Character Analysis Of Deirdre Sullivan's Always Go To The Funeral

879 Words2 Pages

A freelance attorney in Brooklyn, Deirdre Sullivan, who wrote the essay “Always Go to the Funeral” talked about a valuable lesson that she learned from her father. Her father told her even simple gestures of kindness when it is inconvenient for you may have a outstanding or massive effect on someone else.In her essay, Sullivan says that, ‘Always Go to the Funeral’ means that she should always do the right thing even when she doesn’t want to, “I‟m talking about those things that represent only inconveniences to me, but the world to the other guy”(Sullivan 236 2006). When she was sixteen she says she was almost “forced” into going to her old fifth-grade math teacher's funeral. She was only only kid there, and when she went to the condolence line she was unchaperoned. After giving her condolences, is when she …show more content…

The author talking about a funeral had a very long lasting affect on me. The author purpose was to make me understand that I should always do the right thing. Using his example of her old teacher, and how she did not want to go, but in the end he realized doing the right thing makes others happy. There were also instances of her saying that she did not want to make her condolences or go to the funeral in general, and I feel anybody can relate to that instance. If I ever have a love one pass away, I hope that all my friends and everybody who knew they would come to the funeral because it truly does mean the world to the family that is going through this.
In the final analysis, I still believe that the essay “Always Go to the Funeral” has a better argument. “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” asked way to much from the readers. The author says that everything I have left over after necessities should be donated, which leaves me with nothing to enjoy myself. The other essay was more relatable for me and anybody else reading. It is always and honor to have friends, celebrate birthdays, and be their in

Show More
Related

  • Summary: Final Gifts By Maggie Callanan And Patricia Kelly

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    I always looked at death as such a sad thing that is eventually going to occur to everyone. However, after reading this book, it made me realize death can actually be a beautiful thing. Death allows a person to go to a next life, one where they will be loved and others will be there for them. It was interesting to be able to read about stories that these hospice care workers witnessed themselves. I have experienced a few deaths within my life and I never coped with them very well. After reading this book, I honestly believe I will be able to look at the positive side of death and be able to deal with my emotions better. I can also help others surrounding me deal with a death that they are experiencing. This book was filled with information that I loved learning. For example, I never knew that a dying person can choose a time to die. The thought of this never occurred to me before. I always thought that when it was someone’s time to go, they had no choice. But, a dying person can “put off” passing on until they see a certain person or event that has great significance in their life. Nevertheless, there are still people who will wait to die until they’re all alone in the room. This book makes you think of real life situations and think what you would do in them. Taken as a whole, it was a very in depth book that changes the way you would naturally perceive

    Read More

  • Scrooge's Transformation in Dickens' A Christmas Carol

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."

    Read More

  • Relationships in James Agee's A Death in the Family

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Spending time with each other, having strong morals and giving a lot of love are a few of the things that give families hope and happiness. In the novel A Death in the Family (1938) by James Agee, a family has to use these advantages in order to make it through a very difficult time. During the middle of one night in 1915, the husband, Jay, and his wife, Mary, receive a phone call saying that Jay's father is dying. Ralph, the person who called, is Jay's brother, and he happens to be drunk. Jay doesn't know if he can trust Ralph in saying that their father is dying, but he doesn't want to take the chance of never seeing his father again, so he decides to go see his father. He kisses his wife goodbye and tells her he might be back for dinner the next day, but not to wait up for him. Dinner comes and goes, but he never arrives. That night, Mary gets awakened by a caller saying that Jay has been in a serious auto accident. She later finds out that he died. The rest of the novel is about Mary and her family's reactions to the death. This experience for Mary and her family is something that changes their lives forever, but it doesn't ruin them. If someone has a close person to them decease, he or she feel as if they cannot go on, but because of the close family ties that Mary, Jay, and their children shared, they know that they will be able to continue on after Jays death.

    Read More

  • Tomorrow When The War Began Essay

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    The presence of death in the novel looms over the characters, making each of them reflect on the

    Read More

  • Creative Writing: A Parent's Funeral

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    The funeral was supposed to be a family affair. She had not wanted to invite so many people, most of them strangers to her, to be there at the moment she said goodbye. Yet, she was not the only person who had a right to his last moments above the earth, it seemed. Everyone, from the family who knew nothing of the anguish he had suffered in his last years, to the colleagues who saw him every day but hadn’t actually seen him, to the long-lost friends and passing acquaintances who were surprised to find that he was married, let alone dead, wanted to have a last chance to gaze upon him in his open coffin and say goodbye.

    Read More

  • The Author's Character in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... job with this story and I believe any reader can find some one or something in the story they can relate to and can apply the story to their every day life. The story has many lessons and morals that can be learned but adds a humorous twist to things. So I leave with this final though, in the words of Wendell Berry, “Practice Resurrection!”

    Read More

  • The Reflection Of Empathy, By Stephen Dunn

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though most have a desire to leave earth and enter eternal life peacefully, without any sorrow, the departure of a loved one can be despondent. Previously in 2011, my grandfather passed away due to heart failure. It was an arduous battle, not only for my grandfather, but also for the close knit family surrounding him. His battle with heart failure enabled me to create unforgettable memories with him, even in his final days. Laughing together, playing together and learning significant values about life together made me grow to become a more mature and wise person. Therefore, my personal experience is entwined with empathy because the death of my grandfather has made me realize how dismal it is to lose someone important. It also interplays with self-interest because I have grown as an individual to deal with the ache that is attached to losing a family member. It has helped me to realize how beautiful the gift of life is. Stephen Dunn, the poet behind Empathy and my story are connected because they both involve the feeling of empathy for others and the self-interest of an individual. They help us to grow and learn about ourselves and the emotions of

    Read More

  • Morrie Rhetorical Analysis

    1419 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paragraph has Morrie teaching on how to accept death and how it’s as important as living. Morrie is afraid of his inevitable death but he knows he has to accept it because it will come and there is also something about death that makes Morrie feel bad for other people like the when he is watching the news and sees people that are across

    Read More

  • The Grieving Process Analysis

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    When death has taken someone from your life, you think of everything you said to them, your last words, memories, and the talks that happened. During this assignment, one will see the grieving process from me about a tenant that I took care of, and the impact this lady’s passing away, left me. Polan and Taylor (2015) says “Loss challenges the person’s priorities and importance of relationships.” (pg 226) When an individual loses someone that you see everyday and take care of, this effects you because, you build a relationship and get to know each other on a personal level. When my tenant was passing away it was painful. I didn’t know what to feel when I seen what was happening and knew what was taking place.

    Read More

  • AP Book Review

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion this book had a big effect on its readers, and therefore accomplished the purpose of being written. It really made me think about the purpose of life and how to be happy in life. Overall it affected my personal beliefs greatly and made me appreciate what I have. By reading the teachings of a dying, wise, old man, trying to teach a young man how to be happy in life, you can learn a lot about how to do just that. Be happy.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Eating By Al Ghazali

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ke part in a funeral, three miles to accept an invitation and four miles to visit a brother in God.” Precedence was given to accept an invitation and paying a visit because through these one fulfils the right of the living, who are more deserving than the dead.

    Read More

  • A Brief Biography Of Emily Dickinson

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...poem because when I read it, I suddenly became interested. The thought of the speaker going through stages of a breakdown and referring to it as a “funeral’ was quite unique. The speaker didn’t really know and experience insanity till then. I learned that when you’re having a rough time and having trouble to figure out the difficult events, you can still fix the causes of what’s going on. The poem helps me understand what it’s like to be at that point in your life, if that happens.

    Read More

  • Death Denied

    871 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...o keep our eyes from anything resembling death at a funeral of all places. Our society has shifted from family members cleaning dead bodies on their kitchen tables and having open caskets, to some stranger cleaning our dead relative and never seeing the body of the dead at the funeral. We now mourn in private and don’t want others to know the hurt of such a tragedy. This is a huge pendulum swing from the ancient Greeks who would pull out their hair and shave their heads as a sign of mourning. Luckily, sociologists are seeing the pendulum begin to swing back to public mourning.

    Read More

  • Death: Finality or Everlasting Life

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    The loss of a loved one is an emotional and personal experience, and everyone grieves in their own way. Before the healing process can begin, the deceased must be laid to rest and this is usually accomplished with a funeral service. Many people choose a piece to be read at these ceremonies, such as W.H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues” and Mary Elizabeth Frye’s “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep.” It is quite thought-provoking to compare the poems, since the subject matter is the same, however each of these works views death from a different perspective, one negative and the other positive.

    Read More

  • Epitaph Poem Analysis

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    Katherine Philips is desperately trying to renew her faith in life, but she is struggling to do so because of the death of her son. She is attempting to justify the loss of her child as a form of consolation, while keeping somewhat emotionally detached to the later death of her stepson in “In Memory of F.P.” The differing phrases, words, and language contrast the two elegies and emphasize the loss and pain in “Epitaph” while diminishing the pain in “Memory of FP.”

    Read More

More about Character Analysis Of Deirdre Sullivan's Always Go To The Funeral

Open Document