HW 50 - First Third of Care-of-the-Dead Book Post

I am reading "The American Way of Death" by Jessica Mitford.

To begin, I described a seminar where I had to give a speech about my book (which has already been revised to fit in with the changes which happened over time). I also had the chance to listen to the talks of other specialists which, I must say, were almost predictable.

This led me to introducing the approach of undertakers and morticians to the treatment of the deceased. Not surprisingly, avoiding negative connotations to their jobs, undertakers took on the name of funeral directors. They have been substituting other death and funeral-related terms with somewhat more "pleasing" names. Of course they would- they don't want to scare away their customers by throwing about words like corpse or coffin.

All this is connected to the business behind funerals. "Funeral directors" have started making up senseless laws, simply to draw money from their customers (or more likely their customers' families). They arrange caskets in a way which makes the buyer choose a price most convenient for the seller. Morticians always try affect the buyers' feelings and emotions when discussing costs, whether it is done by lighting and temperature or simply by using certain words.

The body itself actually plays an important role in a funeral as well. A big part of preparing the dead for their last farewell is their looks- nobody wants to look like they just got out of bed, especially at their own funeral. The first step to this is embalming, which includes sucking out all the blood and replacing it with embalming fluid. This is not the most pleasant thing to do or be the subject of but, well, you have to suffer to look beautiful. Specialized companies have been making clothes which are comfortable for both the deceased and the person who dresses them. This clothing includes even lingerie, just in case a funeral guest decides to undress the honorary guest. 

Here are quotes I enjoyed in the first third of the book:

"A person can drive up to an expensive restaurant in a Cadillac and can order, rather than the $40 dinner, a $2 cup of tea and he will be served. It is unlikely that the proprietor will point to his elegant furnishings and staff and demand that the Cadillac owner order something more commensurate with his ability to pay so as to help defray the overhead of the restaurant" (p. 32.)

"I replied that since I spend a lot of time in motels where the only reading matter supplied was a Bible, I was familiar with the story […] but if you read further, it seems he didn't stay there all that long. I mean he was up and out in three days." (p. 37)

I noticed that "The American Way of Death" is somewhat similar to "Born in the USA" which i read in the last unit. This may be because the authors of both books provided basic information and added anecdotes afterwards to support their claims. Jessica Mitford shows the absurd of the death industry. In the first third of the book, she controversially discusses issues encountered by families organizing a funeral. I realized that selling coffins is actually approached the same as selling regular everyday products. Supermarkets are also arranged in a way to make the customers buy what the sellers want to sell, not particularly what the buyer needs. This is not surprising because, I suspect, a casket is actually just a product which is produced and needs to be sold for a convenient price. I found the description of embalming very interesting. The author compares it to a regular surgical operation. I found out that many physical alterations need to be made to the corpse in order to make it visually pleasing. These changes include sucking all the blood out, stretching and tightening the skin or even cutting flesh in various places.

Despite the sad and depressing topic, I think it will teach me a lot of interesting facts about death which I might need in the future.