Summary Of On Natural Death By Lewis Thomas

Meaning and significance of death in the light of the Christian narrative is addressed and shows a deep understanding, including a detailed description and many examples.

From start to finish, Death has seen both horrors and wonders. However, in his profession, Death mainly witnesses the horrific parts of life, and he needs the reader to know that he is not immune to the suffering he

Death is the most inevitable and unknown aspect of life. It is unescapable, and by most of today’s population, it is feared in the utmost regard. Our materialistic views and constant desertion of religious ideals has forced our society to view death as an ultimate end. Socrates and St. Augustine’s views on death differ from many views on the subject in 2017, however, for their time, these men had the power to influence a plethora of individuals with their theories. For Socrates, death should never be feared and should be considered a blessing if our souls were to ascend to heaven, or death could be an extensive slumber without any dreaming whatsoever. With

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.

Death is the final stage of an organism’s life. Death can come at anytime and by any means, whether it be severe injury or natural causes. However, death is always an inevitability that comes to every living being on Earth, and is an unavoidable fate. “The Masque of The Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson both present these realities of death to the reader, but by different messages and occasionally methods. Poe focuses on the aspect of time, while Jackson moulds death around luck.

Everybody processes the ideas of death and dying differently. On pp.42-44, Christopher discusses his rabbit’s death, his mother’s death, and the idea of dying.

Death is one of the most avoided topics because of the finality that comes with it and the fear of the unknown after death. However, there are quite a number of authors such as AtulGawande, Elisabeth Kubler-ross and Ira Byock who have attempted to go ahead and deal with death as a topic and other connected topics.Each of these authors have delved into one of the most revered topics that is death including related topics that come with it such as the dying process itself. Ira Byock’s Dying well: Peace and possibilities at the end of life is a book that looks at the moment prior to death when an individual is terminally sick and is at the point of death. A

Death is final, sudden and yet eternal it yawns before and behind us all. In “The Death of

Corr, C. A., Corr, D. M., & Bordere, T. C. (2013). Death & dying, life & living. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

By biological logic, we human beings will face death sooner or later in our life and death has its very own ways to approach us - a sudden deadly strike, a critical sickness, a tragic accident, a prolonged endurance of brutal treatment, or just an aging biological end. To deal with the prospect of death come different passive or active reactions; some may be scared and anxious to see death, some try to run away from it, and some by their own choice make death come faster. But Viktor Frankl, through his work Man’s Search for Meaning, and Bryan Doyle; in his essay “His Last Game” show us choices to confront the death, bring it to our deepest feelings, meaningful satisfaction. To me, the spirit of the prisoners at deadly concentration camps, Frankl’s Logotherapy theory of “. . . striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” (99), as well as the calmness of Doyle’s brother on his last ride, like an awaken bell, remind us of how precious life is, how we should find the significance in every act of living, determine to live a meaningful life at any circumstances; hence, when death comes, we can accept it without anxiety nor regrets.

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.

87 Thomas Nagel starts his gathering of articles with a most interesting discussion about death. Death being a standout amongst the most clearly imperative subjects of consideration, Nagel takes an intriguing approach as he tries to define the truth as to whether death is or is not a damage for that single person. He starts by taking a gander at the very common perspectives of death that are held by a great many people in the world, and lets us know that he will talk of death as the "Unequivocal and permanent end to our existence" and looks at the actual nature of death itself. The first view that Nagel chooses to talk about is the perspective that death is awful for us on the grounds that it denies us of more life.Nagel gives an example of death and being in a coma before dying. Looking now at what is not good about death rather than what is great about life, Nagel shows a few evident thoughts in regards to this point. So death is awful in light of the fact that it denies us of these encounters, not on account of the genuine condition of death is terrible for us. The second issue is that which needs to do with who the subject of mischief brought on by death is, and when

Although the author and I agree that the life expectancy has greatly increased in the past 1000 years and medicine has changed, our old ways of viewing death have not. The author discusses how death is perceived, in which she concludes, “Therefore death in itself is associated with a bad act, a frightening happening, something that in itself calls for retribution and punishment”(220). Kubler-Ross analyzed how people viewed death and determined that it is never depicted positively in most circumstances. She felt people never found peace with death itself, typically finding something to blame to make death seem

Death is inevitable. At a point in everyone’s lives they will face death, whether it’s falling face first into it or witnessing it. The power of death changes a person, especially the power surrounding the death of a loved one. In this excerpt from ‘The Crossing’, by author Cormac McCarthy, he presents the reader with an anonymous man who is dealing with the death of a wolf, which the reader can only assume was dear to the character, which explains his beleaguered disposition. The man carries the wolf's bloodied body through the forest terrain in search of a proper place for burial. In searching for a burial space he openly shows his emotions for the wolf. In this excerpt, the author uses imagery, paradox, and diction to convey the profound

As a child, I was always a thinker, never quick to believe what others say. When my parents reminded me of my Jewish faith, I was always skeptical as to why I had to blindly follow something. As I got older, bigger and even more morbid questions came to mind. The thoughts of death and the concept of it always made me curious, especially with the news of one of my closest teacher’s diagnosis of ALS. Since Mr. Coleman had to retire due to the disease taking over, I often had talks with him of what he expected.