Mountains Of Madness

Grief is a painful emotion that people experience through troubling times in life, such as losing a loved one. Swiss psychiatrist, Elisabeth Kubler Ross, introduced the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, in the year of 1969. She explains that there is no correct way or time to grieve; the stages are used to familiarize people with the aspects of grief and grieving. Grief can over take someone’s life and lead to a negative downfall, such as Hamlet experiences in Hamlet, written by Williams Shakespeare. He undergoes a variety of barriers throughout the novel, such as his father is murdered, which leads to his downfall-death. Although Hamlet grieves, the denial stage is not present in the novel as it

‘Sorrow’ symbolizes the grief and mourning he feels, not necessarily for somebody who has passed away simply just a loss.

Since the start of time, and the preceding generations, death has impacted people and the way they act. A sudden, or even an expected death of a loved one, takes a toll on a person. It’s human nature for people to process and want to make sense of death and the loss it leaves behind. The five stages of grief reflect this process of dealing with the loss of a loved one. Through these stage of grieving, people can get lost either searching for answers or trying to get past it. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare depicts the role human nature plays in the striving for answers and justice surrounding death. Even though Hamlet was written early in the seventeenth century, the depiction of death and human nature still rings true today; people and

Abstractly, it almost seems as though the other characters in the book look down on his for this not because he is not mourning, but rather because he is not mourning in the way they are. This sheds light on the overall theme of the novel, that of people being cast out of society because their views and methods do not line up with the accepted ways of society.

Edward Hirsch starts off the elegy by writing about when they were at the funeral home, and shocked by the sight of recently deceased son. Hirsch says, “And for a moment I was taken aback/Because it was not Gabriel/ It was some poor kid/ Whose face looked like a room/ That had been vacated”. He uses these descriptive words to set the emotion and sensitivity for the rest of the poem, which is bitter and disheartening.

John Waterman, one of many characters introduced, grew up climbing the highest peaks on the North American Continent, taught by his father at the young age of thirteen. Few years later, however, Waterman’s parents divorced and his mental stability began to decline. His father refused to see or visit any of his three sons causing John to feel the emotional repercussions. Much like the relationship with Krakauer’s own father and that of Chris and his, the influence, or lack of, strong fatherly roles and familial ties John endured, greatly impacted his character. Krakauer, again, tugs at the insanity card by specifically detailing interviews made by fellow climbers and college friends of Waterman’s peculiarly odd behavior, even for Fairbanks, Alaska. He later elaborates upon Waterman’s school board and presidential campaigns, both based on ridiculous claims, promoting unrestricted sex for students, legalization of hallucinogenic drugs, and ensuring nobody on the entire planet died of hunger. He attempted several climbs as promotion, none seeming successful, though, until tragedy struck and his elaborate journals burned completely in a cabin fire. Afterwards, he admitted himself into a psychiatric institute for a brief time. Krakauer shows resemblance between Chris and John claiming insanity for both, most likely caused by such a tension with their fathers as

The literary allusion that Jon Krakauer provides in this novel points to the reference of Jack London. London was a famous author and wrote many popular books. He was also a very depressed man. However, London was always eager for adventure. Jon Krakauer provided in his novel a piece of Jack London’s writing when giving details about Christopher McCandless’s death. The piece of writing by London was named White Flag. In the writing London wrote he it states, “...There was a hint of laughter in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than silence.” (pg.9) This states that the forest was depressing but had laughter that was not cheerful. The writing also provided detail on how gruesome and harsh the wild can be. This piece of writing

This book is comprised of nineteen chapters, 153 pages that are aimed at an audience of sociologists, and academicians in all areas of criminal justice administration. Its major themes are that of violence and disorganization as experienced by inmates in the 1980 New Mexico State Prison Riot and, in precise ways, it discusses the impact of such violence in the day-to-day experiences of those involved – the inmates and prison staff. This riot lasted only two days and more precisely, 36 hours, but the turmoil experienced by the inmates and prison staff during that time will last a lifetime. This book should alert prison officials of the need to run prison facilities in a humane way, but this book demonstrates almost the opposite.

But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams. And I lived to tell my tale.” (Krakauer, page 155) This passage is illustrative of Krakauer’s feelings about McCandless. He does not think McCandless is so naïve or arrogant as many, especially in Alaska, do, but he does see that he was young, and had many of the common misperceptions, and claims that that was really his main flaw.

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.

He seems to suggest here that grief is but an illusion, because man is incapable of touching the human soul. Emerson continued with, “Grief too will make us idealists. In the death of my son, now more than two years ago, I seem to have lost a beautiful estate, - no more. I cannot get it nearer to me.” Now, Emerson reveals his inspiration for writing Experience. With the death of his son, Emerson had suffered the fourth major loss in his family, which had been long plagued by tuberculosis. His first wife died of the disease and had claimed the lives of his two beloved brothers. Emerson was no stranger to grief, and the more he tried to psychoanalyze it, the emptier he felt. After sustaining so much loss, one must steel oneself from any further blows.

"’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, / nor customary suits of solemn black / [ . . . ] but I have that within which passeth show; / these but the trappings and the suits of woe” (Shakespeare 1.2.76-73, 85-86) says Hamlet when confronted about his way of grieving over his father’s recent death. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a remarkable tale that is centered on the idea of death and grief. While death is a universal occurrence, meaning every person will deal with it, how we grieve after a loss is completely individual. To look at a formula of grief, most turn to the five stages of grief developed by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist, who studied the topic in her book On Death and Dying. This model consists of denial, anger,

Grief is keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; and sharp sorrow. Grief is something that can take a massive toll on one’s mental health and actions. It can change a person’s thinking and what they do. In “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, grief is shown in many ways but with each person who is grieving they begin to act differently than they normally would.

The classic American short story I have decided to delve into and discuss in these