Smoke Get In Your Eyes Commentary

In “On Natural Death,” Thomas appeals to the readers by contemplating the subject of death with an academic approach that includes facts, data, and information. Thomas successfully transforms death from an awkward, emotional subject to a more comfortable intellectual one. This engages the readers by placing contemplation of death and dying within the confines of a more manageable and rational context. His gradual exhumation of death eases the audience into pondering the subject in the absence of emotional stress. The essay transitions from the death of an elm tree to that of a mouse. This is followed by Thomas giving a significant amount of attention to a scientific explanation of death, and then finally the description of the near death experience of a human. This use of an academic appeal moves the audience to a comfort zone with the subject of death and circumvents the common response of avoidance. The reader is simultaneously desensitized to the gravity of subject matter and given permission to consider death and dying without the normal societal negative stigma associated with the subject.

The Disney Way of Death explains the unfortunate/sad reaction to the evident loss of a loved one (friends and family). The reactions associated were common characteristics that Americans experience when they encountered death- Invisibility, silence, dispassion, institutionalization and taboo. (Laderman, 2000)

Painful as it may be, such experiences brings home the finality of death. Something deep within us demands a confrontation with death. A last look assures us that the person we loved is, indeed, gone forever.” (108) Cable finishes his essay by asking, Tim if his job ever depressed him. Tim in reply says, “No it doesn’t, and I do what I can for people and take satisfaction in enabling relatives to see their loved ones as they were in real life.” (108) After reading this essay I feel as though sometimes we don’t understand death so therefore we do not talk much about it. By reading about what goes on after your loved one dies and is sent to these places to be prepared and ready for burial, it helps to understand why morticians and funeral directors do what they do. Knowing that someone enjoys taking the responsibility in providing that comfort in a sorrowful time makes me appreciate these people in these occupations a bit

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

Death is a controversial and sensitive subject. When discussing death, several questions come to mind about what happens in our afterlife, such as: where do you go and what do you see? Emily Dickinson is a poet who explores her curiosity of death and the afterlife through her creative writing ability. She displays different views on death by writing two contrasting poems: one of a softer side and another of a more ridged and scary side. When looking at dissimilar observations of death it can be seen how private and special it is; it is also understood that death is inevitable so coping with it can be taken in different ways. Emily Dickinson’s poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died” show both

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.

As I searched for an editorial to write on, the Op-Ed, “What Our Cells Teach Us About a ‘Natural’ Death,” immediately caught my eye. It may have been due to recent events that left death on my mind, or the alien combination of ‘natural’ and ‘death’. Nonetheless, Warraich’s piece snagged my attention. His article provides an interesting interpretation of death and human relations towards the sore subject, and gives a sound argument to support it.

1. Watch “The Undertaking” where this video examines a family who works in the funeral industry as a window into American feelings on death and dying. Then, respond to the following questions: How do funeral rituals describe by the Lynch family show our cultural values about death and dying? How would a sociologist create a research question to systematically evaluate the claims that the Lynch family makes about death and dying? The funeral industry arguably exists to serve micro-level relationships, consoling individuals who have just lost others central to their social existence. How is the funeral industry connected to institutions at the community and

People die everyday all over the world. In United States, people use hundreds of different words to describe death. Generally, people that grow up in the United States tend to view death as a taboo subject and are seen as a topic that should be kept behind closed doors and contracted with an individual or family. A belief system that so many individuals hold to be true has been shaped over the past century. In this culture, death has become something that is enormously feared and as a result, some people stop living their lives to his or her highest potential because of their fear of dying. The effect that death has pertains to individuals of all ages, gender and ethnicities. But unfortunately, how death is viewed it has become more and

Death is an inevitable event that will occur in a life. When, how, and where are the beginnings of questions posed about the topic, and the fear of not knowing this leads it to be a taboo subject in many discussions. Edgar Allan Poe defied this sense of taboo and wrote many works centering on the topic of death. It is Edgar Allan Poe’s discussion of death in his works that reveals the innate human perversion of the discussion of death. The reason for his discussion of death may find roots in his personal life.

Sandy Hingston offers many intriguing views of a funeral service from the conventional method of a service in a church and the burial of the deceased to a service that more so relates to a party than a funeral. “The Death of the Funeral Business” also raises many questions to be pondered by the reader. Hingston says, “A societal changeover from burial to cremation is momentous for our culture. It signals a cataclysmic shift in how we think about our bodies and ourselves” (38). The questions that arise from this quote are what parallels may Hingston be trying to draw between the trend in cremation and the way we “think about our bodies and ourselves?” Why may she be trying to develop these connections? These are the questions I will be focusing on and how they relate to what I think the purpose of the article is. I believe the purpose of this article is to show how our generation is changing the way we view death and how the use of technology has greatly impacted the way funerals are done.

The experiences one goes through in life can be hard for another to understand if they have never been through a similar experience. A challenge arises for writers to try to comprehend what the deceased experienced in life, and then to convey it so their readers can understand it as well. Even if immense description is provided, a reader might still not be able to imagine what a certain experience is like. For example, Matt Shepard was “viciously and repeatedly [beaten] with a .357 Magnum” (Loffreda 368). One can try and imagine how painful that would be, but unless it happens to the reader, he cannot know what it is like. Chris McCandless had to make his own fire, catch his food, sleep in the freezing cold, and starve. Most Americans have never had to gather their own wood and build a fire from scratch lighting it with a single match; they are used to just turning on the gas to their fireplace

Explore any primitive culture and you are likely to unearth taboos about death. Whether universal or not, there appears to be a propensity for not saying aloud those thing that will attract the attention of bad spirits, the evil eye, or the grim reaper. Looking away from evil is believed to keep one safe from harm. It is no wonder then, that the superstitious behavior of humans extends to death as if it were an unnatural event instead of a completely natural milestone albeit, the final one in a life. Doubtless, there are times when people could be more sensitive to the harbingers of death, as John Updike intimates in his poem Dog's Death. Fiction, fantasy, and film are chock-a-block full of images representing death. Even the beloved The Christmas Carole tells the story of a present in which Marley is dead and spirits escort Scrooge to a season in the future in which Scrooge is absent. So, too, Jean Rhys takes her character into the future. In analyzing, comparing, and contrasting these two literary works, we can see that the human tendency is not to acknowledge mortality, but rather to live with the incomprehensibility of death by ignoring it as fervently, studiously, and deliberately as we are able to, right up until the point when death is irrefutably imminent or has irrevocably occurred. This paper will analyze the content, form, and style of Dog's Death by John Updike and I Used to Live Here Once by Jean Rhys.

In “As I Lay Dying”, the story explores how, through the death and transport of Addie Bundren, characters with varying situations, personalities, and backgrounds deal with her loss. William Faulkner, the author of the novel, depicts each character with terrifyingly human coping mechanisms in the face of death. Some of the methods illustrated are: denial, existential thinking, depression, anxiety, denouncing of a higher power, and irrational thought and action. The reality is, this book will open up a discussion that is needed in high schools, and show young adults just how death can affect a person, “Because so many youth are impacted by loss, the need for both understanding and support from helping professionals is critical.” (Palmer).

Death is inescapable and shows no partiality or distinction. The author had his first encounter with death when he was four years old. About ten years later he would lose his mother to diabetes. Eighteen years later death struck again. He lost his dad to a battle with cancer over the course of four months. This happened two weeks prior to his wedding. Ten months later the author would deal with the deal of his mother-in-law.