HW 51 - Second Third of COTD Book

The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford

Precis: As the death rise, as they should with an ever expanding population, people are beginning to see the promise of profit in an industry that will always exist, not matter the economic climate. Because these people run an industry where they can buy land for cheap and instead of having to break it into 4 50 ft by 100 ft lots, they can break it into a thousand 6 ft by 8 ft lots where they don't have to pay any taxes for the land and they can make their own rules. These grave yards sell the plaques that you can memorialize the dead with, they sell flowers and wreaths. With cremation rates on the rise they have found ways to make money off of that too with new urn options, and spaces you can buy to keep your loved ones urns in. It has become a market to make money.

Quotes:

• "Concept cites the case of a town with a population of less than 750 where a successful 288-crypt mausoleum has been established' (pg 86)
• "He cited a case in which several siblings each bough individual urns to hold a portion of mom's ashes: "There was something of a power struggle to see who would purchase the nicest urn." (pg 116)
• "It is depressing to think of them digging and poking about in our new crop of Forest Lawns, the shouts of discovery as they come upon the mass-produced granite horrors, the repetitive flat bronze markers, and under the ground, the stamped out metal casket shells resembling nothing so much as those bronzed and silver souvenirs for sale at airport gift shops." (pg 139)
• "The special public relations problem that dogs the undertaker has existed for all time, arising out of the very nature of his occupation. It is uphill work to present it attractively, but he tries, perhaps too hard." (pg 150)
• Although the major consolidators have in the past shown a preference for high-end sales and have invested money to better attract high-end sales and have invested money to better attract high-end consumers by improving the appearance of the physical plant, it should by no means be assumes that the low-end public is being neglected. Low-end mortuaries are being acquired, in some cases to close them down and thereby reduce competition." (pg 173)

Analysis: What i have noticed from reading this book is that as a population, we will do almost anything to make money, and when we are the only people in a certain business, we will do all that we can to make the most money off of the public. I found it sadly funny how people can find loopholes in the laws to turn an acre of land in to a graveyard, and instead of seeing the final resting places of scores of people, they see dollar signs. They have taken over every aspect of the industry. From clothes and shoes to caskets and urns, and flowers and wreaths to gravestones and plaques. I think the point that Jessica Mitford is trying to make with this book is that the American way of death is a capitalist way of death. As I read about the industries control of every aspect of death, I couldn't help but think to myself what would happen if people really did treat death as a time of peace and respect? Would it be a beautiful celebration or gray and dreary because there was no monitory incentive?