In “Whoever We Are, Loss Finds us and Defines Us”, by Anna Quindlen, she brings forth the discussion grief's grip on the lives of the living. Wounds of death can heal with the passing of time, but in this instance, the hurt lives on. Published in New York, New York on June 5, 1994, this is one of many Quindlen published in the New York Times, centered on death's aftermath. This article, written in response to the death of Quindlen’s sister-in-law, and is focused on an audience who has, currently is, or will experience death. Quindlen-a columnist for the New York Times and Newsweek, Pulitzer Prize winner and author-has written six bestselling novels (Every Last One, Rise and Shine, Object Lessons, One True Thing, and Black and Blue) and has been published in the New York Times and Newsweek. Proposing her thesis early in her article, Quindlen creates a basis for her position about the lasting effects of death and grief; due to her specific examples, and use of pathos, repetition, and ethos, she supports her position successfully. In her article, Quindlen delivers her position to the massive mixed audience of the New York Times, drawing in readers with an emotional and humanizing lure; opening up about her family life and the deaths she endured. Later presenting the loss of her brother's wife and motherless children, Quindlen use this moment to start the engine of her position. Quindlen uses her experiences coupled with other authority figures, such as, the poet Emily Dickenson, Sherwin Nuland, doctor and professor from Yale, author Hope Edelman, and the President. These testimonies all connect to the lasting effects of death on the living, grief. She comes full circle, returning to her recently deceased sister-in-law; begging t... ... middle of paper ... ...e her support for her position, home. The article "“Whoever We Are, Loss Finds us and Defines Us”, by Anna Quindlen, invokes the necessary emotions needed to understand an agree with the notions stated about death and grief. Yes, Anna Quindlen succeeded in proving her position by her use of emotion, credibility as an accomplished writer, experiences with death and grief and her writing style. Some people live with grief for the rest of their lives, such as Anna Quindlen and some of her examples, while others can overcome the fight. Effectively using all three elements in this article, Quindlen started her engine, shifted this article into gear and ultimately won the race. Works Cited Palmer, William. "Rhetorical Analysis." Discovering Arguments: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, Writing, and Style. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2012. 268-69. Print.
“Pass On” written by Michael Lee is a free verse poem informing readers on grief, which is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome not only when losing a loved one, but also in life itself. “Pass On” successfully developed this topic through the setting of an unknown character who explains his or her experience of grief. Despite Lee never introducing this character, readers are given enough information to know how they are overcoming this difficult obstacle. In fact, this unknown character is most likely the writer himself, indirectly explaining his moments of grief. One important piece of information Lee provides is the fact that he has experienced loss twice, one with his grandfather and the other a friend who was murdered by the
The critics who perceived this book's central theme to be teen-age angst miss the deep underlying theme of grief and bereavement. Ambrosio asks the question, "Is silence for a writer tantamount to suicide? Why does the wr...
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.
Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings. 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.
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.
Through an intimate maternal bond, Michaels mother experiences the consequences of Michaels decisions, weakening her to a debilitating state of grief. “Once he belonged to me”; “He was ours,” the repetition of these inclusive statements indicates her fulfilment from protecting her son and inability to find value in life without him. Through the cyclical narrative structure, it is evident that the loss and grief felt by the mother is continual and indeterminable. Dawson reveals death can bring out weakness and anger in self and with others. The use of words with negative connotations towards the end of the story, “Lonely,” “cold,” “dead,” enforce the mother’s grief and regressing nature. Thus, people who find contentment through others, cannot find fulfilment without the presence of that individual.
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).
Heffernan, Teresa. “Beloved and the Problem of Mourning.” http://www.questia.com/library/ 1G1-54196882/beloved-and-the-problem-of-mourning /. N. p. n. d. Web. Nov 24, 2012.
Roxanne Roberts, the author of The Grieving Never Ends, coveys the psychological scarring event of her father's suicide with her powerful use of imagery. She effectively evokes sorrowful emotion with her structure of the similes and metaphors added throughout the article. Robert's introduction consists of the simile, “The blood was like Jell-O. That is what the blood gets like after you die, before they tidy up"(1). The author's decision to open her narrative with a graphic description leaves an impact on the audience. In addition, the metaphors used in the article makes the reader comprehend the grief that Roberts had and still has to experience. The excerpt, "Think of your life as a can of white paint. Each significant experience adds a tiny
Death is a controversial and sensitive subject. When discussing death, several questions come to mind about what happens in our afterlife, such as: where do you go and what do you see? Emily Dickinson is a poet who explores her curiosity of death and the afterlife through her creative writing ability. She displays different views on death by writing two contrasting poems: one of a softer side and another of a more ridged and scary side. When looking at dissimilar observations of death it can be seen how private and special it is; it is also understood that death is inevitable so coping with it can be taken in different ways. Emily Dickinson’s poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died” show both parallel and opposing views on death.
Death is an inevitable process that every being must in endure in their lifetime. The loss of a family member or close friend can shower the survivors with numerous emotions. Despite the emotions, grieving the loved one is a natural process in which helps with coping and healing. The short story “By-and-By”, by Amy Bloom uses symbolism and imagery to demonstrate how a person navigates through the fluctuating, short-term, or long-lasting stages of grief. The nonlinear chronology of the story complicates the reader’s comprehension of the narrator’s grieving process.
Death is an inevitable part of life. Though losing a loved one may seem earth shattering, life goes on. When burdened with this overpowering misery, mourners will experience the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In Eudora Welty’s, The Optimist’s Daughter, readers follow Laurel McKelva Hand as she addresses each of these stages after losing the ones closest to her.
Loss is a very hard thing to go through. It’s also a common topic in stories, such as in Bridge to Terabithia and Walk Two Moons. Although the former has to do with a make-believe world and the latter with a roadtrip and mysteries, they both share a common theme. In both stories, the authors show us that although losing someone close is a difficult thing to go through, we must accept it and keep going.
t may be said to be self-evident that the poem " In Memoriam A.H.H." by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is an extended expression of the poet's grief for the loss of his beloved friend Arthur Hallam. What may not be as immediately obvious, and what I intend to show in this essay, is that, over the course of the poem, the narrator (whom we may safely identify as Tennyson, given the degree of correlation between the text and historical evidence) passes through each of the five stages of grief, as delineated by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her seminal work On Death and Dying. 1. I intend to accomplish this through a juxtaposition of key definitions of each stage with evidence from Tennyson's text and a brief accompanying exercise.