Outlines – Johanna's FIQWS compositions

Metaphor Essay Outline

Text Metaphor: “cancer is felt to be what he thought it was, a cosmic disease, the emblem of all destruction, alien powers to which the organism is host”pg 68 Sontag

Definition

Concrete: Cosmic Disease – “something other, aliens, invasion, foreign”- people “know”of the extraterrestrial, it’s something they can picture/ imagine
Abstract- Cancer- since it’s not yet fully understood, it is being described
Properties of foreignness and distinct from the earth

Shapes Understanding

Enlarges cancer beyond earthly scope, obscures it, by not clarifying and making it simple to digest, instead it gives it a foreign origin that is not a cell mutation

My Metaphor: Demonic Possession and Mental Illness; Mental illness, schizophrenia is demonic possession

Definition

Concrete: Demonic possession, it is something that people know and are used to, it has a specific cause and a specific way it can be dealt with, which is the demon and removed by exorcism
Abstract- Schizophrenia (other mental illnesses) , not well understood, scary fearful

Shapes Understanding

The “scariness” and mystery associated with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia is transferred onto demonic possession, because it is the nearest/easiest thing that people can use to justify the symptoms. It is the easiest “reason” for people to ascribe to those behaviors, especially because knowledge of the religious is more present in certain parts of the world and during certain time periods

Similarities & Diffs

Both of these metaphors are used to obscure the illnesses that they individually represent, by giving them a basis in the supernatural or beyond the regular confines of earthly life. They support each other in the statement that disease are “larger than life”. Destructive in case that the possession makes the person attributed to evil, satanic, impure and in need of church. Cosmic disease for cancer makes it seem like it is an alien, which confuses the definition of cancer. By disregarding the medical origin of the cancer and giving other-wordly origins; it would make those suffering from it hurt more (increase suffering)

Look at shapes understanding, add more details and more examples, similarity that demons and aliens can overpower humans

If supernatural/ whose understanding in itself is limited is uded to describe cancer and schiz, it shows that those illnesses are truly not well know.

Intro- (provide a frame of reference between 2 sources, evidence, and metaphors)

What both sources do in terms of obscuring our understanding of …in relation to illness
- Metaphors put their biases on diseases, in this case reflect societies’ beliefs on the supernatural and other-wordly
- When suffering (illnesses) cannot be explained with words simply, it is religion or other beliefs that serve as the justification
- In Sontag metaphor of cancer being cosmic= larger than life, it is foreign invader
- A metaphor from the Middle Ages of mental illness being related to demonic illness, it is still present in communities to this day= from evil
Grounds for comparison
Thesis: (Do the sources extend, corroborate, complicate, contradict, correct, debate one another & how)
- Ex- Whereas Camus perceives ideology as secondary to the need to address a specific historical moment of colonialism, Fanon perceives a revolutionary ideology as the impetus to reshape Algeria’s history in a direction toward independence.
- Whereas in Sontag’s “Illness as Metaphor” cancer becomes a metaphor for some disease of “cosmic” origin that is related to aliens, past and present societies have transformed ordinary mental illness into metaphors for demonic possession; both of these metaphors corroborate how the association of illness with the paranormal or supernatural reflect societies’ beliefs, which only obscure our understanding of illnesses.

I Body– summary- context

Sontag in “Illness as a Metaphor”, describes the metaphor that have been ascribed to illnesses, particularly Tuberculosis and Cancer
As a cancer patient she explores/ how society interprets these (illnesses in a way that primarily either romanticizes illness, TB), and also how cancer is described it was also a metaphor for the militaristic
When cancer was mentioned as a cosmic disease from aliens. This comparison of it to a disease of the other, particularly aliens and mutants alludes to the paranormal. Sontag’s main purpose of having these metaphors was to show how they negatively impacted the disease and those who suffer from it

II- Metaphor I: defines metaphor, explains it effects, dependent on author’s voice- pov (using source to present evidence)- make claims and defend them

Look at definition notes
Effects are destructive, negative tones are associated with the metaphor, and the author provides evidence that just increase the negative view that this metaphor has created
“Cancer is the disease of the Other”, “An invasion of “alien” or “mutant” cells, stronger than normal cells”
The science fiction images of cancer that it is “a disease that comes from deadly rays, and is treated by deadly rays” (Sontag 68)
The science fiction and paranormal activities with aliens do not shed a positive light as can be seen from the quote above
*get more specific than just negative*- how

III- Metaphor 2-summary context

In the past a lot of illnesses were seen as related to religion, ie the illness was a spiritual punishment , what is actually schizophrenia with all its symptoms was called demonic possession, maybe arguments could be made that it was lack of education
Societies presently still keep this metaphor alive, through exorcisms of the mentally ill, since they are being “diagnosed” with a demon
These exists in societies where religion might be placed higher than science

IV- Metaphor II: define, metaphors and relates it to author; author’s evidence; she argues but not too early

See definition of metaphor
Insert picture of exorcism past and present, and video
Effects are that people don’t know the truth , if there are real examples of demonic possession, then those have now been confused with mental illness
Shows how there is an evil stigma attached to these illnesses, becaue demons are evil

V– Interpreting both metaphors/ argues-> extends the argument (uses other terms), doesn’t use evidence in this part (since she already established credibility),Comparison

VI-Conclusion- Restates “problem” and offers a solution

I think that if this metaphor was put in current time what is concrete and abstract would switch

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Critical Lens Essay Outline

Lens Text Central Arguments/ Theories

Davis Key Terms: eugenics, statistical words, law of error, bell curve, deviations from the norm,(mathematical language), ideal, grotesque, culture ,defective, conformity

Question Davis was trying to answer: How does normalcy creates a “problem” in disabled people

Other texts: Dote trips youtubers, modeling, latest season of America’s Next top model; Advertisement of women’s Rivalry of Women’s Lingerie Brands

Argument:

Perfectibility/ Eugenics in modeling world is applied?

Introduction

- Introduce lens text & Specific arguments that will be used
Constructing Normalcy- Lennard Davis , how there has been a problem created with the disabled through the construction of what normal is, scientific and mathematical language
Introduce target text and the specific themes or events
- Victoria Secret Fashion show, Modeling within the modeling industry and how the standards of the modeling industry are unrealistic, these create an issue in regular women
Thesis (identifies the main points of interactions & explains what the critical/theoretical analysis of the lens texts reveals about the target text

The beauty of literature is that it it can be used to illuminate several existing…in society. In Lennard Davis’ Constructing Normalcy, Davis addresses how the idea of normalcy creates a “problem” in disabled people. Eugenics, the theory that….is how Davis addresses the effects of normalcy on the…of the disabled. Normalcy is not only present in the (…eugenics)

Body 1 & 2

1- focus more on physical attributes; of Nazis and such

2- physical attributes of models

Frame 1 (Lens text states X/ that is extended/contradicted/redefined/supported by Y in the target text)

Lennard Text States that the ideal is unattainable by most of the population which is extended in VS fashion/modeling world b/c women’s size is more than ideal

Quote from Lennard- “The central point here is that in a culture with an ideal form of the body, all members of the population are below the ideal.
Most women are above the size of a Victoria Secret Model
Word choice to make this argument both focus on the use of numbers/Math showing how ideals are quantitative
- In Lennard

Body 3&4

Frame 2 Lens text States that normalcy strives to have only 1 race but this is refuted by text 3 since VS strives for racial diversity
Language in Lennard such as Eugenics and language such as Diversity
Although VS wants more racial diversity they did not want a VS model until recently

Conclusion

The standards for normalcy are still being created today and instead of making a problem in the diseased the VS fashion show and modeling industry as a whole make a problem out of women; lacking intersectionality

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Research Paper Outline

Topic: Skin-Bleaching in Different Contexts and its harmful effects

How Relates to Med:

Exhibition:

Sources:

Required 8

2 Narrative reading list