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Paradox Of Grief

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One of the themes that that we covered in lecture is grief, including the different types of grief that people experience, and the ways in which people learn to deal with grief. In life, we will all experience the death of someone close to us at one point in our lives. Because their death may be very hard on us, grieving will help us get through our daily lives and help us heal from this pain. Everyone responds to a loss in their lives in different ways, depending on the type of person he/she is and the cause of death of their loved one. When we experience a difficult loss in our lives, we respond by grieving and learning to accept this loss. According to Kastenbaum, there are many types of grief, including: normal and complicated grief, anticipatory grief, resolved and unresolved grief, and hidden and disenfranchised grief. Specifically, Kastenbaum explains how grief should be resolved within a reasonable period of time, but at the same time, the loss of a crucial relationship is never completely resolved: we move on with our lives, but we will never be the same again (Kastenbaum, 350). This reminds me of Susan Patron’s the Higher Power of Lucky. In this book, Lucky, a 10 year old girl, has to live her life with her mother’s death and an absent father who calls …show more content…

One of the paradoxical truths that we discussed in lecture was that death leads to grief over loss; and yet death involves a new life, even gain (Lecture, May 16). This also relates to Lucky’s situation because the death of her mother led to her grieving process, but it also made her look at life differently and gain from her experiences. Through grieving for her mother’s death, Lucky was able to find her higher power and learn how to get through difficult situations in life. She is now also able to accept her new life as Brigitte legally adopts her and gain an understanding of life and death through her

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