Understanding Sontag: The Night-Side of Life
This handout introduces the main arguments of Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor (1977) through her most iconic statements, and considers their relevance today.
ILLNESS LESSON 1: HANDOUT 2
1 class period (45-60 min)
- Art and Culture
Subject Matter > Philosophy
- History and Social Studies
Themes > Culture
Themes > History of Science and Technology
Themes > Modern World
- Literature and Language Arts
Genre > Biography
Genre > Essay
Place > American
Place > Modern World
- Analysis
- Critical thinking
- Cultural analysis
- Discussion
- Evaluating arguments
- Historical analysis
- Interpretation
- Literary analysis
- Making inferences and drawing conclusions
- Summarizing
- Synthesis
- Textual analysis
- ELA Reading: 1, 3-4, 10
- ELA Speaking & Listening: 1-2
- ELA Language: 4-6
- HSS Reading: 1-2, 4, 8, 10
Complete the lesson now with one of our Student Activity Options
- Assign introductory chapters, or the full text of Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor in advance. Deepen reflection with selections from Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, or reflections on Sontag’s personal experiences with cancer in David Rieff’s Swimming in a Sea of Death and/or Katie Roiphe’s The Violet Hour: Great Writers at the End.
- Reflection and concluding questions may also be assigned as short essays or response papers.