Analysis Of Illness As Metaphor By Susan Sonag

The author stated, “Instead of sin. Boston was rife with it (smallpox)... Thank Providence” and “southern wild… she scratched my skin and I got sick” which gives the reader a sense of how the two settings were different; Boston was filled with cases of smallpox whereas Providence was free of it which explains why Mather was not sick from it. In the southern wild where Onesimus’s mother scratched his skin depicted the desperation of a mother to keep her son from the illnesses that was apparent in their region. Her desperation is shown through imagery (scratched) whereas without it the reader loses the sight of her battle to protect her son. The diction in the poem showed the time period with their distinct words that are no longer used often. For example, Mather stated, “Consider how a man can take inside all manner of disease and still survive.” The syntax and diction shown is rarely used in today’s world because of how ‘proper’ they spoke in the 1700s, a Victorian style diction. Without diction, the reader could easily assume that the smallpox epidemic was happening or took place in the 2000s. Moreover, the story that started with a question of smallpox took a turn to explore the history and enslavement of

healthy people did all they could to avoid the sick? Doctors refused to see patients; priests

Chapter One of of Jim Murphy’s book, An American Plague, opens with the quote, ‘About this time, this destroying scourge, the malignant fever, crept in among us” (Murphy 1). This quote is accredited to Mathew Carey in November, 1793. The term scourge is defined as, “a person or thing that cause great trouble of suffering,” and the term malignant is defined as, “tending to produce death or deterioration.” These are very strong terms with extremely negative connotative meanings. The figurative language which is evident in the quote at the opening of Chapter One is personification. Carey’s quote give yellow fever an eerie, human-like quality when he writes, “the destroying scourge, the malignant fever, CREPT in among us” (Murphy 1). CArey’s word choices and use of personification help to create a powerful image in the reader’s mind of the threat looming over the city of Philadelphia.\

The speaker states that the patient is “cold and cavalier” (12), which his word choice of “cavalier” could mean that he is lethargic or dismissive towards the results of his examination and still holds his head high about who he is, therefor, there is still a sense of pride in the patient. The speaker then narrows down to the area beneath the patient's diaphragm, which addresses that the virus is coming from his respiratory and digestive system, which is where the AIDS virus primarily attacks. It is essentially weakening his immune system. From youthful beauty to rashed skin, the final two stanzas possibly discuss how the patient's body enjoyed its sexual pleasures as a gay male during it’s lifetime, his sexual orientation and state of health is undeniable from the physical toll that AIDS took on his body, he has to face and accept the truth and the reality of it all.

In almost every memory Jeannette Walls includes in her book, The Glass Castle, there are signs of extreme emotional detachment coming from each character. At one point she recalls her mother telling her that “suffering is good for you,” and goes further by saying that it “immunized your body and soul” (Walls 28). Walls’s use of the word “immunized” and the extreme cleansing connotations that come along with it, combined with the concept of suffering make a broader statement about the emotional normalcy of the entire family. This specific word shows how her mother sees suffering as a condition, a comparison to a disease, and that exposure is necessary when you’re young so that you won’t be affected when you’re older. The passage goes on

Imagine yourself sick and no cure in 1793 in Philadelphia your dead or someone else is dead. If I lived during 1793 in Philadelphia the struggles would include disease, survival, death. To begin, the whole book is about yellow fever and yellow fever is a disease. For example the story initially starts in the second chapter, Polly one of Matilda's friend dies from a fever but they do not know what fever. What this means is that the fever is barely starting in Philadelphia. Additionally, it has seemed that survival was very important and very hard in Philadelphia. On page 24 in the first sentence it had said how many people have died already “A week later sixty-four people had died.” This explains that the fever was going very quickly and you

The spiritual significance of illness and suffering is a topic Christians continue to grapple with, as Larchet points out in The Theology of Illness. Scripture offers a wealth of wisdom and cues for understanding illness, health, and healing from a Christian perspective. Larchet analyzes the various and often contradictory Christian positions on health and illness, revealing how attitudes have shifted over time and with changes in medical technology, practice, and ethics. For example, St. Barsanuphius presents a comprehensive analysis of the spiritual significance of illness and suffering. One view holds that illness signifies a lack of faith; another presents illness in terms of a person who is offered the opportunity to develop a stronger faith, or whose faith is being put to a test like the story of Job. Ultimately, the latter remains the most helpful way to approach illness and healing from a Christian perspective. The essence of Christian health care is that, "Healing itself, while resulting from natural processes, actually comes from God," (Larchet 116).

Health can be seen in different ways, as in the mind, body, and spirit for instances. Ethan has experienced a lot of ill health in his life. “Fust his father... went soft in the brain... Then his mother got queer and dragged along for years as weak as a baby,” and his wife, Zeena, is also sickly (Wharton 13). With all this weight on his shoulders, Ethan might be thinking that God has abandoned him. What influence occurs when American ideals and moral treaties are not upheld as to how life should be valued (Verbos and Humphries 2). How much is one person

The clearest illness was that of Septimus, in ‘Mrs. Dalloway’. Septimus suffered from shell-shock, a result of the First World War. This illness in turn brought about an

In her editorial column “Don’t stand so close to me”, Marti Schodt creates a sickening, stomach-churning tone through her use of diction in order to convince the reader that sickness spreads through the contact of others and should be prevented. Throughout the writer’s column, she mentions words to describe situations negatively, “..waves five filthy fingers expecting a high five. Inwardly cringe, I raise a hand, and immediately feel the cooties on my palm, finger tips, and bloodstream.” Schodt describes the bacteria that contacted between her hand and her fellow pupil in a descriptive way, mentioning of how that one connection had already passed through her body.

The portrayal of people being sickly creatures has been used in Hollywood film for a very long time. This has been in the endeavor of putting the viewing public in the shoes of the patient and entertain them with over the top portrayals of disease. For patients that are women in particular this has been achieved by defining them along the lines of vague terms such as them being over emotional and unstable. Despite the advancement experienced by the society, women have not yet fully seen the goal of equality realize fruition. With the expansion of the psychiatric and psychological terminologies, there now additional ways via which mental illness can be ascribed as a weakness for men and women portrayed in Hollywood film. This is best

ADHD, defiance disorder, pregnancy, these are just few of the things medicalized in the West (Davies 1995). With the rising prestige of Doctors in the 19th century, came a widening of the gap of knowledge between Doctors and the general population (Davies 1995). Doctors have kept a sort of lock on medical knowledge, enabling them to medicalize all sorts of “issues” aided by the idea of the medical mystique. But with the emergence of medicalization and cures that are being searched for by Doctors, a new problem has arisen. This fixation on curing illnesses has led to Doctors viewing patients as experiments and not as human beings, this is seen especially in technologically advanced societies as exemplified in the movie Wit. In addition to this new problem, there are clear establishments of hierarchy between medical professionals such as Doctors and nurses as well as the emotional detachments with the patients which can lead to patients feeling left out and alone.

Often, illness or disease is not meant only as a plot device. Illnesses can have a larger, metaphorical meaning. For example, if a character is paralysed physically, it can represent moral, social, spiritual, intellectual, or political paralysis. Illnesses cause the sufferer to waste away, which can be linked to a waste of their lives. Widespread diseases, such as a plague, can be representative of social devastation.

However, death due to causes as simple as rash or cold was observed, and a weakened immune system was common among all victims. Williams using his background in science has presented the mechanism in a way that is comprehensible without knowing the tough scientific terms or having a prior knowledge of what it did to the body. He takes a complicated medical concept and represents it in a way that everyone could relate to. The next stanzas reveal the actions and feelings of Bill’s friends, who are confused and helpless.

1. FIFTY ORWEL ESSAYS. How The Poor Die George Orwel Introduction. In this essay, George writes about the pathetic situation in a Latin hospital where he had sought treatment after he was diagnosed with pneumonia.