HW 52:Third Third of the Care of The Dead Book

Precis: 

The healthcare industry is  going blow for blow with the funeral industry. The healthcare industry is struggling to keep people "alive" and the funeral industry is trying to keep dead people, dead all the while making them look alive.  People have a hard time admitting to themselves they we cease to exist. Who doesn't want to live forever and be invincible. Funeral homes use this idea to their advantage which is why they provide them to us. As long as no one knows what happens after death the afterlife concept will forever exist.

Quotes:

•  "You cant mark the sea like you mark the land, it wont let you, and if it matters to know where your dead are, the sea responds with a wet salty question mark" (Jokinen 230).
• "The myth that the vaulted body lasts forever is hard to shake, and the idea of dissolving into a conservation easement, no matter how beautiful the view, is still too much like going ovo-lacto: only a few have the taste for it" (Jokinen 217).
• " I think the funeral industry is ahead of the curve," he says. "They're at the level of Disney"(Jokinen 247).
• "When people are on their deathbed, what they want is to make sure they're not forgotten"(Jokinen 251).
• "There'll be plenty of time for shop talk and theology later -- a life- time, whatever that may be. For now we have to work to do. I follow him into the chapel"(Jokinen 277).

Analysis:

    Hearing about the death care industry from only Tom's point of view really began to bore me. I certainly think that's one of the faults of the book. To connect this book to the Food unit  people will always tend to want what they want while putting the least amount of effort into getting it. For example in the food unit people pay for the cheapest food for because it is easily prepared, cheap, and taste good. Now the example for the funeral business is that most customers prefer to buy the cheapest package but tend to get something a bit more expensive so they don't feel guilty.  These two systems(food and death industries) are improving but are far from perfect.