Illness as Metaphor is a 1978 work of critical theory by Susan Sontag, exploring the social construction of how we view disease.  Diseases, like TB in the 19th century and cancer in the 20th century, share the feature that they are “treated as a mystery and acutely enough feared [that they] will be felt to be morally, if not literally, contagious.”  These types of diseases become ciphers for the culture’s beliefs, fears, and moral judgments.  Both TB and cancer served this purpose, reflecting differences in society as much in the illness itself. In the end, Sontag argues, the attitudes about disease are less about the illness and patient but societies at large. As such, the metaphors do little to help the patient either physically or by understanding  the illness. The essay is insightful, particularly the difference between the romantic notions of TB and the warlike descriptions of cancer. Yet, the argument is very elastic, making too easy to consider illness for anything one perceives about society.