Grim: My Talk with Death

“ ‘Who are you?’ ‘I am Death.’ ‘I have long walked at your side.’ ‘That I know’ ‘Are you ready?’ ‘My body is, not myself. Wait a moment’

Throughout the first part of the book, Death is like one could imagine; indifferent and distant. He carries on with his job, carrying souls to their afterlife and seeking the color of the sky after a person’s death as his only distraction, and much like his job, his persona is very straightforward. He tells the reader, “Here is a small fact. You are going to die” (Zusak 3) and immediately, he appears as blunt and detached. He feels no obligation to sugar coat words, says that “nice has nothing to do with [him]” (Zusak, 3), and prefers to be frank and straightforward when expressing a message. “I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I simply estimate it” (Zusak, 550). Once again, Death manages to not only be direct but also able to state in a few words how little he sometimes thinks of humans. To some humans, he doesn't even give a second glance, but to those he does, he often thinks the worst of them. This, along with his blunt nature, shows who he is and how he thinks of humanity.

“ALS is like a lit candle: it melts your nerves and leaves your body a pile of wax”. This is a quote from Morrie Schwartz a man who suffers from ALS; also known as lou gehrig's disease. The disease affect Morrie nervous system and his muscles slowly detrating him until he dies. In the book tuesday with Morrie, he is dying but trough his death he is teaching lesson on how to live. In the memoir Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie teaches people how to live life through accepting death, not giving into our culture, and forgiving themselves and others.

Death addresses the reader directly using the second-person pronoun ‘you’. The narrator talks to the reader and draws them into the story. He says: “If you feel like it, come with me. I will tell you a story. I’ll show you something” (Page 16). It’s an offer to follow him and a way of enthusing readers to keep reading. As the story unfolds we find that death is not the character we think he is. He is actually afraid of humans!

While he was leaving the room we both sat down being quite for a minute or two, not saying a word.

We were seating really close to each other, but it didn’t feel awkward. I thought it was funny that just earlier in the day we were complete strangers and now we were like that. After a couple of episodes, he made his way back to his seat. The flight atendants started serving some food. We would land in an hour.

“Beautiful. I couldn 't have thought of that. And her middle name? Must I decide that?” the man said.

The article, “Sorry, but Your Soul Just Died” was an enjoyable read. Tom Wolfe article was quite amusing, and filled with details. Yet, Wolfe was able to connect and draw out the soul, moral code, and justice within the “neuroscience” discipline. It encapsulated the aggressive materialism of some new-age scientists. Furthermore, to these self-assured scientific investigators—the concept that the spirit may occur separately from the body is just absurd. Alternatively, everything is on the “threshold of a unified theory,” and a human’s “temperament,” “role preferences,” “emotional responses,” “levels of aggression,” and “moral choices” are genetically determined. And some established theories about “the mind,” “the self,” “the soul,” and “free will” are nothing but an illusion. In other words, humans’ beings are “wired” this way, and religion was probably a mishap. The article was difficult to follow at times, however, I think Wolfe anticipated the “neuroscience revolution” would start a public debate of whether god actually existed (I guess Wolfe understood these central claims carried in thinking like this).

“The last time I died wasn’t so bad. No, not at all. I was warm, in my bed with tea, surrounded by people that knew me and loved me. I was wealthy, that’s always a good thing. I just sort of…slipped away.”

Roughly, one-hundred five people die per minute or in other words, 55.3 million people die per year. Death is never a comfortable conversation to have with others but death is common especially among the elderly population. Atul Gawande in Being Mortal talks about how death takes many people by surprise and the descriptions of aging and dying. All the while living better through the understanding of death. The author is trying to express that even those in the medical field struggle with death and not ensuring the well-being of the patients that are coming in. He emphasis the idea of the elderly feeling “comfortable” in the state and location they are. Those who are growing of age never truly feel comfortable because they never know what

When my grandpa came over crying I gave him a hug and said “I’m so sorry for you loss.” He didn't say anything back he just limped back. He tried to give a speech but it just came out mumbled, he just couldn't stop himself from crying.

He didn't answer right away, but just looked at me. I couldn't look away. He had a

“I don’t doubt it. Why haven’t you asked me to call you by your first name?” I’m sur-

Pacing back and forth- every day! I was going stir crazy! Running my hand through my once ruby-red hair, I cringed… Grime- and lots of it! I tugged my hand through my hair trying to loosen the knots. I kicked the door in frustration, “Let me out, let me out!” I pleaded, sliding down the door. Tears pooled in my eyes, begging to be released.

“I don’t know…,” I said, scratching my chin as if indecisive while I looked back up at my bedroom window. “June’s been looking mighty fine lately, and if you get the choice between laying with a dead girl and a living one, well…”