On the Fear of Death by Kbler-Ross - Book Report/Review Example

None of the farmer's relatives pretended that nothing is going to happen with the old man. Everybody there was in a position to readily accept the fact that the farmer is on the verge of death. They let the farmer die in the natural setting in which he lived for many years. However, in modern societies as science advances death is losing its organic nature. It is being confined to the emergency room in the nearest hospital. Furthermore, the death of a person is being viewed as something which is to be denied.

Not only to children but to the children in ourselves, the modern people are in a state of denial while facing the reality of death. Lawick-Goodall is well known for her works on Chimpanzees of Gombe. She identifies herself as someone who could perfectly in harmony with nature as she lives in the Mind Valley with its animals, especially chimpanzees. Lawick-Goodall attains the belief of the chimps and they eventually started mingling with her. Thereby, she gets the opportunity to closely watch the lives of the chimps.

First of all, she picks up some preliminary facts about the social behavior of chimps such as showing respect, greetings and small fights. Importantly, Lawick-Goodall was not watching the chimps merely as her objects of study. She could see all of them as separate individuals and what made them individuals. It is apparent that she closely understands the distinguishing features of each chimpanzee from her naming of them. Even in her trial period itself, she made two important discoveries as a result of her close acquaintance with the chimpanzees who are named by herself.

At first, she found that chimpanzees eat meat and not primarily vegetarians as it was believed. Secondly, she discovered that chimpanzees use objects as tools. She actually saw that her favorite chimpanzee, David using a grass stem as a tool. The strength of both the articles lies in the fact that they use personal narratives in order to create the desired mood in the reader and thereby, convince him/ her what the authors believe in. It is curious to note that while the first article adds the twist by presenting the story of a farmer who dies in pieces at his house, Lawick-Goodall's paper gives the observation of David Greybeard, the chimpanzee.

A close and embedded narration of a particular story within a wider framework of reasoning, arguments, and description of life stands as the central feature of both the papers and makes them more convincing and transparent. On the other hand, both the essays fail to systematically present what they have to say. The scattered nature of ideas in these papers makes it difficult to point out what the authors are really trying to communicate.