Compare and Contrast Weddings with Funerals in America - Book Report/Review Example

Jessica Mitford in "The American Way of Death" considers the most awful day in the lives of many people as a perfect opportunity to get out of this horrible day. Absurdities of the American behavior during wedding and funerals exceed the limits of a common mind. Wedding in America The American Association of Bridal Consultants claims that 43 businesses take part in establishment of “today’s standard wedding” in the United States. Girls are looking for the ways of finding “the most beautiful dress”, the best food and everything else.

They can spend thousands of dollars and years of their lives in order to spend this only day in the best way. In the book by Mead wedding businesses create special arcane for young couples and want to earn money hand over fist: "No one can blame the younger generation for seeking talismanic protection against committing the mistakes of their elders," Mead writes, "and the fantasy that the future of a marriage might be secured by the conduct of a wedding is a poignant and persuasive one" (Mead).

Therefore, the author talks about perverted values of the modernity. There is no doubt that the modern society is full of prejudice and people are not really focused on their feelings, but are more interested in performing a beautiful and fascinating show. Mead is a master of allegoric comparisons. She provides interesting definitions for the modern weddings, such as: a modern style of wedding is defined as "traditionalesque", which is based on "a bastardized aesthetic derived from Victoriana and filtered through the lens of the romance novel and the Disney cartoon" (Mead).

Therefore, young brides are running one before another to capture the most outstanding consultant of wedding, the best halls for ceremonies and everything else. There is a great difference between attitudes to weddings, which had people of previous generations and the contemporaries. Women from XX century were impressed by enchanting images of different shows, like "Queen for a Day," in which women were awarded the crowns, money et cetera. People did not have much money and the amount of money spent for wedding did not reach $27,000, as it is nowadays.

The modern Americans watching average people want to outperform them. Modern princesses are looking for the ways of self-esteem realization. Mead provides an example, when a bride wanted to make her wedding look like the one from Disney cartoon. Cinderella and Prince were two main figures and future spouses hired even Cinderella’s Coach, who took $2,500 per ceremony. This magnificent option "is one of the most coveted items available through Disney's Fairytale Weddings & Honeymoons program" (Mead).

Wedding in America is a kind of competition. People save their money in order to spend it for one-day celebration. Fairy tale is an illusion and it cannot be reached by the common people. So, whether these couples want to show their feelings or to celebrate their love, or just try on fabulous roles…no one really knows. There is no direct dependence between celebration of wedding and future married life. In case the former was a guarantee of success in the latter, then people would have spent even more… Funeral in America Jessica Mitford in "The American Way of Death" opens a horrible idea of death from an unusual perspective.

This book was published in 1963 and it strictly criticized the funeral industrial complex. A market of funeral services was really