In my final draft of my metaphor essay, I found that I used my sources as a tool to backup my argument that the language of metaphors can have a serious impact on the lives of those around us. I used quotations from the three authors and my own analysis to back up different points I made throughout my work. I began by talking about how often we use metaphors without even realizing it and found an novel from James Geary (who also had a TED talk that was used). The novel talks about how we use approximately “one metaphor for every twenty to twenty-five words that we speak” which I used to back up my argument that we use metaphors far more often than we think. I chose this quote because it not only got right to the point on the usage of metaphors, but I was actually surprised myself when I first read it and almost couldn’t believe it to be true.

My significant claim in my paper was that certain metaphors need to be stopped because of the potentially negative effects they have on mental health. I used a quote from Dr. Dhruv Khullar in his essay “The Trouble with Medicine’s Metaphors” to elaborate the issues surrounding our language. I used a quote from his connections between a hospital and a battlefield when he writes, “There is an enemy (the cancer), a commander (the physician), a combatant (the patient), allies (the healthcare team), and formidable weaponry (including chemical, biological and nuclear weapons)” This was used to put the reader into a perspective of how similar these topics are to each other.

My last claim to solve these issues with metaphors by making a connection with Michael Erard in his paper “Metaphorically Speaking” by talking about how we can “move the furniture around” to change the way people see the dangers of metaphors. These 3 authors helped me to write my paper by making connections whether it be backing up evidence like with Geary and Khullar or synthesizing Erard’s point into my own language.