A Part of Life Death is simply a part of life, and, is therefore, inevitable. Losing a loved one, or watching the life slowly leave them over time, can be can be an extremely painful experience. However, it can teach a person about themselves and the world around them. In the short memoir, “The Aquarium,” Aleksandar Hemon uses the fatal illness of his daughter, Isabel to communicate the idea that life is full of trials and tribulations that cannot be avoided and that said trials can cause a person to feel ostracized from those who are close to them. Hemon uses the struggles he endures during Isabel’s illness to illustrate that life is always going to have misfortunes that can occur unexpectedly. Once he receives the news that Isabel has a tumor in her brain, Hemon immediately divides his life into two parts. “Teri and I kissed her hands and her forehead and wept through the moment that divided our life into before and after. Before was now and forever foreclosed, while after was spreading out, like an exploding twinkle star, into a dark universe of pain” (Hemon 3). His use of juxtaposition emphasizes that his life is now divided into two separate parts. The is the period of time when Isabel was happy, healthy baby and then there is the “after” in which there is the reality that he has to face now that Isabel has a life-threatening condition. Although Hemon and his wife would like to continue to live in the past, they are forced to accept the truth of their daughter’s health
A feeling that is associated with deep sorrow can be considered as grief. Many people have their own ways of dealing with grief. From being strong for the family to breaking down in tears, the main character in Gary Soto’s Father and David from Gary Paulsen's Voyage Of The Frog, both character’s thought and actions reveal aspects of his personality.
As I searched for an editorial to write on, the Op-Ed, “What Our Cells Teach Us About a ‘Natural’ Death,” immediately caught my eye. It may have been due to recent events that left death on my mind, or the alien combination of ‘natural’ and ‘death’. Nonetheless, Warraich’s piece snagged my attention. His article provides an interesting interpretation of death and human relations towards the sore subject, and gives a sound argument to support it.
Adventures can be dangerous and end in tragedy however, being born can end in death as well. In the poem, “Death of a Young Son by Drowning,” by Margaret Atwood; the narrator takes us on an adventure from the start to the end. The narrator that Atwood creates gives us a clear picture on how hard it is to navigate life and the adventure that comes with it. We learn in this tragic poem that there is nothing you can do to prevent the
The Disney Way of Death explains the unfortunate/sad reaction to the evident loss of a loved one (friends and family). The reactions associated were common characteristics that Americans experience when they encountered death- Invisibility, silence, dispassion, institutionalization and taboo. (Laderman, 2000)
In his memoir about his mother, Journalist David Reef recounts his last experience with his dying mother, Susan and her battle with cancer. This book, Swimming with the Sea of Death, is both a passionate tale about the relationship of a loving son and his mother and a reflection of hope of what to do to continue living. In this personal memoir, Reefs offers not answers in relation to death. Instead, his story is about coping and a demonstration of someone’s personal battle with death One prevalent theme of Reef’s Swimming with the Sea of Death is the shared hope that both physicians and patients feel over life.
Painful as it may be, such experiences brings home the finality of death. Something deep within us demands a confrontation with death. A last look assures us that the person we loved is, indeed, gone forever.” (108) Cable finishes his essay by asking, Tim if his job ever depressed him. Tim in reply says, “No it doesn’t, and I do what I can for people and take satisfaction in enabling relatives to see their loved ones as they were in real life.” (108) After reading this essay I feel as though sometimes we don’t understand death so therefore we do not talk much about it. By reading about what goes on after your loved one dies and is sent to these places to be prepared and ready for burial, it helps to understand why morticians and funeral directors do what they do. Knowing that someone enjoys taking the responsibility in providing that comfort in a sorrowful time makes me appreciate these people in these occupations a bit
A trickiest aspect regarding growing up is considering death. It's something individuals truly don't like to think about, but thinking about mortality is pretty much an inevitable part of coming of age. Everybody does it at some point—you know because we're all going to die someday, as are our loved ones. You know the drill: Our grandma show us, cherish, then they get super old and die, and after that we slither into the bathtub with their corpses. It's just the circle of life. What's that? You've never taken a bath with a dead person? Well then you might be a little surprised by how things unfurl in Helena Maria Viramontes' 1985 short story "The Moths," a story about a youthful Latina girl who feels at odds with pretty much everybody in her family except her cherished Abuelita.
There is one thing in life that is inevitable - death. This fact makes it hard to lose loved ones. After reading the short stories “Removal of the Cherokees” by Burnett and “Christmas Eve on Lonesome” by Fox, Jr. it is apparent that the main theme is loss. Throughout these stories, the characters’ experience a loss of something that is exceedingly significant. The idea of losing someone you love is very agonizing.
It was a beautiful, sunny day in Puerto Rico where my family and I were taking a vacation that spring. As I lay on my dad’s colorful bed in the small pink villa on the water, I find it hard to enjoy the view that comes from the balcony and the salty smell of the light blue ocean. The villa resides on a rocky cliff where the rippling ocean waves smash onto the rocks below. The waves, which usually relax me, are insignificant. I see colorful houses that run along the water for miles just like ours. In the corner of my eye I see the infinity pool that looks out onto the crystal clear water. Something else is on my mind. Something not even the alluring scenery could take my mind off of-death. One month earlier, I lost my mom to a vicious disease called cancer. Its evilness left my family and I broken and sick at heart. When I look back now to that vacation, I think nothing other than sadness and mourning. Maybe it was too soon to take a vacation, I thought. My dad walks into his room and sits next to me on his bed.
Death is probably the only single event in a person’s life that instills so much fear, but also curiosity. [HOOK] The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway tells the tale of a man on his death bed and walks the reader through his spiritual and physical path to death while in the African plains. The reason for his sudden death is from not applying iodine onto a scratch he got from a thorn, letting the African wild take yet another life. On the opposite spectrum, The Open Boat by Stephen Crane is set in the ocean with four shipwrecked crew members that have been stranded for days. Sadly, only at the end of their journey to being saved, does nature once again take another life. [DISCUSSION]Both of these vivid short stories use death, symbolism,
The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.
In “On Natural Death,” Thomas appeals to the readers by contemplating the subject of death with an academic approach that includes facts, data, and information. Thomas successfully transforms death from an awkward, emotional subject to a more comfortable intellectual one. This engages the readers by placing contemplation of death and dying within the confines of a more manageable and rational context. His gradual exhumation of death eases the audience into pondering the subject in the absence of emotional stress. The essay transitions from the death of an elm tree to that of a mouse. This is followed by Thomas giving a significant amount of attention to a scientific explanation of death, and then finally the description of the near death experience of a human. This use of an academic appeal moves the audience to a comfort zone with the subject of death and circumvents the common response of avoidance. The reader is simultaneously desensitized to the gravity of subject matter and given permission to consider death and dying without the normal societal negative stigma associated with the subject.
Regardless of race, caste, religion, or age, every human has wondered about the one fact of life that unifies us all: What is death? Both poems, “Death of a Young Son by Drowning” by Margaret Atwood and “Because I could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson share a common subject of death. Using figurative language, both poems illustrate distinct takes on a similar topic.
The question, “…is death that which gives meaning to life?” is more than just a question being asked in the short story “The School” by Donald Barthelme, it is a question asked by many throughout life (Barthelme 2). In the short story “The School”, where a series of unfortunate events are happening around an elementary school, it begins with something less tragic from a failed school project, to something dreadful with the death of two students. The author of the story, Donald Barthelme, addresses the issues of life and death through this, and with the conflict of “The School” not only does it teach us to accept death, but also to be responsible with life and to be courageous.
Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.