Preview

26 Behind The Formaldehyde Curtain Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
316 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
26 Behind The Formaldehyde Curtain Analysis
26 Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain
The drama begins to unfold with the arrival of the corpse at the mortuary. Alas, poor Yorick! How surprised he would be to see how his counterpart of today is whisked off to a funeral parlor and is in short order sprayed, sliced, pierced, pickled, trussed, trimmed, creamed, waxed, painted, rouged, and neatly dressed-transformed from a common corpse into a Beautiful Memory Picture. This process is known in the trade as embalming and restorative art, and is so universally employed in the United States and Canada that the funeral director does it routinely, without consulting corpse or kin. He regards as eccentric those few who are hardy enough to suggest that it might be dispensed with. Yet no law requires

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Formaldehyde Lab Report

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Formaldehyde is known to be one of the most reactive organic compounds. It can be produced by various reactions. It can produced by methods such as: Methanol undergoes an oxidation reaction in the presence of catalysts, ethyl-alcohol, coal gas, ethylene, methane, glycol, glycerin, and carbon monoxide…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Later, Mitford states the next steps. Which include the sewing of the mouth, the insertion of the trocar (long, hollow tube jabbed into the abdomen), and the sewing of the hole. Although, the body has been embaled that doesn't mean that the process is done. After, the embalming the body needs to be restored. They do this because the corpse must be presentable for viewing.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Aldehyde Enigma

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Pavia D., Lampman G. M., Kriz G. S., and Engel R. G. A Small Scale Approach to Organic Laboratory Techniques, Third Edition).…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the essay, “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” by English author and civil rights activist Jessica Mitford, she offers a peculiar narrative through her critique of the thoughts surrounding the funeral industry and the issue of death. It is clear her ultimate goal is to share many of the common practices of the funeral industry to her readers, and display how seemingly barbaric and often times senseless they are. Mitford’s purpose in this passage is to convey that if more people actually understood these practices exercised in the funeral industry, they might change, and the mystery of what goes on behind these taboo doors would be out in the open for the general public to understand and acknowledge. Mitford introduces her essay with a discussion…

    • 181 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Inland Whale Essay

    • 815 Words
    • 1 Page

    should not interact with the dead. If this happens the dead is disturbed and the balance of…

    • 815 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once a person has died they will go through a cleaning process to be put into the casket. Before the funerals, the corpse would be stripped, washed, and cleaned (Forherg). Then the corpse would be wrapped with sheets (often the ones that the person had died in). The funeral would take place only a day or two after the death. Wealthy families would often pay a mortician, or undertaker, for an embalming or a lead-lined casket to prevent the corpse from decay as fast as it would normally. They would do this so they could have more time to make ceremonial arrangements (usually 2 to 3 days at most) (Forgery).…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The invention of daguerreotype saw the beginning of memorialization. The high mortality rate and the frequent deaths of children saw the memorializing of dead people. Often a family would…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jessica Mitford, the author, describes in this essay the process corpses go through while at the funeral parlor. Her word choice is strong, taking you visually, step by step, through that process. She uses vivid imagery, describing scenes in detail so you can picture it as if you were there.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Book 2.86 tells the reader about the professional embalmers who specialize in mummification. It details the process from the very beginning, starting from the point in which a corpse is brought in to be embalmed and ending with the body in a casket, ready to be placed in a tomb. Herodotus describes the process which he claims the Egyptians use to preserve the bodies. He…

    • 1895 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Mummification

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Then, the bodies were in Natron salt wrapped in linen or dried in the sun for four to five days. Sometimes, they were covered in plastic to cover the body to look like themselves. Then, “The body cavity was stuffed with resin, sawdust, or linen and shaped to restore the deceased's form and features” (“Life in Ancient Egypt” 1). Finally, the body was tightly wrapped in between the layers of linen with numerous good luck charms, and amulets. Although, the mummification was a trial and error process it still was pricey and not for everyone. Meaning, some still had to be buried the old fashioned way in the…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Essay On Funeral Directors

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages

    There are many different rooms in the funeral home, such as the chapel, embalming room, living room setting, etc. According to Gale, “ The mood can be quiet and somber, and the work often is stressful, because workers must arrange the many details of a funeral within 24 to 72 hours of death” (Gale,2014). When deciding to become a funeral director and or mortician it is important to realize that at times it is easy to become distraught because of the…

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jazz Funerals

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Imagine your dead relative in the palm of your hands, or taking the dead relative out with your family, as if it was a normal day. It may seem uncommon to hear this, but these are few types’ funerals that are practices from different cultures. Death is a way of life, and everything living will die. Over centuries many cultures have a different way of remembering the dead. Funerals play significant role of allowing people to remember the dead, and letting the dead move on. Let’s take a journey to 10 different countries; Indonesia, New Orleans, South Korean, Philippines, Mongolia, United States, Balinese, Madagascar, Australia, and Ghana to see how funeral traditions are practice among the cultures.…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the patient must be competent to have voluntary euthanasia performed at their request, it is not ethically acceptable for involuntary euthanasia to be administered since the patient is not competent and decisions would be carried out by a surrogate (JAMA, 1992-vol 267, No. 16).…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Being a Mortician

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages

    to take 15 credits in natural science, 13 in social sciences, 13 in business, 14…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Synthesis of Formaldehyde

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Drug Detox & Recovery Private Help For Addiction To Drug & Alcohol Abuse Today! Call 24/7. www.TheArbor.com…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays