I do not think embalming is a good thing because I feel it presents the deceased as something they were not. After having read the essay on embalming, it all seems very much like science fiction. I was honestly disturbed hearing about how the morticians prepped the bodies. Everything that went on was very gruesome, yet when friends and relatives see the body, it looks decent. I feel that embalming is bad because it distorts one's memory of the deceased because the last image of the person will be what they looked like after being embalmed which is clearly not what they looked like before. While friends and family may not want to see what the deceased really looked like, it is the truth and should be dealt with rather then masked by gross procedure's and make-up. People are no longer paying their respects to the deceased but rather a body filled with chemicals and a face that is masked with make-up and by procedures that beneath the veneered surface is made up of many mutilations.
Embalming is very expensive and for what? To have the deceased look like someone they were not? It falsely represents those who have died and can cause a huge financial toll on the family. Furthermore, the "behind-the-scenes" action is so unknown that people are not aware of how disturbing it is and thus are willing to pay for this or agree to it unknowingly when they hand over the body to the mortician.
Overall, while I understand that some people want their loved one to "look good" for the last time they will ever see them, I believe that they should see the deceased as they had existed so what exists in their memory is an accurate representation rather than a mask that shields the true terrors of embalming.
As much as I understand your feelings towards imbalming, I also feel that people who are beheaded or shot are prepped for burial in a way that won't show the damages to the neck. Is that what people want to see when burying their loved one? And as for your last statment (well said I must add) is it shielding the true terrors of embalming or death...?
ReplyDeleteI also disagree with embalming because it makes the deceased appear in a different way than they were. However I do not think that this would necessarily "distort one's memory of the deceased."
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important for families to remember the deceased in an accurate way. But does a car accident victim whose body has been torn apart from the impact accurately represent the image of the person? Embalming is more about lessening the disfuguration associated with death rather than creating a whole new look.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying here, and I personally would prefer to remember my loved ones completely accurately. I am sympathetic to those who would not, though. I do not think it is exactly despicable to want a loved one to be presented nicely at a funeral, and indeed, whether a person is embalmed or not, their life is often touched up as funerals just as much as these bodies, in pictures and eulogies. Do you disagree with this practice as well? Also, I'd like to point out quickly that there are more choices than either embalming or displaying a realistic corpse.
ReplyDeleteI agree that embalming is extremely disturbing, but when you say "it presents the deceased as something they were not," I think it sometimes does the opposite. It does not present them as how they were at the moment of death, but it might present them in the best light of when they were healthy. The embalment might present their bodies as pretty as the fond feelings you had for their personality. I still think people should have closed caskets or cremation though. Once people are gone they are gone, and we should remember them on real memories and pictures.
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