Analyzing Memorials And Memorialisation It Is Clear From The Literature Essay

People cope with tragedies in many ways. Some people try their best to forget, while others work to make sure the tragedy is never forgotten. The most constructive attitude towards memorials is sanctification.

We usually think of crypts as graves or coded messages, similar to the letter in Have His Carcasse.  The notion of a crypt, however, contains a deeper psychological meaning.   Crypts deal with the ideas of introjection and incorporation.  These concepts identify the alternative ways in which the psyche handles trauma.  When the psyche introjects a trauma, the trauma melds into the subconscious.  If the psyche successfully assimilates the trauma, it unites with the rest of the psyche, much like a cube of ice (the trauma) melting in a glass of water (the psyche).  Incorporation occurs when trauma embeds itself into the psyche, but remains separate and, therefore, separable.  If we return to the idea of the psyche as a glass of water, incorporation resembles what happens when a Ping-Pong ball (the trauma) drops into a glass of water.  The ball remains a lump in the psyche. Jacques Derrida wrote about the crypt “sealing the loss of the object, but also marking the refusal to mourn . . . I pretend to keep the dead alive, intact, safe (save) inside me, but it is only to refuse, in a necessarily equivocal way, to love the dead as a living part of me, dead save in me, through the process of introjection, as happens in so-called normal mourning” (“Foreword” 17). The tomb stands then as an incorporation of the trauma of death.  We physically mark the place of rest as a mirror of our inability to assimilate that trauma

The family and friends of victims are most touched by the memorial. They have a dignified designated site where they can get a sense of communing with the loved ones they lost. They can find names, make rubbings to bring home and leave mementos.

For many visitors, the memorial represents a sense of closeness between the dead and the living, especially in that the can see traces of our world - their faces, the sky and trees - reflected in the names of the dead. As described by Senator Charles Mathias, a strong supporter of the Memorial, “A location on the Mall is symbolically appropriate. We can all recall when the Mall was the battleground of opinion and dissent regarding America’s role in Vietnam. Its proximity to the Lincoln Memorial is also fitting, for not since the Civil War had this nation suffered wounds and divisions as grievous as those endured over Vietnam.” (Scruggs 18). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial points to the Lincoln memorial and the Washington Monument, as if to ask whether the war “was true to Lincoln’s justice and healing as well as Washington’s founding intentions, struggles against foreign tyrants, and military genius” (Griswold 82). The inclusion of the names of the names of all of the deceased in chronological order would read like an epic Greek poem, according to Maya Lin, as well as avoid making the memorial look like a telephone book, as she feared alphabetical listing would (Scruggs 78-79). The practice of leaving offerings (letters, dogtags, photos, birthday and Christmas cards,

From Trajan’s Column, completed in 113 AD, to the statue of Christopher Columbus in Easton, Pennsylvania, monuments and memorials have been a significant element of celebration and honor throughout history (Source B). Though monuments are typically meant as a symbol of honor, recent controversy over statues dedicated to Confederate leaders and generals has sparked the debate over how to choose subjects to memorialize, and the actual development of these memorials. When considering what or who to honor, one must also consider the subjects impact on history, ensuring that it is positive. In creating memorials and monuments, groups and agencies should examine the historical significance of the events or persons they wish to memorialize, and the

Southerners attempted to restore and preserve their pride and honor by preparing grand memorials for the dead Confederate war heroes, as depicted in

Unlike a grave site memorial, which marks where a body is burried, roadside memorials shows where a person died abruptly and unpredictably. When we see one, we get curious automatically and ask what might have happened in that place. Perhaps the basic reaction that we give when we see a roadside memorial is enough to understand its purpose and tolerate its presence when we are on the road. However, Some of the usual arguments that people post in opposing the presence of these memorials are dangerous distractions for drivers, illegal displays of religious symbols and it constitute the taking of public property for private purposes (Tiernan, 2009). I would like to argue all these arguments as I believe that the relevance of memorials outweighs all these concerns.

There are said to be four different ways people respond to tragedies, Ken Foote, a professor from the University of Colorado Boulder, has proven it. Based on his studies, the four attitudes toward memorials are sanctification, obliteration, rectification, and designation. Out of all four attitudes, sanctification would be most helpful. To define sanctification, it is when people

These memorials are in memory of the fallen soldiers and sometimes the soldiers that made it out alive.

There are beauties unknown deep in the ground of Concordia. Stories that have been altered over the course of time and history that has tailgated behind these tombstones of deceased bodies. Gunfighters who thought they would rule the world were slain by the scythe of death. They were once owners of land, beholders of beauty, famous gun ringers, loving family members, and burdened veterans of war. Concordia Cemetery, the land that once gave birth to crops now lays burdened with the segregation of death, where even then people were all divided by their race, credentials, ethnicity and even gender. Gunfighters were caged underneath their tombstones where people were sure that they wouldn’t rise again.

A locality may, within the geographical limits of the locality, authorize and permit the erection of monuments or memorials for any war or conflict, or for any engagement of such war or conflict, to include the following monuments or

Rory Turner is Formerly Program Director for Folk and Traditional Arts and Program Initiative Specialist at the Maryland States Arts Concil. In Turner’s review “Bloodless Battles,” he iniciates the research with an ending of the American Civil War; “The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865. Over 600,000 died in this multilevel conflict between the Northern states (the Union) and the southern states (the Confederacy)”. As the author explain much else in the United States, after a period of time when the war was over; each year there are many events all over the country, in memorial of The American Civil War and in continues to this day. Civil War reenactments are not just symbolic text that express culture meanings to analytically

In every culture, respect is a quality that communities embrace around the world. Whether it be to remember a person’s achievement or to provide a sense of connection in a community, monuments link together the present and the past with the motive of respect. Memorials are far more relevant than a seemingly trivial granite monument that one could notice in a park (Source B); they embellish meaning, symbol, emotion, and memories into a collective emblem. In memorializing an event and creating a monument, it is essential for the group or agency to not only consider the basic elements such as the historical significance or size, location, and materials but also to acknowledge the emotional linkage the event or monument may induce through attachment

The responsibility of designing and building a monument is no small feat. After all, the end product is meant to memorialize important, and sometimes tragic events and/or people that have significantly contributed something to society. How does one begin to plan a memorial in the first place? Certainly, it can not be rushed, and can be a very grueling process. Several things need to be considered, including determining the proper location of a monument that suits the people who see it. One must also consider the intended audience and what the monument represents. Of course the simplicity or complexity of the monument structure must also be determined. Along with that, monument builders need to consider the positive and/or negative affects on people viewing the monument. In short, there are three main things that need to be considered when debating how, or even if, to make a monument.

Monuments are used to memorialize and honor moments, individuals and events of the past. Some monuments do this better than other monuments. In creating a monument there are three essential factors a group or agency should consider to make the monument as effective as possible: location, design features, purpose and backstory. Why these factors? Location and design factors play a massive role in the reception the monument will receive, based on its environment, size and looks a monument will be perceived differently. The purpose and backstory are the two single most important factors to consider in creating a monument. The monuments history, its reason, is the reason just? Is the purpose proper? Does it accurately memorialize the subject? All these questions come with the purpose and backstory of a monument.