Death Without Weeping

While visiting Alto do Cruzeiro in 1965, Hughes noticed women were indifferent concerning the death of their children. Infants born dead or “waiting to die” is a common occurrence in Alto do Cruzeiro. The women of the community became use to experiencing these tragedies and decided it would be easier to cooperate with Gods plan. If an infant is born “waiting to die”, the mother will usually leave the child to die. Having this kind of attitude towards dying infants has a powerful impact on maternal thinking and practice. Already knowing that an infant will not survive makes the women less loving and nurturing. When an infant actually survives, the mother has a difficult time raising the child. Children born in this area “lack traditional breast feeding, subsistence gardens, stable marriages, and multiple adult care-takers that exists in the interior.” Since single parenting is the norm, woman are forced to leave the infant at home, many times by itself. The women cannot carry their child with them at work or by the river. They can not leave their child with the older children because if they are not in school they are working as well. Also, since women earn a dollor and day, they can not afford to hire a baby

As Keanu Reeves once said, “Grief changes shapes, but it never ends” (“Tragic”). When it comes to grief there are usually five shapes or stages that people go through: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance. The book A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, is about a young boy who is struggling with school, bullies, friends, and family when his mother develops a terminal illness. He is visited by the monster, a massive yew tree, who comes alive to teach Conor the ways of the world. He also teaches Conor the truth in order to move past his mother’s sickness. Ness shows how people in both literature and real life tend to go through five stages of grief while dealing with a loved one who has a terminal illness because of the overwhelming lamentation it inflicts.

In the poem titled "The Midwife Addresses the Newly Delivered Woman" the author portrays the strengths and fortune of an Aztec woman she must have while giving birth to a child. The author mentions how the courageous and brave woman went through hard exhausting physical labor. The poem informs the mother that possible unpleasant situations may still occur. The new mother is aware and understanding that she has successfully won mastery. Also it is pointed out when women were giving birth it was like a battle, just as painful as the ones men fought in wars.

Nancy Scheper-Hughes studies and observes the connections between the loss of infants and the mother’s ability to express maternal love in the shantytowns of Brazil in her article “Mother’s Love: Death without Weeping.” Studying documents, interviewing, and observing the everyday lives of mothers, were the fieldwork procedures she used to conduct her research. The results of her research provided evidence of two theoretical perspectives observed in the article, structuralism and materialism.

A shantytown called the Alto do Cruzeiro (Crucifix Hill), is one of the three shantytowns bordering the big marketplace area in the town of Bom Jesus in the sugar plantation district of Northeast Brazil, a solitary part of the countless regions of disregard that have materialized in the darkness of the now stained economic wonder of Brazil. The Alto women practice an unusual method of caring for their offspring especially when handling the death of their infants. The high rate of infant death can be credited to poverty and malnutrition. Illness and infant deaths are taken nonchalantly not by just the social institutions in the Alto but also by the child's own mother and this has

The American Dream something people want to have to strive to achieve, not just for themselves but for their generations to come. People have different opinions on what their American dream is, but for most people it’s to be able to provide for their kids, give them freedom that they never had in their nation. Over all people that Dream just want to escape all that violence they face back home. In Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario is one of the most inspiring books of the time. It opens native peoples eyes to notice what the American Dream is exactly for those who do not have it and want it.

“Death Without Weeping” is an anthropological article published on the year of 1989, written by Nancy Scheper-Hughes. A mother’s relationship to her child is powerful, and when a mother loses her child, she experiences grief, sorrow, and in worse cases depression; however, in the Alto culture in Brazil, a mother showing sympathy and sorrow to her dying child was found uncommon, it was something not part of the Alto culture because grief in times of death in children represented “madness” (1989;16) The article “Death Without Weeping” explores the nature of a mother’s neglect of a child’s death in the Alto culture.

In this reading the author talks about the Latina experience in the US and the cultural differences. She said that her religion and culture created vagueness about her womanhood. Womanhood was a subject not spoken about often, making it difficult for her to get out of her comfort zone, seek guidance, and in some cases talk about it. After the event with her classmate she understood why they are many pregnant teens. Their own culture and religion had made the subject of womanhood a taboo, by not letting them know the reality of love and the different ways to protect themselves during sex. This had also caused them to be ashamed and scared to talk about the subject.

Death is never an easy thing to deal with. When a loved one dies, people will naturally go through a system of mourning wherein they laud and appreciate the person who is now gone from their lives forever. There are times when deaths are more difficult to deal with, such as when a death is unexpected or when the deceased is a young person who should have had a long life ahead of them. Although death is never necessarily a happy event, there are occurrences where the passing away of a friend or loved one can be quantified as a good, if not pleasant event. According to the text, there are three conditions wherein a death can be considered a "good death." First, there is the medically-based good death. In this scenario, a person has been ill for a considerable length of time. Their illness is chronic, painful, and incurable. Thus, when that person finally passes away from that disease, their death is good because they are no longer in the position where they are suffering. The second type of good death is the sacred death wherein a person dies for some sort of religious purpose. In many ancient cultures, there were civilizations which used the practice of human sacrifice for a variety of reasons, including honoring the gods and ensuring a strong harvest of crops. Modern cultures do not usually include sacred deaths nor sacrificial deaths and often prosecute those who choose to participate in such events. Thirdly, a

Death is very alive in this book. Many characters died or had some one they know pass away in this book. Even in the beginning it starts with Remedios sitting the sea waiting for a body so you know that someone already died. The idea of death is also in this book with Marta wanting an abortion and her sister and Cande stopping her. Marta thinks that the death of her baby or Chayos baby will solve her problems so she runs to El brujo to help with her situation. "I will need something that has been close to the child. Some object of clothing that is worn over the belly. When you bring me this, I can begin." (Benítez 60). Marta thinks it's her baby he wants to get rid of but on page 61 el brujo states "it's not your baby I'm speaking of. It's

Some individuals may struggle with the grieving process. Poor coping mechanisms can lead to major depressive disorders and even anxiety. Grieving individuals may exhibit signs and symptoms of poor physical health because they stop taking care of themselves. Widows and widowers have 8 to 50 times higher suicide rate than the overall population (Snyder, 2009).

Nancy Scheper-Hughes’s in depth articulation of the pragmatic way of life of mothers in Bom Jesus da Mata in Alto do Cruzeiro provides a much needed understanding of their “stone” hearts. Her depiction of the mothers of Bom Jesus da Mata is a stark, grim reality caused by extreme poverty and a hands-off Church and State. One of Hughes’s paramount findings was the mothers’ refusal to save the weakest of their babies, which is passive infanticide, as a Darwinian approach to life needed to survive harsh conditions. By using “lifeboat ethics”, they save and nurture what they see as the strong ones while putting aside those they deem as having “no knack or no taste for life.” She also brings up the reason for this harsh delay of maternal love due

Dying is never lovely. Mary Roach, defines in her essay, “Don’t Jump”, the mania from the sensation of her dropping from a precipice. The fall would have resulted in certain death if not for the attached cable halting her torso, SPLAT! Suggesting in the essay, “That jumping-off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge would be a lovely way to go” (Roach, 2001). There are people that are desperate in life and choose this picturesque setting; the beauty of protruding boulders stippled within the grass covered hills; the silhouette of San Francisco pasted against the horizon or the white capped waves of the blue Pacific. If the scenery does not enthrall the senses, the pacifying rhythm of the bay thrashing the shore and the tower pylons has a narcotic effect. Magnificent in many facets, yet there are individuals who travel there to terminate their misery. Possibly selecting this landmark to make their last declaration on Earth and be remembered for the prominence of the location. Ms. Roach discusses how fencing could hinder some from jumping. The scenic bridge does not inspire people to choose death over life; however, the Bridge Authority repudiates tarnishing the vista by implementing a method to reduce the casualties.

The traditions in Chronicle of a Death Foretold are revealed to be very important in this Latin American society. From arranged marriages, to greeting the bishop, we see tradition affecting the lives of many of the people in the river village. However we can also see this through the roles of women in this society. Purisima del Carmen, Angela Vicario’s mother, has raised her four fine daughters to be good wives. The girls do not marry until later in their lives, and only seldom socialize beyond the confinements of their home. The women spend their

In the novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, uses the element point of view supported by certain motifs to portray society and how its gender roles affect the narration. The author’s choice in doing so is important simply because the novella is based on a real life story which occurred in Sucre, Colombia, in 1951, where he had lived. The incident happened while Gabriel Garcia Marquez was in college studying journalism, just like the narrator of the novel. Marquez happened to know some of the people involved, which gave the novella more significance. In the mid twentieth century, Colombian culture had various aspects due to its diversity and how society had evolved while still containing traditional