comparing illnesses to the body. The body is a factory, portraying an image of the body's functioning under the sign of health. I think Sontag effectively described disease as invading the society, a fight, a struggle, a war.
One statement I do not completely agree with Sontag is when she talks about how the word "cancer is uttered more freely, and people are not often described anymore in obituaries as dying of a "very long illness"" (103). I agree with the fact that the word is spoken more freely, but I do not think that it should give people the right to say it at will. There are still many patients who pass away because of this disease. Although doctors have pretty much abandoned the policy of secrecy to patients, they shouldn't take light of the disease.

"If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell." - Lance Armstrong