When reading a novel about terminal illness the first thing we are faced with is death. Within the first 5 pages of Susan Sontag's book Illness as Metaphor and Aids and Its Metaphors she discusses the impact of being diagnosed with an illness known to (or thought to) kill. In fact, as Sontag points out, sometimes the patient isn't even told that they are terminally ill out of fear of the impact that the words -- "you have cancer" -- could have on a patient. They say that the two most inevitable things in life are death and taxes, but in modern times death has turned into something to avoid. With the success of modern medicine, there is a race to live a longer, more stable life, and those who are unstable or sick are contaminated.
Sontag believes that this recent phenomenon "is a measure of how much harder it has become in advanced industrial societies to come to terms with death. As death is now an offensively meaningless event, so that disease widely considered a synonym for death is experienced as something to hide." (Sontag 8). Sometimes those around a sick person can have an even worse reaction to illness then those who are diseased. Norman Mailer believed that if he had not killed his wife he would have died too. Getting cancer can not only debilitate one physically, it can also cost a person their job, their love, and their dignity, causing a patient to be secretive of their disease.
"The policy... reflects the conviction that dying people are best spared the news that they are dying and that the good death is the sudden one...Yet the modern denial of death does not explain the extent of the lying and the wish to be lied to; it does not touch the deepest dread." (8)
I am interested at what this deepest dread really is. What makes the fear of illness, specifically cancer, so powerful that a doctor must lie to their patient or the patient must lie to their employer? Is there shift in culture that has created the western fear of death or has it always been this way? How do we decide what a good, edifying death is and what an ugly death is? And finally, if you had cancer -- or any terminal illness for that matter -- would you want to know?
I think that not understanding what lies beyond death makes it so dreaded and feared by most people. We understand most diseases now, but we still cannot imagine what exactly happens after a person dies. Sontag describes death as "an offensively meaningless event" (8), something that happens to people that is unpreventable and, really, much too finite. We cannot ask the dead what it is like over on the other side, and that uncertainty kills us (haha). Koreans celebrate Chuseok, which celebrates our deceased ancestors, and my family often has dinner parties after funerals to celebrate the life of the deceased. Maybe more Westernized cultures fear death more, but at the same time there are other that celebrate it as a next step, though this notion is also a consolation, because if we just think of death as the cessation of activity of the brain and of the beating of the heart, then we realize how final death is. I don't think any death can be characterized as "good" or "ugly" but more as "painful" and "not painful." I guess a good death is painless though. Deaths affect the living more than the dead, since we have to survive the loss. Sontag explains that "psychologizing seems to provide control over experiences and events" (55) that we cannot control, and I think that this over-analyzing and over-psychologzing is the coping mechanism of those of us left behind by the dead. I would want to know if I had a terminal illness, just because I would want an explanation for the pain I was suddenly feeling. "Being sick" does not really suffice, especially in really violent diseases, where you cannot just get by thinking you have a common cold or whatnot.
ReplyDeleteMan has always longed for immortality, no matter the cost. Virtually every human civilization has had their own fountain of youth or paradisiacal afterlife. For hundreds of thousands of years, since the dawn of human history, the people who have had a significant advantage in passing down their genetic lineage are those that have prioritized survival and reproduction. This is why there is such an immense stigma around death, and why there is such a fear of it - the ancestors of the human race that survived and lived on to pass on their genetics held a similar, unwavering fear of death and its implications. Indeed, this isn't just the case for humans, but almost all animals capable of such intelligence.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of how we decide what a good, edifying death is, there’s obviously many factors behind our understanding of what is an honorable, or even acceptable death. The factor I’d like to single out is suffering. The reason for why it seems horrifying to be beaten to death, or die slowly of cancer / Alzheimer’s / ALS, or be consumed by a flesh-eating bacteria disease, is the amount of suffering each of these deaths cause. Being beaten to death involves sustaining a large amount of trauma and pain, and although one might die relatively quickly after being bludgeoned to death, this doesn’t change the fact that the victim has suffered immeasurably. The same goes for cancer, Alzheimer’s, ALS, and flesh-eating bacteria. The inevitable progression of these diseases, their incurable nature, and the drawn-out, multiple years of suffering they inflict make death by these diseases equally as horrifying, if not more horrifying, than the alternatives. Indeed, the mysterious nature of cancer, and its relatively low understanding by the medical community is one of the biggest reasons for why it’s considered a horrifying death. On page 60, Sontag states, “Many researchers assert that cancer is not one but more than a hundred clinically distinct diseases, that each cancer has to be studied separately, and that what will eventually be developed is an array of cures, one for each of the different cancers.” This seemingly impossible task of curing the behemoth of cancer only serves to make a death due to cancer that much more mysterious and terrible.
For your final question, I definitely think I’d want to know if I had a terminal illness or cancer, but only so that I could decide on the best course of action to prolong my survival. Like almost everyone, at my core, I fear death most of all, and I long to see what the future holds in store long after my life ends. Will humans be alive as a species in millions of years? Will intergalactic travel ever be possible? Can we discover the secrets of the universe, from dark matter to black holes to manipulating space and time? Can the nations of the world ever exist in peace? Will medicine and technology reach a point where humans are effectively immortal, and a universal living wage is established? These are the questions that I will never get to find out the answer to in my lifetime, simply because of the limitations of my body and the thresholds of science and technology that have been established thus far.
Jamal brings up some very good points. I think that society has a whole (I am referring to the society we live in) as sort of shifted into this mindset that death is something we need to be afraid of. In many cultures around the world, death is seen as another journey for the soul. People do not fear death. However, there is something to be said about cancer. Sontag quotes Wilhelm Reich: " cancer is 'a disease following emotional resignation'" (Sontag 23). There is a sort of stigma that accompanies the disease. From a medical standpoint, cancer is sort of like "your body has decided that it is your time". There is a lack of control and this tends to make people lose their minds over fairness and a feeling of "why me?" I believe that the life a person lives is what defines them after their death. Perhaps a good death is dying during your sleep without any suffering, but I think death is simply an end. If I had cancer I would want to know. I think not knowing would be a waste of my energy, after all, I am the one suffering from the disease. Calling it a move of sympathy is nice and all, but I would want to know I had the disease so that I could push my hardest to combat the disease and push back death.
ReplyDeleteI think there has always been a fear about death. No one knows what is after death or whether there is an after-life or not. This mystery around not knowing what will happen is what causes people to become so scared about death. Now that I think about it, I feel like that mysterious part is sort of what Sontag describes when talking about cancer. Sontag writes, "But at that time, perhaps nobody will want any longer to compare anything awful to cancer. Since the interest of the metaphor is precisely that it refers to a disease so overlaid with mystification, so charged with the fantasy of inescapable fatality" (87). Sontag talks about how people believe cancer=death and how no one really knows they have it until it is too late, which to some is horrifying. Same as dying, there is a mysterious part about it which haunts the person infected. If I had cancer, I would definitely want to know. If I knew that there was a good chance I wasn't going to live long I would change the way I live so that I could fit everything I wanted to do in life before I passed. Not knowing, in my eyes, would just leave me at a disadvantage.
ReplyDeleteWhile the fear of death greatly adds to the dread of a serious disease, I feel that what truly gives a disease its menace is its unpredictability. A disease has its set symptoms, however, everyone experiences/interprets these symptoms differently. A disease can also have a variety of effects on the loved ones of its victim, who also have their own diverse collection of personalities and backstories. A disease could completely alter someone's life in a negative way, separating them from their family, creating depression or mood swings or debilitating them physically. Or, that same disease could have no effect whatsoever on that person's relationships or life, or it could even have an unexpected positive effect by bringing a person closer to his/her loved ones or fostering a sense of purpose or strength. Throughout Illness and its Metaphors, Sontag draws from a variety of different sources to back her points, yet while these sources do showcase many trends and similarities in terms of the interpretation of TB and cancer, no two sources are exactly alike in their perspectives. I feel that this diversity further adds to the fluidity of diseases themselves and the immense variety of consequences they possess that can greatly eclipse their mere physical symptoms. When someone is diagnosed with a serious disease like cancer, their lives instantly become vulnerable to any outcome: positive, negative or neutral. They are left with tons of questions: how will those I love be affected? How will I change as a person? Questions like these can be extremely personal, so it can almost be said that a disease holds a person's very identity in its grasp. The way in which a disease can so readily intertwine itself into one's character as well as attaching a feeling of unknown/unpredictability/vulnerability to it is what makes a disease so powerful.
ReplyDeleteI believe that what makes cancer so scary is that it can come unexpectedly, like a thief. Bit by bit, it takes away things from people that make them their own person: hair, energy, image, sense of taste, social life, etc. However, the worst part is, they’re still alive to feel all these things and suffer as they watch themselves become a shell of a person. Sontag describes cancer as “a disease of growth (sometimes visible; more characteristically, inside), of abnormal, ultimately lethal growth that is measure, incessant, steady (Sontag 11).” It’s painful for a loved one to find out that a patient has cancer, and helplessly watch the patient as he or she slowly withers away without being able to do much to alleviate the process. In the work force, patients who have cancer don’t want to burden their colleagues with more work while they lie unproductive in a hospital bed without being able to contribute (not to mention there’s also the salary cut). For these reasons, patients or doctors may feel that it is necessary to lie about cancer in order to not create complications for their families or jobs. I would want to know if I had a terminal illness because I, along with those close to me, would be able to prepare for whatever it is we need to do for me to have a chance of recovery, no matter how painful or scary it may be to face.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the ideas brought up here are very intriguing. I’m not sure I can say whether or not a cultural shift has taken place in our attitudes toward death, but I definitely think that the language we use to discuss cancer and its treatment contributes to an irrationally powerful fear of death. Cancer itself is an “invasion” while its treatment is the “counterattack” (Sontag 64); when such bellicose imagery is readily dispensed in discussing a disease, it seems to me that the outcome once a disease has run its course is oversimplified. While there are similarities between war and cancer, consistently likening cancer to a war that can either be lost or won doesn’t make sense because cancer doesn’t fit into the binary of victory or defeat. If cancer needs to be likened to war, it should take on the full, complex reality of war, not just the facile idea that there are only two possible outcomes – life or death (or in the case of war, victory or defeat). War is never a clear-cut event where everything simply falls back into place once victory is achieved. In war, there are reparations to negotiate, PTSD, casualties along the way; myriad problems arise that must be taken care of. Cancer is similar in that the outcome is not as simple as it may seem. I don’t think death after dealing with cancer should be considered a loss, yet because our culture rationalizes cancer by comparing it to a known quantity (war), death becomes the ultimate defeat.
ReplyDeleteI think that death has become feared in advanced industrial societies because there are now so many ways to postpone its inevitability. People used to live only twenty five years or so, and now sixty years is a given. With modern technology it makes sense that there is such a stigma around cancer because it is associated with death, and no one wants to associate themselves with death. Although I do believe it is better to accept death and not fear it , it is hard to convey that idea especially in advanced societies. Death is really exaggerated by the living, and illness by the healthy. The reason being that both the living and healthy want to avoid the sick and dead, while the sick and dying want to be the living and healthy.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the fear of death is a relatively western idea because most people live incredibly busy lives just trying to get from one point to another and hopefully amounting to something that makes everything worth it. Death or illness impedes that steady path and breaks the bridges built to avoid the valleys and just continue blindly from peak to peak.
Lastly, I would want to know if I had cancer. I would want to know every last detail about my disease, and I would want to know how I could treat it, so that I could figure out if it were worthwhile to try and eradicate from my body. Or, if I should work on coming to terms with the fact that I wouldn't finish all of my endeavors or achieve all my goals. Although I don't fear death, I do believe I still have a lot to live for.
Death is associated with the unknown. Since the idea of death, and life after, can not be observed or studied, this uncertainty causes fear within our society and when one is told that they have cancer, or any other terminal disease, they realize they are one step closer to this reaching this unknown state. The uncertainty and unknown aspects of death is one of the main reasons as to why so much fear is associated with contracting a terminal illness. The way death is approached in Western cultures is different from that in other cultures. In many other countries, death is celebrated as a celebration of one's life whereas in Western culture we remember our loved ones through mourning and sadness. The main differences between an edifying death and an ugly death are time and appearance. How long one has suffered before passing on and the physical state which they were in before passing can be seen as the main differences among someone battling cancer and someone battling tuberculosis. Although in many cases I believe that ignorance is bliss, if it were a matter of life or death and death, I would want to know if I had a terminal illness in order to prepare myself and my family for what lies ahead.
ReplyDeleteI want to explore Alex's comment about the connection between the mysteries of death and the mysteries of a disease like cancer. It seems to me that it would make sense that people fear a terminal disease like cancer like they fear death, not only because cancer=death but because they are both fears of the unknown. Sontag stipulates that it is "likely that the language about cancer will evolve in the coming years. It must change. decisively, when the disease is finally understood and the rate of cure becomes much higher," (86). The language she is talking about is the metaphors associated with cancer that are perpetuated through society as a damning, raging, monstrous disease. By Sontag's logic, will it only be when we have a definite cure for cancer that people will stop mystifying it and in the same vain fearing it? It seems that people only began adapting metaphors for cancer after TB became a treatable/curable disease, so will we only stop fearing cancer when it is cured? To that end, if there is such a relationship between the mystery of cancer and the mystery of death, what does that suggest about the relationship people have/will have with death?
ReplyDeleteI too would prefer to know if I was dying of cancer or a terminal disease. Like others, I would want to live out the rest of my life and maximize and make the most of the time I had left. Now reflecting of that sentiment, it seems to me to be very similar to the romanization of death by TB that Sontag talks about at length. Hmm...
I think that cancer continues to hold particular power over society and its scientists because the disease represents the failures and limitations of our modern science. Science and medicine is now so advanced, especially compared with when the TB epidemic was at its peak, and we have either eradicated or brought under control many other diseases like polio and measles. We live in a world in which we are regularly able to “play God” (controversially) by altering agriculture, growing human organs, and selecting the gender of unborn infants. However, we have not yet brought all types of cancer under our control in terms of its biological mechanisms, treatments, and cures. Therefore, choosing the words and metaphors we use to talk about cancer is one of the few available and easily accessible means of allowing us to believe that we have some control over the disease. One interesting idea that Sontag mentioned was the concept of “psychologizing”: asserting that optimistic people will survive disease or that melancholoy people are more like.y to contract disease. Sontag explains that “psychologizing seems to provide control over the experiences and events (like grave illnesses) over which people have in fact little or no control” (Sontag 55).
ReplyDeleteI also feel that in a western society that is so obsessed with social customs and manners and outward respect, it shocks and disturbs us to find that diseases, unlike people, “do not respect boundaries,” as we saw in the global health slides that we looked at in class a few days ago. I think we also have an obsession with the idea of permanence. For example, many people aspire to create legacies that will last on Earth long after they are gone. I was startled to learn that according to multiple Poly classmates, they would rather be remembered for being associated with Hitler than not be remembered at all. However, terminal cancer and other terminal illnesses indicate the impending permanence of death, but we are offended that it is a permanence that is assigned to us without our choosing. In some non-western cultures and religions, the idea of reincarnation causes death not to seem like such a harsh, permanent finality.
I would want to know if I had a terminal illness, primarily so that I could ensure that those closest to me were as emotionally and financially stable and prepared for when the time came that I was no longer physically part of their lives. Additionally, I would want to know if there were any ways that I could treat my disease, prolong my life, or at least create the least painful experience possible for myself.
With advancements in modern medicine and quality of life improves, death becomes harder to accept in places like the United States. As a society that continually becomes more convenient for its inhabitants, death becomes more as an inconvenience. We, as a society, always work for the future. Do well in school to go to a good college, do well in college to get a good job, do well in your job to make a lot of money, and a death sentence like cancer takes that future away. This always looking forward mindset did not always exist in America, however, today we fear death. We feel that a good death is a natural one. Where one passes naturally from old age to death. However, diseases like cancer speed up this process and create a painful experience for the desired, both physically by the stress the desire puts on the person, and emotionally by the stress the surrounding environment puts on the person. If I was diagnosed with cancer I would want to know. So I would know how to fight, and if I died, at least I did not give up on the world.
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