Embalming In The USA Analysis

After reading, The Embalming of Mr. Jones by Jessica Mitford, I was in shock about the whole process that happens hour after death. Previously, when I heard about embalming I thought they basically just cleaned the body up and dressed them up for the casket showing, but now that I know what actually happens I’m a little grossed out. The body shouldn’t be changed so much because you want to see them as you last remember not reconstructed due to the embalming. While the bodies are deceased, I can't help but wonder if they are feeling all of this happening. I feel bad for Mr. Jones and others who have been through the process. I can’t even imagine what it is like for the embalmer, and how they can go through with it.

Ancient Egyptian embalming was a very sacred process performed by experienced embalmers. Ancient Egyptians used to bury the deceased underground, but because of that they decayed faster in a coffin when they aren’t exposed to the hot sand of the desert. That is how they developed the process of embalming to preserve the bodies.

In the essay “The Embalming of Mr. Jones,” (1963), Jessica Mitford is describing a procedure of embalming of a corpse. She writes that people pay a ton of money each year, but “not one in ten thousand has any idea of what actually takes place,” and it is extremely hard to find books and any information about this subject. She assumes that it must be a reason for such secrecy, and may be if people knew more about this procedure, they would not want this service after their death.

The tone of Mitford’s essay “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” reflects her disapproval of the embalming process. To illustrate, she uses harrowing words like “subjected” and “gruesomeness” to convey a message of disgust and unease within the readers. It is good she wrote her essay in a simple and satiric way, so that it is very easy for the common man to read and comprehend it, while the comedy and horrible detail leaves the terrible imagery of the embalming procedures in one’s mind long after reading. Texts like this one, and ones similar to it are very important as society evolves. It would seem that many people would read this and it would greatly influence whether they would want their family members embalmed or even what they would desire

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent is a story of a woman, Agnes Magnusdottir, fighting against society’s opinion of her as she struggles to redeem herself. Agnes is portrayed as a woman who is struggling against the patriarchal system that seems to imprison her. The audience is positioned to feel sympathy for Agnes throughout the novel as she explains her harsh childhood through her conversations with Toti. We are also positioned to feel sympathy for her as Kent describes the way that she is treated by the men in her life, particularly Blondal and Natan. By the end of the novel the audience is positioned to feel angered by how Agnes is forced to struggle through to her final breaths with very little sympathy shown to her by the dominant characters

The text Burial Rites written by Hannah Kent focuses on the true story of the last woman to be executed in Iceland, her punishment for playing part in the murder of two men. She is sent to wait out her days on the farm of a district officer, Jón Jónsson with his two daughters and wife. Naturally, the family are horrified to have a convicted murderer in their midst. Borne from this, the family refuse to talk to her. A young man, Toti is appointed as her spiritual guardian in the last days of her life, throughout the text, he attempts to redeem her soul by asking her to recount her life.

The history of ceremonies for care of the dead goes back as far as 60,000 BC when the Neanderthals used flowers and animal antlers to decorate the dead. Embalming originated in 4000 BC with the Egyptians but was uncommon there until 3400 BC. Embalming was first introduced in to the US by Dr. Thomas Holmes (1817-1900)

Cremation and burial services are among the most common choices for American post-mortem body disposal (NFDA, 2017). Though the population of the United States is continuing to grow, observing increases in funeral rates, the number of active funeral homes has significantly decreased within the past ten years (NFDA, 2017). This could be due to the extreme shift in American practices, from a traditionally religious population to a more environmentally aware and loosely religious society (Fleming, Farquhar, Brayne, Barclay, 2016; Pew Research Center, 2015). Because of the general shifts in the prioritization of traditional practice, funeral homes should be better equipped -especially in cremation services- to suit the needs of the evolving disposal preferences of all demographics through observation of holistic

Dead?" AlterNet. In this article, Frankie Colmane looks into how dead bodies are treated in the United State even after Mitford's expose of the funeral industry was published. The article takes both a philosophical and scientific issue with the procedure of embalming sighting proven negative effects to human beings and the environment. Colmane shows that even though people are aware of the malfeasance and misappropriations of the funeral industry following pieces like Mitford's, very little has changed. Therefore problems that have been discussed in earlier works should not be forgotten. Rather they should be continually brought up until the issue is solved. During the 1800s, embalming became common practice because the dead family member would lie in state within the home for a period of days or weeks until it would be buried (Colmane 2010). The article shows the duplicity such as when "funeral directors were arguing forcefully against charges that their mediation between the living and the dead translated into social obstruction that barred the stricken from facing death with maturity, realism, and honest" (page 2). This article will be used to illustrate that things have not changed with funereal practices despite the publication of Mitford's essay.

Why do people undertake missions? Cap from The Cremation of Sam McGee undertook his mission of cremating a fallen friend whose last wish was to be warm. Aengus from The Song of Wandering Aengus undertook his mission of finding his long lost love, a glimmering girl. Gerta from A Night Divided undertook the rigorous mission to dig her way to freedom. However, all three felt determined to complete their respective missions to either resolve or change something about their current situation and refused to succumb to hopelessness.

No one can escape death. It’s one of so few unavoidable certainties in our lives and has held an important position in every human culture since time immemorial. Of course, this position has is different from culture to culture, and shifts over time. This is particularly evident in western culture. The shift is discussed at length in two essays: “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” by Jessica Mitford, and ‘The Fear of Dying’ by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Both explore different aspects of these themes – Mitford’s essay being deconstruction of a the uniquely North American process of embalming, and Kübler-Ross’ being an indictment of the clinical depersonalization of contemporary western attitudes toward death. Each utilize many different tools as writers, such as rhetorical modes. Rhetorical modes they share are exemplification, description, and compare-and-contrast.

Criticisms of American funeral practices have been made publicly aware since the 1920’s, and actually go back to ancient times in the scope of human’s ceremonies for the dead. Since the first published argument against modern funerals various authors joined the movement publishing their disparagements of customs for the deceased; that in essence contend the grandiosity and lavish displays are merely a social and psychological representation of the monetary opportunity of funerals (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015, p. 306-307). Even further, regarding the encompassing funeral industry as exploiting grieving loved ones for their financial gains, while disregarding the actual needs of modern society (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015, p. 307).

In the late 1960’s, the FTC was a paper tiger. Ralph Nader, who began the consumer protection movement in this country with the publication of Unsafe At Any Speed, was a sharp critic of the Federal Trade Commission for its lack of consumer protection. Specifically, the FTC was criticized because it relied too heavily on consumer complaints and brought enforcement actions only on a case-by-case basis. The consumer protection movement wanted the FTC to proceed against entire industries rather than individual businesses.

Amy is having difficulty with depression as well. She is unable to move to the last stage of grief, acceptance, until then she will be stuck in the same stage, reliving the same emotions over and over until she is able to cope with the feelings that were aroused

In today?s modern society we have a certain distaste for the subject of death. There are people in society feel uncomfortable with the subject of death. The subject of death is a reality that we need to face everyday. There is nothing any of us can do about