The Victorians are known for their fascination with death. During the Victorian era (1837-1901) they took death very seriously, no expense was spared when arranging a proper funeral. During this time most American’s lives became restricted to the family. As the emotional focus of people narrowed to the immediate family, the significance of the final act expanded.…
She begins by explaining how expensive embalming is and how ignorant people are about the issue. She goes on saying how embalming used to be done in the home of the deceased and how there was almost always a witness for the procedure. Also, how now the procedure takes place in the morgue being prepped. Then, states that nowadays people are often discouraged and persuaded not to be present during the embalming of their loved ones.…
Nora Ephron, in her Esquire Magazine article “Boston Photographs” (1975), argues that newspapers and news sources should publish life events, including death saying that it is “irresponsible -- and more than that, inaccurate -- for newspapers to fail to show it (death), or to show it only when an astonishing set of photos come in over the Associated Press wire” (para. 9). Ephron supports her argument by incorporating anecdotes and anaphoras. Ephron’s purpose is to persuade the readers of Esquire that showing death in newspapers is important because “death happens to be one of life’s main events” (para. 9) and news should be about life. She adopts a candid tone [“Throughout the Vietnam war, editors were reluctant to print atrocity…
“In The Cemetery where Al Jolson is buried” by Amy Hempel uses the word masks throughout the story to convey guilt, fear and unacceptance of death. The first mention of the word mask is in the beginning of the story. We are just beginning to understand that Hempel is describing two people in a hospital, the narrator is visiting her friend who is sick. They are both wearing masks, the narrator checks to make sure that she is still breathing and that she is not “ used to the mask yet.” The friend has her mask hanging loose, a “pro by now.” The fact that the narrator describes her friend at being a “pro” and the fact that the narrator is not used to her masks, tells us that the narrator has not been to visit before.…
The scent of flowers carried strong over the valley. The overwhelming perfume of hundreds, if not thousands of untouched petals, was long lost to noses that grew up with roses in their nostrils, not able to pick out the aroma of a single stem. Not helping was the deepness of the valley, with the only way out a steep climb with materials they not only didn’t have, but had no hope of ever making.…
1. Schmitt’s purpose in writing this travel narrative, is to show the differences between the Chinese and American cultures, when it comes to many different things. Main examples in this narrative are; living under the same roof, loss of a loved one, and funeral etiquette. In the Chinese culture it is excepted to come into common areas in your under clothing. Where in America, this would not be appropriate at all. In most places in America, law enforcement would be called on some one outside of their living area in nothing but their underwear and shoes. The narrative shows the many differences in funeral etiquette. One such being, white floors being the preferred color for the loss of a loved one. The family is still very grateful for the gesture, and wants the author to attend the funeral service. Second, wearing of the black swatch of cloth on your sleeve, to identify you as a member of the funeral party. Third, walking in a precession with the casket to the crematorium, and then having to pay extra, so that the loved one is cremated alone. Final, taking the black swatch off of the sleeve and placing it into an outside fireplace, then taking a leaping step forward to help the loved one “ transcend the gap between life and death“.…
In the Elizabethan Era, and even now, funerals start with the death of a person. At the funeral, everyone would wear black because it symbolized that a tragedy has happened (Secara). It also symbolized grieving and sympathy. Death during the Elizabethan Era was often caused by two things: a disease or old age. However, there have been many aspects about funerals that have changed with the advancement in society. Some of these changes are: the way wills are now written, the preservation of the corpses, and the inconsistent, or absence of, markers for the grave.…
Taylor further talks about the mourning dress and explains how funerals were a great platform to exhibit one’s rank and wealth in the society. Even the women in the family zealously participated in the display of their family’s status through their intricate mourning dresses (2010, p- 20). 3…
I went to The Chicago Field Museum Saturday March 16th to go see the exhibit "Images of the Afterlife." Which featured mummies from ancient Egypt it featured a bust clay molding of King Tutankhamun which appeared to be the exhibits centerpiece, the clay molding was incredibly detailed, it had almost an eerie feeling to it. It was very lifelike almost as if they chopped off a human above the chest and displayed it. There was also another mummy that had a clay mold of it she is referred to as mummy #30007, unlike the male mummy Tutankhamun which had little to no hair the female mummy had locks of hair, which went down to the start of her chest, she had dark black hair that is braided and bangs that cover her forehead till just above the eyes.…
Kammen presents vignettes that are unusual, grim, and actually entertaining. He fastidiously follows each one stage of the reburial methodology, from the profoundly political and individual inspirations of uncovering human stays to the orderly logistical contemplations connected with these intricate "do-overs." One of the most captivating parts of the content is the way the exhumation of remarkable figures welcomes a deeper discussion about the legitimate inquirers of these well-known bodies. Kammen deftly represents how this endeavor is on the double national and familial, as the aggregate opinion of a nation is offered as a powerful influence for the individual wishes of the perished. The body turns into a much challenged site to which social worth is credited, anticipated that will oblige the seriously individual wishes of families and the pressing open needs of a local, state, or city. Undoubtedly, other than the inspiration to rebury the body in closeness to home or with family, there lies a more limitless proximity to bigger belief systems of race, religion, or patriotism.…
In Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" she calls attention to the dangers of pesticides. Through her use of imagery, rhetorical questions, and similes she has created a very passionate argument towards whether or not farmers should use these poisons that affect much more than they think.…
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.…
Read the first seven paragraphs of “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” carefully. Consider the implications of the rhetorical question posed in paragraph 6: “Is it possible he fears that public information about embalming might lead patrons to wonder if they really want this service?” Write an essay in which you defend, challenge, or qualify Mitford’s implied answer to that question.…
ABSTRACT: The cultural (and media) significance of dying rests in the symbolic context in which representations of dying are embedded. An examination of that context of mostly violent suggests that portrayals of death and dying representations functions of social typing and control and tend, serve symbolic of on the whole, to conceal the reality and inevitability the event.…
In Mary Roach’s book, Stiff, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, she describes how upstanding anatomists would pay “body snatchers” to dig up graves and retrieve bodies for “dissection” (44-45). The anatomists never saw anything wrong with digging up the bodies, dissecting, and desecrating beyond recognition, then throwing the bodies literally to the vultures. This disrespect of bodies still occurs today on a different scale, all over the world. Some countries in the world today are not as fortunate or as developed as the United States is, which makes raising a family more difficult than Americans can imagine. Families sometimes have to give up their children for…