Death Be Not Proud Analysis

From start to finish, Death has seen both horrors and wonders. However, in his profession, Death mainly witnesses the horrific parts of life, and he needs the reader to know that he is not immune to the suffering he

Death is the unavoidable end for everyone. The very real topic can bring people together, but can also pull people apart. This is evident in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. A theme statement that can be found in both books is that surviver's guilt can be dealt with through kindness and friendship. This statement is evident in how characters cope with the survivors guilt by assist the living, talking to others about the guilt, and how the lives of the dead are celebrated.

Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther was an astounding book. Granted, it was a bit depressing, but it was a great book because I could relate so closely to the author. The trial of a loved one going through cancer is something I can relate to. Fortunately, my story turns out a little bit better than Johnny’s did.

The grieving that individuals experience with death is unique, but the main stages are universal across cultures (Axelrod, 2017). There are five stages of grief. Nicolas Wolterstorff’s story, Lament for a Son, addresses these five stages as he tries to find joy after the loss of his son. The meaning and significance of death in light of the Christian narrative is also addressed in the story. Having a hope of the resurrection can help comfort individuals in situations similar to Wolterstorff (Wolterstorff, 1978).

Death in Do not go gentle into that good night and Death Be Not Proud

The foundation of our beliefs can be shaken because of traumatizing experiences. Our religious beliefs can be challenged by the thought of death. Why does death happen to good people? Why does it even happen at all? These are questions that go through the minds of people who face and witness death. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio is an attestant to several deaths at an extremely young age. The passing of the people he saw forged an unwelcome path that opened the door to spiritual challenges he never thought to be within the context of his fledgling existence.

Learning to die and coping with death is a life-long art task; it is an art form on learning how to find yourself through the lens of death is a daunting task. Death is the center of all art. It is the artist task to create themselves and others around them through their art. Art can out live people. Art gives a voice to people who don’t have one, as well as the artist that is striving to develop their own voice. James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son, is an essay about a young man finding his identity through his father’s death, the turmoil of racial climate of segregation and riots. James Baldwin declared himself as a writer in this essay. He was a black writer, first and foremost and wrote about racial issues. He saw African Americans

The book, Lament For a Son, written by Nicholas Wolterstorff talks about his pain and grief after losing his 25-year-old son (Joy, 2009). His son died while on a mountain-climbing expedition. Dr. Wolterstorff has several books published during his career as a philosophical theology professor in Yale Divinity. However, he wrote Lament for a Son with a different journal style since it is a personal thing for him. The book is similar to a journal as he narrates the events that happened before and after his son’s death. The emotions expressed in the book are common among people who lose close relatives. What matters is how a person handles the issue. Kubler-Ross invented the five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptancethat explain the escalation of grief when stricken by bad news (Axelrod, 2004). The paper looks into the book and its relation to the five stages of grief.

During the following paper, I will be analyzing in the book “Lament of a Son” by Nicholas Wolterstorff, where the author interprets his traumatic recollection of the death of his 25-year-old son on a climbing accident, and how he was able to appease his grief based on his faith in God. Consequently, I will be identifying the 5 stages of grief, how the author finds joy after his loss, the meaning of death in the light of the Christian narrative, and how the hope of resurrection play a role in comforting the author.

In discussions of the outcomes of suffering, one controversial issue has been whether the lessons learned through suffering outweigh the pain of the moment. In his short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin tells the story of a young boy’s relationship with his brother, as well as their lives growing up in Harlem. As both boys struggled to lead a life they were proud of while trying to understand each other's differences, Baldwin highlights the overarching theme of redemption through suffering. Rather than using one’s pains and hardships to sever ties, suffering should be seen as a universal bond that holds humans together. In “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin repeatedly uses moments of pain to connect the characters in his story, demonstrating that

The memoir Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther , written in 1940, is the most popular American death memoir. This tells a heartbreaking, yet inspiring story about a young fifteen year old boy struggling with a brain tumor. The story begins when the boy, Johnny was first diagnosed with the deadly illness and ends with the unfortunate result. The story is narrated by the father of Johnny who describes the struggle for himself and Johnny’s mother, whom he is divorced from. Although Johnny had this terrible illness which has impacted his whole life as well as the lives of his family, he still stayed positive. He focused on the good in life rather than the negatives of dying. Gunther has inspired others by sharing his son’s journey, he has shown that not all

During a time of grief, Mr. Wolterstorff was experiencing a condition of endless suffering. In order to resume ordinary life, he to acquire peace thus, allowing him to experience joy. This first occurred when Mr. Wolterstorff reminded himself of why Eric began mountain climbing in the first place. Mr. Wolterstorff remembered that climbing was a way to experience God’s creations first hand. This was nature in its raw form, untouched and unaltered. By climbing in nature, Eric was brought closer to God, deepening his relationship. This brought Mr. Wolterstorff joy as it showed him that Eric remained strong in his faith. It proved that he died doing what he loved. On the path of finding joy, Mr. Wolterstorff realized that instead of grieving he must honor Eric. He did this by not letting him be forgotten. Eric’s life was a gift of God. By never forgetting Eric they would always honor him and his path with God.

Tim O’Brien grew up in a place where if you were to look in the dictionary for the word “boring” you might find it. O’Brien was a World War 2 veteran and of an elementary-school teacher where he served as a WAVE. Although he has wrote many other books, he is primarily known for “If I die”, “Going after Cacciato”, and “The Things they carried”. The latter book opens with “The Things They Carried” and closes with The Lives of the Dead. The Lives of the Dead is a short novel about young Tim and his older self, Timmy, and his overall experience of coping with death. The Lives of the Dead shows the concept that the dead lives on by remembrance and telling stories.

	How would you cope if you were going to die? In the memoir Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther, his son Named Johnny is faced with this situation. At an early age, Johnny was found with a brain tumor, and struggles to survive. Johnny later died from the brain tumor. Johnny was loved by many people; much of whom tried his/her best to help Johnny through this ordeal. Although Johnny was faced with death, Johnny faced death with courage throughout the book.

Donne’s poem is written in the traditional 14-line format of a sonnet, “which was the vogue… in England at the end of the sixteenth century” according to authors Kennedy and Gioia in Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry , Drama and Writing ( 574). Donne lived from 1572-1631 (Kennedy 744). “The sonnet owes much of its prestige to Petrarch,” (Kennedy 574) an Italian poet. “English poets …(eventually) worked out their own rhyme scheme,” (Kennedy 574) which would explain why this isn’t a true Patrarchan sonnet. Donne’s penned work naturally breaks his thoughts and the poem into three quatrains and a couplet. His thoughts come to a conclusion after lines 4, 8 and 14 with the use of periods, as well as a question mark for line 12, noting the end-stops. The rhyme scheme in American English is abba, abba, cddc ae, but if spoken with an English accent, the final couplet could reasonably be interpreted as aa, which would appear to be more likely.