The American Funeral

470 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Embalming; history, theory and practice

The American Funeral

When discussing any topic, from medicines to death, history is always relevant. Funeral service dates back to 1685, which involved providing mourning merchandise to the society. Many undertakers at this time in history were also furniture builders, building the coffins for burial, as well as other household furniture. It wasn’t until the 19th century that funeral directors were utilized often. Before this time, families took care of their deceased loved ones. Around the time of the civil war embalming was introduced and shed a new light on funeral service. Listed below is a brief summary of some important events in funeral service history.

1678- First coffin burials took place.

1700- Horse drawn hearse was invented.

1768- Cabinet makers became known as undertakers.

1820- Iron caskets were constructed so graves could not be robbed.

1843- First coolers were used to store bodies

1860- Funeral service took the shape of its role in modern society.

1861- Colonel Elmer Ellsworth was embalmed, and this became the trade of funeral directors.

1865- Embalme...

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Electric Funeral By Chuck Klosterman

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is 2018 and the world is moving faster and faster every day. Clicking, typing, swiping and texting; with more to come. Every year there is a new iPhone, and every model has more storage, clearer cameras, and more accessibility overall. Young adults are interested in majoring in a technology-based field. Not necessarily because they are so interested in learning it, but because the technology industry is booming. There is nothing anyone can do to alter the speed of technological advancement. Chuck Klosterman elaborates on this idea in his short essay, “Electric Funeral.” His viewpoint is that no matter how much people miss the old world, it does not matter because “the future makes the

    Read More

  • The Funeral Industry and Me: A Look into the Subculture of the Funeral Industry of the United States

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since each funeral home is for the majority independent, the “leader” is either the owner or the manager. The position is achieved th...

    Read More

  • Case Analysis: The Profit In Death

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the past four decades the cost of a funeral service has risen 1,328% (Boring) and that’s not just because Morticians wanted to out of pure greed. One must take into account that modern mortuaries are much more of a business than before. Prior to 1970, the majority of funeral homes were were independent, family run. Today about 14% of funeral homes are run by a publicly traded corporation (Boring) meaning there’s a plethora of capital involved in these businesses now. The homes are built better and by professionals rather than by individuals with some tools, the home’s are extremely more sanitary since there’s more than likely no one living in these funeral homes unlike before, and the quality of the products these services are providing is greater than before.

    Read More

  • Interpreting Death: A Civil War Perspective

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film “Death and the Civil War” discusses how death was dealt with during the civil war with regards to men died and what this meant for America as a whole. The Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865) is the war of the Union against the Confederate States of America and it resulted in the United States of America changing its view of death. The Civil War was “the first modern war, the first mass war of the modern age” and before this war “there were no national cemeteries in America” (“American Experience”). This film is quite effective in it’s presenting of the information because of the following reasons: it taught me new information, helped me understand history better, and the film had more effective aspects rather than ineffective ones.

    Read More

  • A Body’s Dignity of a Maternal Brain Dead Mother

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    “In most human society's death is an extremely important cultural and social phenomenon, sometimes more important than birth” (Ohnuki-Tierney, Angrosino, & Daar et al. 1994). In the United States of America, when a body dies it is cherished, mourned over, and given respect by the ones that knew the person. It is sent to the morgue and from there the family decides how the body should be buried or cremated based on...

    Read More

  • Pericles Funeral Oration Essay

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first reason is that Athenian should be admired for their custom and tradition. According to Pericles speech, Athenians had great respect for their warrior class and they were proud of their city and its customs. They respected the warrior class and placed them among the top member of the society. In Athenians society, one of the important custom is their funeral. According to their customs, the funeral starts three days before the ceremony. In this ceremony, the bones of the death body were laid out in a tent and their friends brought offerings to their relatives of what they most wanted. Furthermore, in the funeral procession, cypress coffins were set up for the different types of tribe. The bones placed in the different coffin according to their tribe. One empty coffin was set up for those, whose body could not be recovered. In this procession, the female relatives came to wail at the burial. Any citizen or stranger who wants could join this procession. This types of the ceremony prepared at the people’s cost .This custom is coming from generation to generation and it will be continue in future.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poes The Premature Burial

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Romantic Era was a time when writers wrote with passion in relation to elements of writing such as the fantastic or supernatural, the improbable, the sentimental, and the horrifying. Edgar Allan Poe was one of the many writers who used elements such as these in his writings. Poe was famous for reflecting the dark aspects of his mind in a story, creating detailed imagery intriguing the reader. The fantastic and supernatural elements are expressed in The Premature Burial as impossible and in a sense, horrifying. The idea of people walking after their believed death is very extreme thinking in a world that seems normal.

    Read More

  • An American Requiem

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    In An American Requiem, by James Carroll, Carroll describes his struggle for knowledge, individuality and separation from his father's beliefs. The relationship between them slowly degenerates with age, and as James becomes more aware of the life happening outside of his family. Throughout the novel, Carroll focuses on many of the prominent world issues of the time, giving light to both extreme sides through his father and himself, as his father eventually comes to represent relatively everything that he does not. Arguably the most obvious disagreement between the two, and certainly the turning point in their relationship, was their opinions of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. At a time when the civil rights movement was flourishing at last, Martin Luther King arose as a leader. For such an emotionally-loaded topic, the leaders are generally regarded in one of the extremes, whether positive or negative, and for James and Joe it was the polar opposites.

    Read More

  • Big Mama's Funeral

    335 Words  | 1 Pages

    Big Mama's Funeral   Gabriel García Márquez story, Big Mama's Funeral, is a story filled with fantastical scenes and events, much in line with Don Quixote and Candide. The introductory paragraphs of Big Mama's Funeral and Candide sound so similar in voice the two authors could be mistaken for the same. In Candide, one finds a series of episodes that are so far from the truth and yet perfectly explainable. The story of the fate of Dr. Pangloss, the death and resurrection of Cunegund and of her Jesuit brother, and the story of the old woman with one buttock are farcical in the same way as the episodes in Big Mama's Funeral.

    Read More

  • Funerals of Kings

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beowulf starts with the death of Shield a great king in the eyes of the Geats, it also ends with the death of Beowulf. These funerals are similar in many ways. These funerals can be a reflection of the lives these kings lived because each king had his own way he wanted to be remembered. These funerals both involve huge amounts of treasures being loaded on to ships or back in to the ground and how the Geat people mourned for the loss of the kings.

    Read More

  • Personal Essay: My Funeral Wishes: Cremation

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the textbook, memorial services are becoming increasingly popular in many Protestant churches. This coincides with my family’s faith; we belong to a local Presbyterian church. The memorial will take place at The West Metro Chapel, part of the cremation package through Newcomer Funeral Homes and Crematory. This will reduce the costs significantly, consolidating the facility rental fee to only $675. Considering their will be no open casket or closed casket display the cremation will take place shortly after death, making the date of the service more flexible ensuring everyone who wants to attend the service can make it. Cremating the body will also be universally ideal for any condition the body is in from the cause of

    Read More

  • Mortuary Science

    1709 Words  | 4 Pages

    Imagine yourself as a mortician, certified as an embalmer, retort operator, funeral director, and a funeral cosmetologist. You get a call late at night, there’s been a terrible accident and someone has died. You arrive at the hospital and are directed to a small room where the body of the deceased is being held. There’s blood all over the sheets as the doctor and coronary assistant zip up the body bag and inform you the body was badly mangled in a car accident, which is going to make reconstructing the deceased very difficult. Your assistant puts the body on the stretcher and loads it into the hearse while you talk to the wife of the deceased man. She tells you they plan to have a funeral so you give her your card and a reassuring word before leaving the hospital and driving back to the funeral home. Now your job begins, not only will you have to reconstruct this man’s disfigured body, but you must meet with the family, discuss funeral arrangements, and deal with the family’s emotional trauma that comes with losing a loved one. Although working in the funeral business can be emotionally draining, it’s a satisfying feeling to see mourning families able to say goodbye to their loved ones. Despite the fact that working so closely with the deceased can be chilling, Mortuary science can be a thrilling field to work in.

    Read More

  • Funeral Service History

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    Funeral directors are full time employees. They sometimes are on call and have to work some weekends and holidays (collegegrad.com). “The median annual wage for undertakers was $46, 840 in May 2012” (ibid). Most plans for a funeral service are made within twenty-four to twenty-seven hours after the time of death (ibid). This means that funeral directors typically handle more than one funeral at a time (ibid). There are three types of funerals that the family of the deceased may choose from: a “traditional” full service funeral, immediate burial, or direct cremation (Wikipedia.com). If one desires an open casket funeral, the deceased would need to be embalmed. Embalming is the process of removing blood from the deceased’s body and replacing it with embalming fluid in order to preserve the body (collegegrad.com). When embalming, a funeral director must follow five steps: one-checking paperwork and identifying the body to make sure no mix up between funeral homes has been made, and two-disinfecting the body and setting the features (cracked.com). “Setting the features is where we pose and manipulate the person’s face to give them that ‘just sleeping’ appearance” (ibid). Restoration might also be necessary depending on the condition of the body. Restoration is the process of using materials and cosmetics to return the body back to the way it used to look or at least close to it (ibid). Besides preparing the

    Read More

  • Post-Mortem Photography

    2126 Words  | 5 Pages

    Post-mortem photography was once a very popular American practice in the mid to late 19th century, and it was considered a healthy practice by families grieving for their loved ones. Such photographs were labeled memento mori, remembrance photographs, or memorial photographs rather than simply post-mortem photos. Since the invention of the daguerreotype process, “portrait photographers offered postmortem photos as a special service” (Hilliker 247). Often, only the upper half of the corpse would be photographed, but it was also common for full-body pictures to be taken where the corpse would be shown as seated or sleeping, sometimes with family members posed alongside them (Hilliker 247-250). The photographs were commonly “mounted on walls in parlors and bedrooms,” and were also kept i...

    Read More

  • Funeral Blues Analysis Essay

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden is a short poem that illustrates the emotions that he is dealing with after the love of his life passes away. The tone of this piece evokes feelings that will differ depending on the reader; therefore, the meaning of this poem is not in any way one-dimensional, resulting in inevitable ambiguity . In order to evoke emotion from his audience, Auden uses a series of different poetic devices to express the sadness and despair of losing a loved one. This poem isn’t necessarily about finding meaning or coming to some overwhelming realization, but rather about feeling emotions and understanding the pain that the speaker is experiencing. Through the use of poetic devices such as an elegy, hyperboles, imagery, metaphors, and alliterations as well as end-rhyme, Auden has created a powerful poem that accurately depicts the emotions a person will often feel when the love of their live has passed away.

    Read More

More about The American Funeral

Open Document