Why do you think that Sontag chose to tell the story from the perspective of the AIDS patient's many friends? How would the story be different if it were narrated from the perspective of only one friend or of the man with AIDS himself? Write your own version from another point of view.

One of the characters, Stephen, states that "to utter the name [of the disease] is a sign of health, a sign that one has accepted being who one is, mortal, vulnerable, not and exception after all, it's a sign that one is willing, truly willing, to fight for one's life." In the story, Sontag never names the disease. Why do you think that she never writes the word AIDS?

Research the Stonewall uprising of 1969 and the gay liberation movement that followed it. How does this historical context enhance your...