BOOK part III

Curtains

By Tom Jokinen

Précis

Institutions of Funerals homes come equipped with different policies trying to develop relationships with the living. There is a diverse range of beliefs to satisfy when offering care of the dead. Clients respect the dead according to the dominant social practices of their religious beliefs.

Quotes

"Anxiety gnaws, and we build our protective walls higher. We invent God." P. 177

"For most people cemeteries and funeral homes are invisible" P.209

"It just seemed right to celebrate life and death together" P. 230

Jokinen discusses throughout his book the different methods of caring for the dead. He discusses them with humor, and honesty. In the process of caring for the dead there are a various options and offered alternatives. People evaluate their options according to whats "popular" whats "heard of". On top of these options it is Jokinen brings up the factor of lasting tradition. It is in the last third of the book he discusses the dominant social practices from various religious points of view. One commonality between all religious practices is that the dead is respected. An interesting method of care was an arrangement for a person to be "channelled back into mother nature." The same general idea of a burial from a different view point. Here the body is not represented by a memorial with "a name on a stone." Even with so many methods it is hard to escape the pressures, skills, and packages of the funeral industry. The funeral industrial seems to take advantage of the fact that people dont settle for advantage out of guilt.

Peoples views of death can act as an indirect parallel to a persons view of pregnancy and birth. There are natural methods vs. drugs, hospital methods seen in both topic. A more direct similarities between the two topics are the two "E" words: embalming, epideral. Regarding the care of the dead people use embalming, a method that preserves, treats a body with injections of chemicals. Which takes away from the natural process of deposition and is used to cover up the raw look of death. in a similar circumstance an epideral to again a drug, one that is given to a women in labor to ease pain, take away from the natural process of child birth.