Chapter 2

What is death? What does death mean? I was about to find out in Chapter 2 of Death, Society, and Human Experience by Robert Kastenbaum. I never heard the word plastination before reading this text. It is described as replacing fluids and lipids in biological tissues with polymers which then allow medical students to study such a specimen. Plastination provides a dry, durable, odorless specimen usually on one particular body part to be studied. I had not given much thought to medical students needing body parts to study until now. This is yet another area for me to consider when thinking about death and what it really means when you are “dead.”
I learned an interesting way to relate death as a concept in the section of Death as Symbolic Construction. Specifically, water is referred to as a concept just like death is. Kastenbaum states, “We look at ice, snow, mist, rain, standing pools, and flowing streams and write the formula H2O on the board and call them all water, even though their forms look so different.” I think this comparison hits the nail on the head. Death can be described in various ways also. It caught my attention and made sense to me.
I was able to identify with some of the information in Sleep and Altered States of Consciousness. A few years ago, we had a hamster named Violet. When she died, my youngest daughter told relatives that Violet was sleeping and would not wake up. It seemed so cute at that time. However, after my daughter noticed Violet’s cage was removed, she then asked me where Violet was buried. Not thinking much about this, I told her where she was buried. Later that day, I found my daughter with shovel and bucket in hand trying to “find Violet so she could wake her up and play with her.” Needless to say, we had a conversation about the difference between death and sleep. As a result, I do not think she will try to wake up animals that are “sleeping!”
Finally, in the view of death uniting or separating relationships, I felt like I could see both positions. On a personal level, I have felt that separation when someone close to me had died. It just stayed over me like a black cloud. On the other hand, in moments of strength I would feel almost happy thinking that my loved one would now be united with his family members and friends that had died. It was confusing to me at the time. I did not really talk about this with anyone since my feelings would change with the level of strength I had at that moment. It felt good to read this now and maybe even realize that I was not confused at all.