Category: Blog- Eng 110 (Page 2 of 2)

Metaphors,  a literary tool used to describe and compare two unlike objects. Imagine however, being able to use this literary tool to cause a positive change reaction and benefit the persons life who you used a metaphor on. Metaphor, when used correctly,  have the capability to provide a positive interaction with someone who is not currently in the best position. There are approximately 1,735,350 new cases of cancer to be diagnosed at some point this year, approximately 609,640 of those will be fatal. With this rampant illness tearing through our country, a cushion of support needs to be extended to those who need it. Metaphors are that cushion. Patients whose doctors use metaphors on a regular basis have higher tendencies to like the doctors and believe their doctor to be better equipped and understanding of treating their illness.  While not a physical cushion that can better their current position, metaphors leave the patients at more ease and having a better outlook on their treatment. Having a the best outlook possible is important for getting through treatment for cancer. Without a good outlook, how can you expect good results. Metaphors are a useful tool in aiding the treatment of cancer and can lead patients to be more understanding and have a better outlook.

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We mustn’t ask ourselves how our actions can influence, but how our words can. Words connect us, and allow us to understand and express information or feelings. Metaphors, which is the comparison of two unlike objects is an effective tool that can be used to positively impact peoples physical and mental wellbeing. For doctors and health care professionals, metaphors can help patients to understand better and feel more at ease with the treatments they have. In the world. For citizens worldwide, they connect us just like words in general and help us view situations differently. They allow us to open our minds by examining the structure, categorization, and mapping techniques. While they are only the result of the vibrations of our vocal cords, metaphors and language itself serves a larger purpose, one which can improve the physical and mental wellbeing of many worldwide.

Dhruv Khullar’s “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphors” is a detailed text about the hardships and pain that is affiliated with illnesses as well as the metaphors used by doctors to better communicate with their patients . The article opens with Dhruv discussing a personal situation involving family members of his and their run-ins with cancer in both the past and present. He goes into depth to elaborate on the reasoning that metaphors being more frequently leads to better communication between patients and doctors. The term “military metaphors” is mentioned and is described as a method of using metaphors, one that is heavily used in the medical field, and how it should be retired.

I enjoyed Dhruv Khullar’s “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphors” as I thought it elaborated off of a topic no one would have ever thought of before.  The usage of metaphors in the medical field and the benefits or downsides of using them has completely changed my mind on metaphors. Just the fact that the more instances metaphors are used between doctors and patients establishes a better line of communication is mind blowing to me.  I do also believe that military metaphors need to be retired from the medical field. Treating a disease like a foreign invader that started a war does not sound calming from the view of being a patient or the family member of one.

“Metaphorical thinking is essential to how we understand ourselves and others, how we communicate, learn, discover and invent.” -James Geary. This quote stands out to me because it opens up to the bare responsibilities of metaphors. 

“But the thing that lets us make sense of ‘paintbrush as pump’ – or ‘lawyer as shark’ – is that ‘pump’ is the name of a category for liquid-moving mechanisms, just as ‘shark’ is the name of the category for predatory individuals” -Michael Erard. This quote will forever standout to me because it single handedly explained to me metaphors and broadened my knowledge and ability to use them.

“Patients reported less trouble understanding them, and felt as though their doctor made sure they understood their conditions.” -Dhruv Khullar. This quote stands out to me because it shows the statistical real life benefits that metaphors have.

Upon completion of my second reading of Erard’s, “See Through Words” I walked away from this experience with a little more understanding of the topic and knowledge of metaphors than I previously had. The first time I read the text, I was confused, I was lost in the meaning of the message he was trying to send in his writing. A big change I saw from my first reading to now is that I was able to digest and understand how the metaphors were categorized and matched. I found, “glossing the text” to be helpful, especially to define words that I misunderstood or did not know at all. Besides that, I was unsure of what to use it for, it was not a tactic my english teachers in high school used when they asked us to read a text. The three words I defined from glossing the text are, hewn, dissonance, and semantic. Hewn can be defined as being given a rough surface. Dissonance means inharmonious or harsh sound. Lastly, semantic can be defined as of, relating to, arising from the different meaning of words or other symbols. A second reading of Michael Erard’s, “See Through Words” helped me to better understand much of what I misunderstood from initially reading it. 

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Michael Erard’s text, “See Through Words” left me with more questions than intrigued. My annotation focused more on questioning what he meant when when we wrote about things such as metaphors being a, “categorisation proposal” (Erard, 2) and, a “‘mapping’ between two concepts” (Erard, 3). During the annotation process, a single section of Erard’s text provoked my thoughts and really got me thinking. During Erard’s explanation of how metaphors are categorisation proposals, he explained an earlier metaphor, “Paintbrushes are pumps”. Following the explanation, opened the doors to my mind to help me understand at least what they meant when they describe categorisation proposals.

Metaphors have forever been taught in school as the comparison of two unlike things, such as the pump and paintbrush. From reading Erard’s text, I am lost after being told they are “categorisation proposals” and, “‘mapping’ between two concepts”. I’m sure if it is explained in possibly simpler terms and in an informal setting I could grasp the concept as to what he means, but just from reading I do not see how a metaphor can be used for “‘mapping’ between two concepts”. Initially, I believed the comparison of paintbrushes and pumps to be some deeper level thinking of metaphor. However, after the, “categorisation process” was explained the metaphor made a lot more sense. The “pump,” was used as a generality, another name for an item that can move liquids around, just like paintbrushes move paint. While still largely confused about the majority of this text, I can still look back on this assignment with a bit of joy of being able to understand at least how the categorisation process works.