The non-fiction book, A Grief Observed, by C.S. Lewis was written in 1961 in a first-person point of view. It was a reflection of his own experience of bereavement from the loss of his wife and the adversity he dealt with during his hardship. C.S. Lewis's purpose of writing this book was to express his thoughts and feelings during his grieving period and to educate others of possible things that may occur in someone's mind after the loss of a loved one. It reveals how Lewis was affected by bereavement and what it can do to a person. This book really emphasizes how an individual's thoughts on different things can completely change when coping with a loss and how many questions slowly start to be considered in one's head. The intended audience …show more content…
It was as if his mind was always on the go. "The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing" (Lewis,1961, p.3). Not only did Lewis endure cognitive and emotional changes, but also physical changes. "Eating in general would be different, every day, at every meal. It is like that. The act of living is different all through. Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything" (Lewis, 1961, …show more content…
He married his wife, H., knowing that she was going to eventually die from cancer. He was able to anticipate it and grieve before, although he still struggled with grief after his loss. Lewis also experienced a basic component of grief work, which we also conversed about in chapter nine (Personal Communication, MacDougall, October 17). That is, repeatedly going over the loss experience in one's mind. "She died. She is dead. Is the word so difficult to learn? (Lewis, 1961, pg.15). C.S Lewis had a very hard time believing that his wife was gone, which caused him to constantly think about the situation to help him find some realization. His denial of it all made him think about the situation all the time, other than when he was at work or in conversation with
Lewis showed signs of strange behavior that lead to his suicide. He showed these because he was depressed, he had depressive tendencies. When you are depressed you aren’t happy. He was also going through personal problems. Lewis suffered from Paresis. Paresis is a condition of muscular weakness caused by nerve damage or disease; partial paralysis. Paresis made him have impaired mental function. He couldn’t think straight. It may have caused Lewis to have a mental break down . That caused Lewis to be depressed. Depression has an emotion toll on your life. Depression brings many strange and questionable behaviors. When you have problems and sickness your dealing with on your mind you want to escape it all. You don’t want to deal with it. Lewis couldn’t handle all that was
John L. Lewis was born on the 2nd of February in 1880 in Lucas, Iowa and he’s was born in to a family of immigrant welch parents which worked in coal mining and trade unionism. By the age of 15 John began working in coal mining and 2 years later he married his wife Myrta Bell, she influenced him to read many things which would later come in to his aid in his public speeches as flowery phrases, Shakespearean quotations, and mixed metaphors. He soon move to souther...
The characters in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones are faced with the difficult task of overcoming the loss of Susie, their daughter and sister. Jack, Abigail, Buckley, and Lindsey each deal with the loss differently. However, it is Susie who has the most difficulty accepting the loss of her own life. Several psychologists separate the grieving process into two main categories: intuitive and instrumental grievers. Intuitive grievers communicate their emotional distress and “experience, express, and adapt to grief on a very affective level” (Doka, par. 27). Instrumental grievers focus their attention towards an activity, whether it is into work or into a hobby, usually relating to the loss (Doka par. 28). Although each character deals with their grief differently, there is one common denominator: the reaction of one affects all.
Breavement is handeled differently in different generations. Weather it is a kid that has a terminal illness or an elderly person who is diagnosed with a terminal illness, each breave differently. Breavement deals with not just someone clsoe dying but, someone themselvs who is diagnosed with a life threatening illness.
The book, A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis, (1961), was written from his journal he kept after the death Lewis’s wife, Joy Davidman in 1960. Lewis was a bachelor for almost 58 years before he married Joy Davidman Greshman in March of 1959. His wife had been diagnosed with cancer before he met her, however, they fell in love and spent their short time together before cancer took her life in 1960. A Grief Observed is C. S. Lewis’s chronicles of his personal observations and struggles that Lewis went through with the loss of his beloved wife. Below are some questions for added discussion and thought about the book.
In his poem entitled “Grief”, Williams accurately describes his grief at the loss of a loved one. In Part One, the feeling is heavy and overwhelming. The speaker, (most likely Williams), recalls days of sitting bedside with a slow-dying love. Some writers waste time in getting to the heart of the poem, but Williams wastes none. In the first line, he leaves his readers with no question as to what is going on in the poem. He writes, “Gone now, after the days of desperate, unconscious gasping, the reflexive / staying alive,” (29). All readers are instantaneously reminded of an experience with watching a loved one pass slowly, perhaps painfully.
In my case study, I will be talking about a personal experience with a family I know very well. I will not be using their actual names; I’ll be using these names instead: the daughter, Cheyenne, the father, Jim, and the mother Lucy.
Imagine that the person you love most in the world dies. How would you cope with the loss? Death and grieving is an agonizing and inevitable part of life. No one is immune from death’s insidious and frigid grip. Individuals vary in their emotional reactions to loss. There is no right or wrong way to grieve (Huffman, 2012, p.183), it is a melancholy ordeal, but a necessary one (Johnson, 2007). In the following: the five stages of grief, the symptoms of grief, coping with grief, and unusual customs of mourning with particular emphasis on mourning at its most extravagant, during the Victorian era, will all be discussed in this essay (Smith, 2014).
In his early life, there were many factors that began to influence his desire to write. Lewis was born on November 29, 1898. His father, Albert Lewis, was a solicitor. . His mother, Flora August Lewis, was a clergyman’s daughter. Both of his parents loved literature, therefore his home was always filled with books. He grew up in Belfast, located in Northern Ireland. Lewis was raised by his father, after his mother died from cancer when he was a child. Lewis loved animals, and began to develop a great appreciation of nature. Even though he was a child, he began questioning the world and its limits. One of the influences that formed his imagination was the countryside and landscape in Ireland. In 1918, Lewis was sent to boarding school in Watford, England. He did not have a very pleasant experience in school, and often struggled with grammar. However, this changed once he began to be privately tutored. Lewis received a scholarship to Oxford in 1916. Lewis fell in loved with Oxford. He admired the beautiful architecture, culture, and education. On June 8, 1917, Lewis enlisted in the British army. As he got older, Lewis became...
...or You, Lewis was guided down the path to defining love for himself through meditation and discipline. His teachers helped him discover what really mattered to him, and contributed to his conclusion of peace. The characters of these stories all presented with a defined goal, and through the direction of those around them, they were able to find peace through the concept of love and the use of meditation.
The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science Tells Us about Life after Loss, written by George A. Bonanno, illustrates the ways in which different people deal with loss in different ways and even so, most of us are resilient to loss. Death is an inevitable phase every person must face. Throughout one’s life, everybody is destined to confront the pain of death in his or her lifetime. But how do we cope? Is there a “correct” or “normal” way, or length of time we are supposed to use, to recover after a major loss? Bonanno delves into the ways in which we deal with grief and loss that are contrary to what people generally presume. We may be surprised, even hurt, by a loss, but we still manage to pull ourselves back together and move on. One of the recurring arguments made in The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science Tells Us about Life after Loss is that resilience after loss is real, prevailing, and enduring. Bonanno is able to provide much compelling evidence to show the different patterns or trajectories of grief reactions across time shown by bereaved people. He also explains thoroughly how grief is not work by elucidating the ways emotions work to help us deal with demanding environments. Bonanno is successful in allowing the readers to be conscious of what people are grieving after a major loss – they don’t grieve facts, they grieve what they remember. In addition, Bonanno explains how death elicits both terror and curiosity to help his readers conceptualize death. Bonanno essentially articulates that resilience is both genuine and lasting because it is in our human capacity to thrive in the face of adversity.
In C.S. Lewis’ essays Learning in War Time and On Living in an Atomic Age there is a reoccurring theme. The theme displayed in both essays was not to be distracted in times of crisis and continue living. Lewis believes one must work through the threats faced in this world. Working and living through these times consists of one acting to the fullest humanistic potential. The humanistic acts Lewis believes one should abide by are to enjoy life, to seek knowledge, to question everything, and discover the power of the “Creator,” God. Following the route mapped out by God will lead us to a fulfilling life ending when He is ready for us in His kingdom. God’s Divine Providence is what upholds our natural world. One must ignore the threats of life and focus on God’s Divine Providence.
Bereavement is facing the loss of a loved one. Death can be of natural or medical cause. The loss of a dear one causes a lot of grief; grieving is more psychological as it involves different types of feelings (Madison). Grieving over someone cannot be limited to a time frame; it differs for each person as reactions to grief varies considerably. The process of grief consists of several facets namely: emotional, physical, cognitive and behavioral (Barbato & Irwin, 1992; Worden, 1991; Worden, 2009).
Lewis, who was a worrying personality by nature, felt very uncomfortable towards the sudden rapid rhythm of life. David Huxley says in his book that " Carroll always wore gloves, as he believed that this was a hygienic habit" (77). Lewis's worries reached his social standing, he felt threatened by the tremendous economic changes: he was afraid of role alteration in life (Hudson 21). Lewis believed that, at any time people of a lower class than him might shift to a higher class then his, resulting the loss of his prestigious social position. It is surprising to mention that Lewis's religious background cont...
Lewis started to write literature works when he was young. He led up to his climax after writing Through the Looking Glass and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland because for these books, he became well known over time. Lewis really started to write when he was 13. At this age in 1845, he contributed poems and drawings to the family magazine titled Useful and Instructive Poetry. Lewis attended Richmond Grammar School at the time. He established himself as a freelance humorist in 1854 and contributed poems as well as stories to the Oxonian Advertiser and the Whitby Gazette. On July 4, 1862, Lewis made a boating excursion up the Isis to Godstow in the company of Robinson Duckworth and the three Lid...