Language and Perspective

Language truly affects how we live in this world; how different events and happenings influence our way of thinking. From the podcast “The Rhetoric of Cancer”, we have witnessed and listened to how different people can have various ways in dealing with this disease. From battling against it to living alongside of it.

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Wholf might be right in their writings of how language affects (determines) our thoughts. How we deal with the experiences in our lives is influenced by the words we learn and use. And how these life episodes affect our own thoughts and usage of language. Andrew Graystone, after being diagnosed with cancer, observed that the language commonly employed with this disease revolves on the concept of military warfare and battles. The usual metaphors used to talk about this are related to the war between good and evil – light angels and dark angels. He said that these metaphors might have come about because of the culture people have lived in. Because of the different wars we have faced throughout the history of our world, we associated cancer as the enemy of our body and we have to fight against it. In addition, we have given cancer the title as our greatest and reigning conqueror – we created our own “Bogeyman.”

Because of this thought, most people with cancer seem to always think that they have to either lose or win in this battle against their “Bogeyman”. But there are few others, like Graystone, who are adamant not to make their own body a battleground. Professor Michael Overduin of School of Cancer Sciences at Birmingham University has a wonderful view of the collectiveness of the body – accept these rogue cells as part of who you are for they are yours as well. He said that when he hears the word “cancer”, he does not think of a war between the good cells and bad cells. Rather, he visions a troubled part of the body that needs the help of the whole. When you look at it in this way, it’s how you can accept and live alongside your “Bogeyman”.

How we perceive things, how we understand words, and how we use language influences our actions in dealing with the things around us. We might start a battle against cancer if we think of it as a foreign enemy, but we can also start a new relationship with it as an unwanted visitor that needs our help.  Thus, we can say that how we use language to talk about cancer is as important as understanding what we are dealing with in our lives.