Human Corpse in Western Society - Essay Example

The Corpse as Shell in Western Society In many Western societies the human corpse is thought of as nothing more than an empty shell vacated by the essence or soul of the dead person. According to funeral director Thomas Lynch, this approach is “proffered as comfort in the teeth of what is a comfortless situation, consolation to the inconsolable” (21). This impression is reinfoced by the presence of the corpse, which does seem to lack something more than if the person were merely asleep. The life force that once kept the body animated is gone, leaving an obvious emptiness behind. This belief in the body as shell is also aided by the lack of contact with it once death has taken hold. However, as a means of comforting themselves, mourners frequently purchase silk linings, pillows, mattresses and other ‘comfort’ items that the non-living corpse will never enjoy, appreciate or even notice. These are the last gifts the living can ever bestow upon their loved one and allows the survivors to feel they haven't simply disposed of the body without ceremony or proper human respect. Although there would seem to be comfort in the belief in the body as merely a shell for the spirit, this idea simply does not offer the sort of comfort it should. As Lynch relates in his book, one woman mourning the death of her teenage daughter following a battle with leukemia reacted violently to the suggestion that the body before her was simple a ‘shell’, claiming "that is my daughter until I tell you otherwise" (85). Mourners continue to feel that their loved one is present somehow and families spend thousands of dollars on burial rites which would be unwarranted if the body was just the shell. The increased mystery and horror associated with the corpse through children’s stories and zombie media outlets continues to suggest some element of the individual remains. As a result, the corpse retains a sense of power all its own, earning legal protections and capable of conveying more truths about the individual than the ‘shell’ theory would acknowledge. Much of the expense families suffer as a part of the funeral process is spent trying to preserve the body for eternity. Funeral homes make tremendous profit by selling mourners on the promise that the body will be preserved forever with embalming or high quality sealed caskets. Aiken (2001) points out families in California regularly pay as much as $5000 for a funeral in spite of much lower priced options opening the field to widespread corruption. Journalist investigations have revealed funeral home practices intentionally designed to inflate expenses while clergy members have openly admitted accepting a ten percent commission from funeral homes for their recommendations paid at a later date (Winner, 1999). Despite the promises, the only way to prevent the body from dissolving is to cremate the remains, both the cheaper of the available options and the one which automatically eliminates any hope of preserving the body as it was when living. In so many ways, modern society has continued to distance itself from death in ways that take some of the significance out of the event and make instead a frightening mystery. “Before the turn of the century, Americans may have been more in touch with death and as a result less fearful of the corpse. Farm accidents and childbirth complications caused many deaths in a more agrarian and pre-medically advanced society. Traditionally, Americans used to keep the deceased in their homes until everyone had a chance to view a body” (Emerick 43). By personally preparing the body for display in the front room and holding visitation within the home itself, people were more comfortable working with and around a corpse. As a result of this closer association with the dead body, they were also more comfortable with the related concepts of death and dealing with what was left behind. Children, witnessing these events, grew up without the same sorts of aversions to the dead that children today experience. The major shift in this practice can be traced to the early 1900s as Ladies’ Home Journal reflected in one of their articles that “the parlor should be renamed the living room to disassociate it from funeral parlors. Children were discouraged from going to funerals” (Emerick 43). As it became less and less appropriate to show the body in the home, fear and mystery regarding the corpse began to grow. That this distancing from the corpse has had a negative effect upon our view of it is evident in the in understandings of children, now superstitiously kept far away from the mysteries and realities of death. Many adults are puzzled when every child in the car holds their breath when a cemetery is spotted. Very brave children might quickly and breathlessly explain that you must hold your breath to avoid breathing in one of the dead spirits and be possessed for the rest of your life. Others might believe that the polluted air of the cemetery will stay with you and scare away anyone who might want to date you in the future. While there is no foundation behind these superstitions, they prove that even very young children have developed a fear of the corpse. These types of beliefs seem directly linked to the concept of the corpse as a missing piece of the individual or as a thing so rotten it can infect living tissue permanently, concepts that are only perpetuated with the adolescent fascination with zombies. From once being laid out in the family’s most formal room for days at a time as a means of respect and farewell, the corpse has today become an object of horror and fear beyond proportions. In thousands of ghost stories and numerous Hollywood films, the corpse emerges from the grave perpetually hungry for something it can never attain. These creatures seek brains (presumably as a means of attaining a mind or spirit), blood (as symbolic of a life) and unfulfilled desires of a past life. Again, this sort of fear and loathing of the dead body can be directly traced to the hands-off approach to death experienced only within the modern society. “American culture has a definite fear and repulsion of the corpse. This is evident because of today’s utilization of funeral homes and medical services” (Emerick 43). Greater medical knowledge in the modern age has given rise to greater awareness of the various diseases and dangers a corpse may represent to the living. To protect themselves, anyone handling corpses in a professional capacity – morticians, coroners, police officers, etc. –use plastic gloves before touching any portion of the body, a fact made obvious as actors snap the gloves around their wrists in dramatic fashion on every police film ever made. “The corpse, then, is the repository for grotesque and tainted death” (Emerick 43) to which the once-living soul fell victim and from which care must now be taken so as not to affect the rest of the room. There is in existence a class of people who become sexually aroused by the presence of a corpse. These individuals are termed necrophiliacs and they remain largely a mystery to the scientific community. According to Bob Clodge, “sex and death have always been linked … The French refer to the orgasm as the ‘little death’ and strangulation is quite commonly employed as a sexual stimulant. Shagging corpses is simply a natural progression” (cited in Sex and Death). Others suggest that having sex with the dead represents the ultimate control over the partner as the (already dead) partner is left completely powerless and totally destroyed at the end of the session. Stories provided by necrophiliacs themselves shed little light on their reasoning for this strange attraction and serve instead to disgust and horrify ‘normal’ individuals not afflicted with this desire. As a result, while it does exist and has even been suggested to become regulated by government as a means of protecting the corpses of loved ones, necrophilia remains as much a mystery as death itself. While some may opt to believe that the corpse is little more than an empty shell reflecting the person that once lived within it, one truth remains unarguable. Human societies around the world have always recognized that the corpse is incontrovertible proof that an individual who was once living is now dead. The body is also proof that the individual once existed, retaining some vestige of the individual on earth. The grave site thus becomes the place of linkage for the individual as the living have a physical place to visit in which a physical element of their loved one resides. Regardless of the empty feeling of the corpse, the fact also remains that the corpse retains a great deal of the identity of the individual that housed it. Comments often heard at a funeral frequently make reference to how beautiful the individual looked, how restful or how much he resembles his ‘old’ self before illness and pain set in. For this reason, prior to burial, the corpse becomes the repository of all those unexpressed feelings and well-wishes of the individuals being left behind. By allowing the body to become a substitute for the whole person, family members and friends are able to find a sense of closure with the deceased and a sense of renewed purpose as they realize their own mortality. Therefore, despite attempts to claim otherwise, the corpse has become something much greater than simply the shell of a person who has moved beyond the physical realm. Works Cited Aiken, Lewis R. Dying, Death, and Bereavement. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001. Emerick, Elizabeth J. “Death and the Corpse: An Analysis of the Treatment of Death and Dead  Bodies in Contemporary American Society.” Anthropology of Consciousness. 11.2-3, (2000): 33-47. Lynch, Thomas. “You should show up for your own funeral.” US Catholic. 64.11, (Nov.1999): 20-22. “Sex and Death.” Sleaze Magazine. 52, (April/May 2008). Web. May 10, 2011. Winner, Lauren. “Death, Inc.” Christianity Today. 43.5: 82?87, (April 26, 1999). Read More