“The Management of Grief” is a short story written by Bharati Mukherjee. In the story, Mukherjee narrates how the main character, Shaila Bhave, and her friend, Kusum, manage their grief after they realized their husbands and children had died in an Indian Plane Crash. For instance, both Shaila and Kusum undergo the stages of rejection, depression, acceptance, and reconstruction when they cope with the loss of their loved ones. However, they make a distinct choice for reconstructing their lives after they accepted the fact their husbands and children had died. Kusum chooses to returns to India and live in a life of mourning. On the contrary, Shaila decides to return to Canada because she has vision of her husband, who demands her to “finish …show more content…
alone what we [Shaila and her husband] started together” (Mukherjee 440). From this vision, Shaila sells the house that she bought with his husband and invests in a charity. At the end, readers will realize Shaila has moved in life as she leaves “the package on a park bench and started walking” (Murkherjee 445). Here, the dropping of the package is one of the major symbolisms in the story as it symbolizes Shalia’s withdrawal of the past and she is ready to start her new life with hope. The dropping of the package is a significant symbolism in “The Management of Grief” because it symbolizes Shalia’s letting go of the past and her attachment to her husband and sons.
Although the author does not mention what is in the package, one can surmise that the package has a special meaning to Shaila. This is because earlier in the story, readers know Shalia has brought her eldest son’s pocket calculator, her youngest son’s half- painted model B-52, and a poem for her husband when she travels to Ireland to identify their bodies. The reason why Shaila brings these items to Ireland is because she believes her husband and sons would “want them on their island” (Mukherjee 438). From the items that Shaila deposits in the ocean for her family, one can tell the items contain Shalia’s love to her family and it is her method of memory them. At one point, the author also depicts a scene where Shalia said, “My suitcase in the hotel is packed heavy with dry clothes for my boy” (Mukherjee 439). From this quote, readers will realize Shalia does not want to admit her husband and sons had died in the plane crash because she holds the belief that they are still surviving. Therefore, the package that Shalia leaves on a park bench symbolizes her family’s belongings, which she treasures greatly. Yet, leaving it on the park bench means she can finally move on to the future and walk away from the past. Shalia finally understands if her husband and sons are alive, they will not want to see
her stuck in the past as they tells her to “Go, be brave” (Mukherjee 444). In conclusion, “The Management of Grief” reveals an important message to the readers. It clearly indicates a person should not feel grief for a long time despite he or she loses his or her loved ones recently. This is because life continues even a person’s loved ones pass away. Thus, Shaila’s recovery from the loss of her family proves that she is very successful in coping her grief.
I have had the privilege to walk alongside many people on their grief journeys. Throughout my thirty years of assisting others, I have developed a model of grief processing I call the Berafian Model. This model allows me an opportunity to work with various ages as well as cultural backgrounds.
When it comes to required academic reading, I can be a rather fussy reviewer. After all, I don’t get to choose the books that I read – they’re required. However, Life after Loss is a purposeful and very well thought-out book. Author Bob Deits paints a picture of grief in a very honest, if not blunt, manner that seldom repeats itself. The anecdotes used (even if he used the annoying tactic of making them up) were engaging and inspiring. Each chapter was concise, uncluttered, and easy to read, and bullet points were used sparingly and to good effect. In this soup to nuts introduction to the grief process, the physical, emotional, and relationship elements of this difficult topic were presented in a strength based and compassionate way.
At some point in everybody’s life they feel the sorrow and anguish of losing somebody. The the stories “Nashville Gone to Ashes” and “When It’s Human Instead of When It’s Dog”, both a widow and widower are not able to move on with their life after the loss of their loved one. In both cases the mister and the widow both come to the conclusion that their significant other is not coming back leading them to find ways to cope with their deaths, move on and function the best they can with their lives.
Alexander Hamilton was distraught over the death of his eldest son. Chernow describes Hamilton at his son’s funeral, needing to be held up by family and friends due to his extreme distress. Writing to many of his friends, Hamilton spoke of the despair he felt regarding the loss of his son. After Philip Hamilton’s death, Robert Troup mentioned “never did I see a man so completely overwhelmed with grief as Hamilton has been.” The death of Philip Hamilton was clearly a devastating event that brought grief to Alexander Hamilton’s life.
Grieving, this word could bring up a millions thoughts, and a whole bunch of memories for one person. Nobody likes to think about the end stage of life, or talking about the passing of a beloved family member, friend, or acquaintance. That this life that we breathe and live everyday will eventually come to an end.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Often when a person suffers through a tragic loss of a loved one in his or her life they never fully recover to move on. Death is one of hardest experiences a person in life ever goes through. Only the strong minded people are the ones that are able to move on from it whereas the weak ones never recover from the loss of a loved one. In the novel The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks, character Billy Ansel – having lost his family serves as the best example of brokenness after experiencing death. Whether it is turning to substance abuse, using his memory to escape reality or using Risa Walker as a sexual escape, Billy Ansel never fully recovers from the death of his twins and his wife. This close analysis of Billy’s struggle with death becomes an important lesson for all readers. When dealing with tragedies humans believe they have the moral strength to handle them and move on by themselves but, what they do not realize is that they need someone by their side to help them overcome death. Using unhealthy coping mechanism only leads to life full of grief and depression.
Many experts agree that there are different stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance are stages that many grief-stricken people must endure to manage life after a traumatic death. The story, “The Fly,” by Katherine Mansfield, has only a few characters in it, but those few characters show the different stages of grief. The characters illustrate how different the grieving process is when the circumstances of the deaths are the same. Mr. Woodfield is in the stage of depression, and he may have turned to harmful habits after his son’s death.
What do the overwhelming feelings of intense anger with the world, denial, potentially paralyzing fear and anxiety about what is to come have in common? They are all potential symptoms that an individual can battle when faced with a tragedy. In this case, my client, Bruce Wayne, has just recently dealt with the trauma of witnessing his parents being murdered in cold blood. Undoubtedly, even though the majority of people cannot begin to fathom what Bruce is going through, any person can point to this as a horrid tragedy that could have dire impacts on any adult, let alone a young child. For this reason, it is imperative that my client undergoes a process of effective counseling, and is treated with warmness, acceptance and empathy. As this tragedy can possibly be giving Bruce a complex myriad of emotions and struggles, the counseling process should be multifaceted for him. Grief counseling, along with an emphasis on positivity, would be a smart approach to this situation, and because Bruce both demonstrates high intelligence and shows great interest in intellectual matters, existential counseling could possibly be a highly effective option to use
Since July 2009, my personal life consisted of taking care of my ill husband. My husband was my best friend and we did everything together. Last year when he passed a huge gap was left in my life. Besides dealing with my grief, I am working to build a life without him. However, I am relying on God to guide me through the grief and help me rebuild my life. Thankfully, through this program I have an opportunity to grow closer to God while I build my life for the future.
dealt with and the individual moves on. Susan Philips and Lisa Carver explored this grieving