Quicklime: Book Summary

Meaning and significance of death in the light of the Christian narrative is addressed including adequate detail.

“I tried not to sound concerned but was feeling an unpleasant sensation of being isolated, far from any human dwelling and trapped in this cold tomb of a railway carriage.”

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 author uses pathos very frequently throughout the text to get her point across to the audience. In the text, Helen Keller mentions that, “For New York is great because of the open hand with which it responds to the needs of the weak and poor.” This quote demonstrates Keller's point that people in New York are a champion in helping so people of New York should want to give and help the needy, which carries an emotional appeal. In addition, Helen Keller says that, “The men and women for whom I speak are poor and weak in that they lack one of the chief weapons with which the human being fights his battle. But they must not on that account be sent to the rear. Much less must they be pensioned like disabled soldiers.” This also carries a very emotional point because she uses a metaphor

◊ “The body all arranged nice in the hearse." Readers can see that the body of Aaron was pleasantly prepared in the coffin, for the funeral.

With millions of people expiring because of widespread disease, poor living conditions, or the brutality of the legal system, death was a common and inescapable enemy in Elizabethan times. Because death was so much a part of living, religious beliefs, rituals, and traditions that payed homage to death and honored the deceased became important. These traditions, however, were not the same for everyone. In fact, the attitude, treatment and approach to death and burial in the Elizabethan age was not so much guided by spiritual and religious belief, but moreso by the social status of the deceased. Such after death beliefs in Elizabethan times tended to be heavily religious based.

Red and blue flashing lights indicate a police presence. Yellow tape marks off a section of the roadway. A hearse from a local funeral home is on scene. The body of the man is hoisted onto a gurney and is covered with a white sheet. He is hoisted into the back of the hearse and the door is shut. Snow continues to fall as the hearse drives

But to be able to fall down in such a way that the same second looks as if one were standing and walking , to transform the leap of life into a walk, absolutely to express the sublime in pedestrian- that only the knight of faith can do.” As the plague progresses, Father Paneloux loses the characteristic of the knight of faith. “He resigned everything infinitely, and then grasped everything again by virtue of the absurd. He constantly makes movement

Doctor Lindsey Fitzharris, a medical historian, describes this point perfectly when she observes, “Where once the corpse of a loved one was caringly washed by family members and laid out reverently in the home, it now is ‘injected, packed and placed in a coffin to prevent odours and the spread of germs by mortuary technicians. A dead body has become an offense to the living. It is contaminated, unhygienic, a potential source of disease. Moreover, it is a reminder of our collective mortality and in this sense, it must be shut away” (“Beyond”). Basically, because early and brutal deaths were common, dead bodies were not really appalling, but were instead just a fact of life that deserved great

In most depictions, three young and lavishly dressed people encounter three walking corpses. The Three Dead tell the Three Living an ominous warning: “What you are, we once were. What we are, you will become.” This topic was especially prevalent in Medieval Books of Hours because of the ever present threat of disease, specifically the black plague, in addition to natural death. Typically, each of the three cadavers in the representation of the Three Living and Three Dead, is in a different state of composition.

Many objects were used to remember the deceased post-mortem. "Mementos such as lockets, brooches and rings, usually containing a lock of hair and photograph, functioned as tangible reminders of the deceased" (Hell). Framed pictures were often used as a substitute for the lost member. They were considered tangible objects and often all that was left the grieving. "The invention of the Carte de Visite, which enabled multiple prints to be made from a single negative, meant that images could be sent to distant relatives. The deceased was commonly represented as though they were peacefully sleeping rather than dead, although at other times the body was posed to

“The Ivory Mirror: The Art of Mortality in Renaissance Europe” exhibition at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art reflects the extreme presence of death and mortality in late-medieval and early-Renaissance Europe. During the time there was the Black Plague, the Hundred Years’ War, and famines. With the constant fear of death around the corner, it is understandable that the artwork from this period reflects those fears. Prayer beads, illuminated manuscripts, and ivory objects preserve the viewpoint of death that was most likely shared by the majority of people during this time. Furthermore, these pieces of art reaffirm topics of discussion from class, such as death being an equalizer of society and

During the 19th century the American public was gripped by fear of a terrifying prospect: premature burial. I researched newspaper articles from the mid-1800s that discussed this chilling phenomenon. At first glance, I found that most of these articles seemed to include sensationalized accounts of being buried alive that employed descriptive language. As I read more of these articles, I noticed that the texts seemed very similar. I then realized that these supposedly “true stories” were actually the full text of Edgar Allen Poe’s short horror story “The Premature Burial.” Poe’s work was originally published in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper in 1844, and I found it again in The Spirit of Democracy in August 1845. Before the story, the

In Albert Camus’ The Plague, events lead Dr. Rieux to understand the meaning of man’s existence. In this novel, several existentialist principles are illustrated. First, men have freedom of choice. Second, men are responsible for their actions and the consequences which come from them. Third, what each man believes is good for all mankind. Fourth, how responsibility brings anxiety and or suffering. Fifth, the absurdity of life through death being the ultimate end. Each aspect and principle reflected upon in the book affect both Dr. Rieux, Jean Tarrou, and Cottard.

They survived to a height of about two metres and were lined with gypsum benches. On one side was a gypsum throne and on the other a sunken room which Evans called a ‘Lustral Basin’. Over the course of the next four years, most of the ten-acre site had been excavated— although work would continue off and on until 1930.