This essay made me squeamish primarily because of the disgustingly detailed description of the entire process, however, the concept of embalming itself made me uncomfortable as well. While Mitford outlined at length the painstaking process of preparing a body after death each process was disconcertingly fake and unnatural. The concept of open casket allows the deceased's family and loved ones to say a final goodbye, however, natural process make this unreasonable and unpalatable in the real world. No one wants to see a rotting corpse. But as Mitford implies and I felt while reading the essay, the most disconcerting part is that this is all a ruse, a ritual create to ignore death even at a funeral. Mitford notes that the funeral director is content in making "the funeral a real pleasure for everybody concerned." Like euphemisms which skirt the issue of death and mortality, embalming perpetuates the concept that ignorance is bliss. Sure Aunt Helen "passed away" last week but she still looks vital and peaceful in the casket. Even the term casket seems less threatening, more bearable than "coffin."
I think that embalming may be a veritable coping method for some people and though I would personally not want my body or any of my loved one's bodies embalmed, I respect other peoples' desires to use to process. Some may argue that it allows for the people present at the service to appreciate the person as they were in life and to say a final goodbye. And while this is a possibility, to me the injections and reconstructions, perfumes and make up, while necessary, defeat the purpose. I would personally rather see my loved one in my mind as they were in life, lively, vital and real, not a reconstruction of a person lying in a coffin. It may be everyone's choice but open casket ceremonies to me are unnatural and evasive.
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