Searcher Week 8 Cancer

http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/52/52

This article examines the rhetoric used when talking about breast cancer, specifically the war like rhetoric and gives a brief history of this rhetoric. It is very interesting as the author does point out that this metaphor of war and cancer can help some women especially when the process of becoming healthier is long and frightening this idea of fighting and being a warrior can offer hope. But there are also downfalls to this rhetoric. One thing the author suggests is should women have to describe their experience this way or are there other ways. The author mentions how this metaphor is used so much that women adapt it into their own testimonies because the experience is indescribable, but maybe there are other ways that women would feel more comfortable or ways that might better describe their experience. The framework of war is also hard because any experience that does not fit this rhetoric is hard to portray (for example anger is generally not expressed in these war terms, instead hope is more of the focus). In class it was mentioned low-dose chemotherapy treatments could be a possibility. That wouldn't necessarily kill cancer cells and would leave them in place helping a person to live longer but with cancer. If people are thinking in this war metaphor then they may view this cancer treatment as a failure and feel it is not their best option. This could lead to many people not enjoying the benefits simply because our culture views a person as being healthy by not having these cells largely present. The rhetoric we use for cancer ca greatly influence how people go about treating and understanding it. I'm sure people who have cancer research it more to understand exactly what is happening in their body but I think the public may need to be educated more on how cancer works, as we discover the inner workings of it so that they may help those close to them who have cancer. Letting people know that they don't have to experience cancer in a battle comparison and instead can just face it as an illness and look for the best treatment could help people be more open to change and allow for better expression of experience.