The first quote that I felt very drawn to in Dhruv Khullar’s text “The Trouble with Medical Metaphors,” can be found on page 1. It states; “Did she, on some level, feel she’s lost the battle because she didn’t fight hard enough? Might she has suffered less at the end if she hadn’t felt compelled to try one more drug, determined to soldier on.” This is a quote that I very personally relate to. In 2015 my Grammy passed away after a mere 5 week long ‘battle’ with pancreatic cancer. Following her diagnoses, my Grammy knew that her life would soon be over. Yet for the last weeks of her life she endured multiple different chemotherapy treatments…. only because the thought of her Grandchildren feeling as if she didn’t want to be alive or that she simply gave up, terrified her. She didn’t want us to wonder what would have happened if she had only tried therapy. So, this line of the article hit VERY close to home. Sticking to the same personal connection, I found yet another quote in which I very strongly agree with given my personal history with a cancer patient. The quote reads; “One study in 2010; found that physicians use metaphors in almost 2/3 of their conversations with patients who have serious illnesses.” This quote too, took me right back to 2015 when I watched my Grammy and Grandpa as they were faced with all of the daily medications, biweekly chemo, and unwavering symptoms. All things that were so new so foreign and so so scary for them. The only thing that helped them navigate my Grammy’s newfound medical needs, was the Oncologist’s ability to break things down and explain things to them in a way that they would understand. The third quote that I took note of, is a quote on page three that reads; ” Metaphors are a fundamental mechanism through which our minds conceptualize the world around us, especially in the face of complexity. But evidence suggests they do more than explain similarities- they can invent lines between the literal and the figurative.” This was a quote in the reading that I really agreed with… without even previously recognizing it until reading it on paper. I believe that some metaphors, used in the right way, to the write person, in the right situation can be extremely helpful. However when a metaphor is left misinterpreted, it could cause some serious confusion. This quote also reminds me very much of a quote I took note of in a previous reading. In the article “See Through Words,” Erard possesses a very similar point of few regarding the true purpose of a correctly-used metaphor. He states; “They aren’t supposed to make someone remark: ‘That’s beautiful.’ They’re meant to make someone realize that they’ve only been looking at one side of a thing.” In yet another text, “Metaphorically Speaking” by James Geary; I managed to find a quote that I had previously viewed as ‘okay’ or even logical, though after reading through the texts I have previously mentioned my opinion has changed. Geary states; “We utter about six metaphors a minute.” If we’re keeping with the theme of using metaphors in a way that is beneficial to understanding and developing new view points, then each person could not (rather, should not) possibly be able to speak that many metaphors a minute, with each metaphor being well designed and for the purpose of education.
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First thing to say, I also chose the first two quotes that you also chose and seeing your perspective aswell on the point really is touching, and if not really respectable. You have a great analysis throughout your blog and me personally, I’m impressed with your own connections to this reading. Awesome stuff. 😀
I agree with Rahem. Your self-to-text connections are powerful. I urge you to use them to fuel your first paper draft. That said, I’m so sorry for your loss. I imagine this was a painful memory to revisit, and I commend you for your bravery.
Again, please make sure that you connect that media file to your image so that I can enlarge it. In the future, I’ll need to be able to enlarge it in order to mark it in my grade book.