1. It's Never Just Heart Disease...And Rarely Just Illness

2. The Archetype
The use of disease as a metaphor for human flaws and character. It reveals an aspect of the human condition. Heart disease is a particularly symbolic disease as it normally stands as a metaphor for heartbreak. 

3. Rule #1 Not all diseases are created equal
Tuberculosis, or consumption, was an extremely common illness in 19th century literature
Illnesses that could be associated with sexual transmission were considered taboo and rarely used

4. Rule #2 The disease should be picturesque Martyr
Sense of Awe or bizarre beauty

5. Rule #3 It should be mysterious in origin.
 Using an illness whose origin is easily determined takes away its symbolism

6. Rule #4 It should have strong symbolic or metaphoric possibilities:
Tuberculosis "dying of consumption" (whole body begins to fail including mind)
Heart Attack (heart break) 
Malaria "bad air" (bad company/environment)

7. In Invisible Man Chapters 2&3- Mr. Norton Chapter 11 – The Narrator
Mr. Norton, a white northern liberal becomes faint and dizzy after listening to Mr. Trueblood's story. The dizziness of the head represents his conflicted conscience. He considers himself a generous man who gives back to the black community, but he receives a feeling of superiority from this that he greatly enjoys. 
Chapter 11 – The Narrator
The narrator experiences a head injury from the boiler explosion, that makes him go unconscious. 
His head injury represents his confusion of his identity.
This enhances the theme of the book because the book is about identity and the lack of it. 

8. In Crime and Punishment
Tuberculosis is prominent in St. Petersburg Russia
The novel takes place right after the emancipation of serfs in Russia
The poor lived in filthy conditions, all very close together
Tuberculosis served as a symbol for poverty and suffering 

9. In Little Women
Beth is described as the quiet, caring sister throughout the novel
When helping their impoverished neighbors, Beth catches scarlet fever which does not heal
Eventually, Beth dies from heart failure
Beth's heart failure symbolizes her sacrificial nature; her heart could no longer take the sacrifice that she would give
Alcott's sister died of scarlet fever but her decision to have Beth die from heart failure allows the death to be more symbolic of her sacrifice to family and friends

10. Other Examples The Walking Dead
In the walking dead, zombification in its entirety can be seen as an allegory for the modern "epidemic" of moral detachment.
The modern world allows us to view fellow men with increasing indifference, just as the characters in the walking dead are unable to see humanity in those who have been "zombified".

11. Bibliography 
Alcott, Louisa May, and Lucia Monfried. Little Women. Baronet Books, 2008.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Random House Inc., Print.
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, and Constance Garnett. Crime and Punishment. Canterbury                       Classics, 2018.
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining                   Guide to Reading between the Lines. Harper, an Imprint of HarperCollins                         Publishers, 2017.
Koreypatrizi. “Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment: Tuberculosis as an Indirect Characterization of the Lower Class.” PLE Disease Ecology, 5 July 2015, plediseaseecology.wordpress.com/2015/07/02/dostoevskys-crime-punishment-tuberculosis- as-an-indirect-characterization-of-the-lower-class/.