Death plays a crucial role in both stories. The main characters are mourning the loss of someone they love. Both victims were killed tragically, which caused the main characters to develop feelings of anger and leads them both to plot a revenge. In “Memento Mori” there is a part of the story that reveals a gruesome fact in the death of Earl’s wife. The story talks about a moment in which Earl remembers, or is dreaming about, a man giving him a tattoo on his arm. While he is experiencing an excessive amount of pain, he glances at the tattoo and this uncovers the words “I raped and killed your wife” (Dubus 457). These words are enough reason to cause Earl feelings of rage and disgust, as not only he was grieving the loss of his beloved, but …show more content…
In “Memento Mori”, Earl suffers from amnesia. He experiences momentary lucid episodes in which he leaves clues and messages for himself, or in other words, for the part of himself who acknowledges a short present time. His condition causes him to feel the pain and grief of losing her as vividly as the moment in which it actually happened. He desperately wants to find her wife’s killer, but due to his mental condition, he lives stuck in the moment right before his wife’s death, and will never be able to forget the trauma of his wife desperately asking for help and the face of the man who murdered her. Earl lives in an ever-lasting cycle of grief. In “Killings”, the sudden event has left Matt and his wife Ruth with unimaginable pain and anxiety. In the journal article "Complicated Grief: An Evolving Theoretical Landscape" authors A. Elizabeth Crunk et al. state that “The loss of a loved one through death is a ubiquitous human experience that is associated with heightened psychological and physical distress on the part of the survivor (226).” Grief is a state of mind experienced by most people at some point of their lives. It is caused by loss and considered normal when experienced for a reasonable amount of time. It then becomes a problem when it leads to more harmful feelings, or when it is experienced for extremely long periods of time. For Earl and Matt, loosing someone they loved caused excessive distress. In the case
In the book Soldier's Heart By Gary Paulsen the main theme is how war changes a person.
In "Killings"by Andre Dubus and In the Bedroom, directed by Todd Field, the author and director decided to go different directions with the beginning of the story, keeping the plot of the story almost identical. However, beginning the story differently impacted both works in completely different aspects. Dubus begins the story at the funeral of Frank which leads the reader to draw conclusions about what happened before Frank's funeral, while Field’s gives more background to viewer which allows the reader to make more connections. Dubus begins the story at Frank’s funeral which leads the reader to become confused throughout the story. As the reader reads through the story, they have to be able to connect the dots to understand what is happening. While in the movie, Field’s begins with the backstory leading up to Frank’s death which makes it easier for the viewer to understand what is happening. The difference between the two stories impacts how the reader and viewer are able to interpret the story.
...heme of betrayal, although it does affect each plot, and it’s characters differently. Each protagonist deals with their situation differently, but in the end, death was the only escape from their problems. In “Stone Angel” Margaret Lawrence writes of a character, Hagar Shipley, who is stripped of her right to self-govern her life. She is forced into a home, and dies, still fighting the same battle for her independence. A similar story in that of “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, protagonist Willy Loman’s constant disloyalty towards his family destroys his relationships and in the end, leads him to suicide. Despite the major differences between the two pieces of literature, the similarities are what matter. Betrayal can do awful things to people. It can drive decision-making without critical thinking. It can ruin lives, just ask Willy Loman, or Hagar Shipley.
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.
It is common for those experiencing grief to deny the death altogether. Many people do this by avoiding situations and places that remind them of the deceased (Leming & Dickinson, 2016). However, by simply avoiding the topic of death and pain, the mourner only achieves temporary relief while in turn creating more permanent lasting agony (Rich, 2005). In this stage, mourners will begin to feel the full weight of the circumstance. Whether the death of a loved one was sudden or long-term, survivors will feel a full range of emotions, such as sadness, guilt, anger, frustration, hopelessness, or grief. While many of these emotions can cause serious suffering, it is important for the survivor to feel whatever emotions come up and deal with those feelings, rather than trying to suppress any
...montillado", Edgar Allen Poe tells us two very different stories with a similar theme. Poe seems quite comfortable writing about death in different situations, and recommends to us that death and revenge more often then not go hand in hand. This seems to be his most common theme in not only these two pieces, but in much of his work as well. He treats revenge more as a rule than exception, and that it is a normal part of life. Poe seems to write easier about death than life, and he addresses it with more dexterity and technique than most writers.
Individually, everyone has their own methods of dealing with situations and emotions regardless of any positive or negative connotation affixed to them. One prime example of this comes with grief. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying” suggests that there are five stages of mourning and grief that are universal and, at one point or another, experienced by people from all walks of life. These stages, in no particular order, are as follows: Denial and Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance. Each individual person works through these stages in different orders for varying levels of time and intensity, but most if not all are necessary to “move on.” In order for positive change to occur following a loss, one must come to terms with not only the event but also themselves.
The Death of Ivan Illych brings an excellent in-depth description of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s 5 cycles of grief theory. In the book, it shows how Ivan Illych goes through these cycles in their own individual way. The cycles that Kubler-Ross uses in her theory are: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. To get a better understanding of these cycles, this paper will describe each cycle and provide quotations that will help develop an idea of how someone going through these cycles may react.
Overcoming the grief that is felt after losing a loved one is a physically and mentally agonizing task. According to Dr. Christina Hibbert, a clinical psychologist who graduated from the California School of Professional Psychology, three main stages of grief include anger, depression and acceptance. Each one of these emotions can be seen in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and The Descendants (2011, Payne) as the artists explore the effects of grief and the different emotional responses that one can have due to the loss of a loved one. Additionally, in Ismail Kadare’s Broken April, the Berisha family feels the sufferance that is associated with unexpected death, as well as the various temperamental reactions that one will have after losing a loved one. Each of these works of art represent a powerful example of the stages that one will go through after feeling the intense sorrow that is connected with death, as well as the unavoidable effects of grief.
Thus, when people experience loss, their lives change. Just like Blanche, A delicate lady who couldn’t find her way in the challenging and intolerant world we live in after her husband died. As a result, she built her own world, where she lived all her illusions, but in the process, she ended up destroying all that really matters; her personality, relationships, and wellbeing. As Robert Louis Stevenson said “Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.”
"’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, / nor customary suits of solemn black / [ . . . ] but I have that within which passeth show; / these but the trappings and the suits of woe” (Shakespeare 1.2.76-73, 85-86) says Hamlet when confronted about his way of grieving over his father’s recent death. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a remarkable tale that is centered on the idea of death and grief. While death is a universal occurrence, meaning every person will deal with it, how we grieve after a loss is completely individual. To look at a formula of grief, most turn to the five stages of grief developed by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist, who studied the topic in her book On Death and Dying. This model consists of denial, anger, sadness, bargaining, and acceptance, although the duration and order of the stages are different for every person. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the stages of grief are evident in his sadness, anger, and finally acceptance.
Hawthorne and Poe were great romantic writers and displayed the true conviction of knowing life and death in many different measures. It was this aspect that separated them from each other and made them completely different from each other. With all of the works between the two writers The Birthmark, The fall of the House of User, Annabelle Lee, and Rappaccini’s daughter these four would be both simultaneously the same and different. What has been said about these two writers can only be matched by the over whelming view on what their cherished more than the other. With Hawthorne was truly the gift of life, even though his wife died and his children had horrible tragedies of death due to sickness. It was the sense that Hawthorne knew he had fought for the love of his wife even though she was deathly ill and that postponed their marriage. It made him think that no matter what you have in this world you must cherish the good in it. This was evident in his stories and like Rappaccini’s daughter where the loss of the daughter truly affected the father in ways unimaginable. Even though he cherished her in a different light than others would Rappaccini looked at his frail daughter just as Hawthorne did his wife with all the love in the world. Poe was not the same though when the audience read his work. It was as if you knew there was a dark cloud that lingered over his work to portray that ultimate sense of gloom. As in Poe’s life he had tried several time s to find love and when he truly found it when he married Virginia Poe. With Poe he did not take the view of cherishing his loved ones but in fact sought the darker side of life when his wife died from the illness. This was the point where he would ever be haunted by his wife trying to prove to her that he will always love her no matter what burden he may
Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s life, death was a frequent visitor to those he loved around him. When Poe was only 3 years old, his loving mother died of Tuberculosis. Because Poe’s father left when he was an infant, he was now an orphan and went to live with the Allan’s. His stepmother was very affectionate towards Edgar and was a very prominent figure in his life. However, years later she also died from Tuberculosis, leaving Poe lonely and forlorn. Also, later on, when Poe was 26, he married his cousin 13-year-old Virginia, whom he adored. But, his happiness did not last long, and Virginia also died of Tuberculosis, otherwise known as the Red Death, a few years later. After Virginia’s death, Poe turned to alcohol and became isolated and reckless. Due to Edgar Allan Poe’s loss of those he cared for throughout his life, Poe’s obsession with death is evident in his works of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, in which in all three death is used to produce guilt.
Everyone has or will experience a loss of a loved one sometime in their lives. It is all a part of the cycle of life and death. The ways each person copes with this loss may differ, but according to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s novel On Death and Dying, a person experiences several stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, finally, acceptance. There is no set time for a person to go through each stage because everyone experiences and copes with grief differently. However, everyone goes through the same general feelings of grief and loss. There are also sections in Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” that connect to the process of grieving: “On Pain,” “On Joy and Sorrow,” and “On Talking.” Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” reflects on Kübler-Ross’s model of the different stages of grief and loss.
“In Memoriam A. H. H.,” a large collection of poems written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, is an extended expression of the poet's grief for the loss of his beloved friend Arthur Hallam. The poem takes the speaker on a journey that describes an individual’s struggle through the stages of grief. In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross first proposed five stages of grief which include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance in her book titled, “On Death and Dying.” Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s universal stages of grief are expressed in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “In Memoriam A. H. H.” During the first stage, denial, the individual develops feelings of futility and defeat.