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Chapter 6
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Everything Is Tuberculosis, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Science and Injustice
History’s Influence on the Modern Day
Family and Community
Stigmatization and Dehumanization
Nuance, Empathy, and Understanding
Summary
Analysis
Spes phthisica, in addition to heightening creative talent, was also assumed to improve women’s physical beauty. TB caused patients to become “pale and thin with rosy cheeks and wide sunken eyes,” which then became signals of beauty in both the US and Europe. These beauty standards persist even today, with small bodies being “naturally” associated with beauty, even though this beauty standard is another social construction. Once again, this romanticization of the disease does not put an end to stigmatization, as delicacy could just as quickly be described as weakness.
Green demonstrates how the past influences the modern day, as beauty standards that often seem inherent to society were in fact caused by a historical force (in this case, tuberculosis). He also examines the “positivity” of such standards with nuance, as he recognizes that the frailty inherent to these beauty standards was also a sign of weakness.
Active
Themes
Such beauty standards were so influential that women were told to do everything to match them, including avoiding outdoor and physical activity. Women applied belladonna to their eyes to make them appear wider. Contemporary literature and art reflect these shifts in beauty standards, depicting consumptive women as the peak of femininity and beauty. Some trends in fashion are also thought to be influenced by the romanticization of TB. Some believe corsets were made with the purpose of limiting breath, thus emulating symptoms of TB, but historians are wary of such a claim. In fact, some people believed that corsets caused consumption, a belief that also applied to items such as thin shoes. Fashion historians are much more likely to stand by the latter point.
Here, Green reveals the severity of beauty standards by explaining the lengths women went to achieve such an appearance. Many even put belladonna, a toxic plant, on their eyes to look “appropriately” beautiful. Overall, the beauty standards caused by tuberculosis reflect the overwhelming presence of misogyny in society, as women were held to harsh and unrealistic standards, often being forced to make themselves uncomfortable for the sake of beauty.
Active
Themes
These beauty standards were further tied to whiteness, with pale skin being a necessity to qualify as truly beautiful. It was subsequently assumed that consumption was a “disease of civilization” or, in blunter words, of white people. Most white doctors in the West believed that TB only affected white people and that Black people were dying of a different disease. In a society that prioritized colonialism and white supremacy, acknowledging that TB affected not only the “superior” race but also the marginalized would disrupt society’s understanding of both TB and colonialism.
Active
Themes
