October 15, 2018

There is much that is not known in our world. Since the very beginning of human existence, we have sought to learn more about the world we live in, ourselves, and what lies beyond us. So imagine our reaction when we, as a society, encounter questions we do not have the answers to. Metaphor is a way of expressing relationships we understand in way that is more comprehensible for others to understand. However, metaphor is also arguably used to explain relationships and ideas we do not understand. In Susan Sontag’s Illness as a Metaphor, she argues that cancer was compared to “death sentences” even though it was not always fatal. This illustrates human nature’s instinct to loosely coin terms for things unknown simply to fill in a blank space. In an article, “Freddie Mercury Bio Links the Rock Star to AIDS “Patient Zero” by Trenton Straube, he explains how people were called “patient zero” without realizing the seriousness of what the term implies. This metaphor exaggerates the singer’s disease in a thoughtless fashion and in the same way Sontag’s metaphor exaggerates a disease in a way that only diminishes hope for patients. The need for media to fill in the unknowns lead to the insensitive use of a term. Metaphors are used to give meaning to ideas that did not truly fit those meanings as a way of filling in the unanswered questions society has.

The mere mention of a disease like cancer can frighten people, not entirely due to the disease itself, but because it was portrayed to society as such a mysterious and stealthy disease. People did know where it came from or how it struck, and this only made cancer even scarier. In the early 1900s, cancer research was not as ventured into and contained more unknowns than knowns. Therefore, the easiest way to explain such a disease was to brand it based on the stigma that surrounded cancer at the time. “When, not so many decades ago, learning that one had TB was tantamount to hearing a sentence of death…” (Sontag 7). At that period in history, TB was as mysterious and cryptic as cancer is now so Sontag compares it to a death sentence. Similarly, cancer was certainly a treacherous disease that caused the death of many. However, cancer cannot be considered fatal. All the metaphors that make cancer out to be an enemy in a war zone serve a purpose that can be supportive of the patient, but can also victimize the patient. These metaphors portray cancer to be a deathly, unbeatable, and untreatable disease that no one can overcome. Although these can be true in some cases, not all cases of cancer are “deadly” and these metaphors could debilitate any hope a patient going through cancer would have. By portraying cancer in this terribly negative light, the mere mention of the disease could have debilitating effects on a patient.

In this metaphor, the abstract aspect of the metaphor is learning about a tuberculosis diagnosis because it is what we are trying to get a better understanding of. The concrete portion of the metaphor would be hearing a death sentence because most people know what a death sentence is and what it entails. This is a commonly understood phrase in society, therefore it is the concrete part of the metaphor that we are familiar with and helps us understand the abstract portion. In the phrase a “death sentence,” the idea of termination is carried over to help understand the meaning of a tubercular diagnosis. Sontag uses this metaphor to relate the ideas of having no way of improvement and having nothing more one can do in a situation. “In France and Italy, it is still the rule for doctors to communicate a cancer diagnosis to a patient’s family but not to the patient…” (Sontag 7) This shows that cancer had such a solidified stigma surrounding it already, that there was no space for patients to add any stigma that involved hope or optimism for getting better. The metaphors surrounding cancer only add to this stigma of cancer being a terminally helpless illness. Sontag’s metaphor comparing TB to a death sentence shows us that when society does not understand something, it is easy for them to fill in those unknowns with an idea as extreme as “a death sentence.” When the topic is better understood, society no longer needs to metaphorically explain it.

The idea of society using metaphor to explain their unknowns extends into music, media, and the decade of rock and roll. In the 1970s to early 1990s, Freddie Mercury was the famous celebrity that was talked about in all the tabloids and radio shows. As with most celebrities, with their fame came much gossip and criticism. His popularity lead to many of his fans and spectators not just listening to his legendary music, but following his eventful personal life as well. Although he was not a hermit and completely confidential about what went on behind the stage, Freddie Mercury did not find the need to broadcast personal details such as his sexuality and relationships all the time. Instead, he chose to create a blank space for that part of media’s perspective on him. In 1987, when Mercury was diagnosed with AIDs, his first instinct was not to broadcast his diagnosis, but rather stay brief about it. This “blank space” he created around him lead to the media and public craving to know more about this part of his life. And in order to do so, they began to concoct their own opinions and interjections on parts of his life. Many articles about him use the term “patient zero” to describe him. “At times, I read this section almost as if Freddie himself were a patient zero, with his countless sex partners and his refusal to slow down even once AIDS hit the scene.” (Straube 1)

As they were trying to make sense of Freddie mercury’s personality and demeanor after being diagnosed with aids, they used the term patient zero to explain that he was the cause of the spread of the disease. Patient zero was understood as the reason why the AIDs epidemic began and spread so quickly. People coined patient zero as a term for someone who had many sexual partners and “began” the rampant spread of the disease. Freddie Mercury was somewhat mysterious and indirect about his sexuality and how he felt after contracting AIDs. In order for the media to make sense of him, and put their own definition for what he was, they compared him to a “patient zero” and turned him into an immoral and politically incorrect figure. Because he did not want his business broadcasted, and all his thoughts and feelings known to everyone, the media took this blank space he created around himself and inserted their own judgements and opinions of what they thought of him to fill that blank space.

The term “patient zero” is seen as the concrete part of this metaphor because the meaning of someone who is known as the carrier of a disease and the start of an outbreak was carried over to fill in the unknown meaning Freddie Mercury had for that part of his life. The zero represents the beginning or start of an outbreak of disease, and this is the meaning the media chose to assign Freddie Mercury due to his choice not to display his personal details regarding his illness. The term “patient zero” was the concrete part of the metaphor the media chose to describe something they were trying to understand, Freddie Mercury.

This usage of metaphor, much like comparing a disease to a death sentence, can carry a debilitating burden on an individual. By using the term “patient zero,” society is assigning an individual, Freddie Mercury, the role of someone responsible for introducing a deathly disease that was massively looked down upon. This phrase that was so loosely tossed around in print media during Freddie Mercury’s time represents the insensitivity and carelessness metaphor can have. We, as a society, perceive this burden as a sort of “scapegoat” for explaining the disease to ourselves. Not only can being assigned this role impact how someone feels in society, but it impacts the way someone sees themselves. Using a metaphor that links someone to a term as extreme as “a death sentence” could make someone doubt themselves as deep as their self-worth and capabilities.

Both texts highlight the way people often thoughtlessly use metaphor to answer their unanswered questions, and therefore create a gap that incorrectly influences people and their thoughts. Susan Sontag emphasizes how diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis were believed to have been caused by unjustifiable reasons such as the environment or “moral pollution.” “Presently, it is as much a cliché to say that cancer is “environmentally” caused as it was…to say that it is caused by mismanaged emotions.” (Sontag 71) This played a role in how metaphors about cancer are often said insensitively and trivialize the disease. However, in the article about Freddie Mercury, Trenton Straube presents how Mercury’s past sexual and romantic relationships provided scientific evidence to compare Mercury to a “patient zero.” Even though both played a role in furthering the insensitivity of metaphors, one had scientifically justifiable evidence while one had unjustifiable evidence. This goes to show how it is human nature to fill in our unanswered questions no matter the reliability of the circumstance, and metaphor is one of the ways we do so.

WORKS CITED

 “Metaphor.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam

webster.com/dictionary/metaphor.

Sontag, Susan. Illness As Metaphor. Penguin Books. Penguin Classics, 2002.

Straube, Trenton. “Freddie Mercury Bio Links the Rock Star to AIDS ‘Patient Zero.’” POZ, 8

Oct. 2019, https://www.poz.com/article/freddie-mercury-bio-links-rock-star-aids-patient-zero.