Abstract

Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor demonstrated the metaphorization of diseases as punishment, retribution, and personal weakness. The relatively short-lived metaphor of being “in the same boat” suggests that the experience of COVID-19 and its containment has affected everyone equally, but this notion is far from reality. The pandemic has exposed deep-rooted inequalities across the globe, particularly in India, where the migrant crisis emerged as a distressing consequence of the country’s lockdown measures. This paper uses George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s metaphor theory as a jumping off point to question the notion of equal impact by examining the plight of India’s internal migrant workers and contrasting it with media responses from celebrities. The contrast in experiences between the two groups emphasizes the importance of exercising caution in employing generalized language and policies. It also underscores the potential harm that can arise from such generalizations.