HW# 50: First Third of Care-of-the-Dead Book Post

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers By: Mary Roach

Precis:

The treatment of cadavers have changed over time. Today, we are brought up to have respect for the dead, but back in the day there were cases where people dug up fresh cadavers for money. It was commonplace. Donating parts of our bodies was also unthinkable before. The first third of the book covers historical stories surrounding cadavers and different ways cadavers of today are treated.

Quotes:
"For most physicians, objectification is mastered their first year of medical school, in the gross anatomy lab, or "gross lab," as it is casually and somewhat aptly known." (Page 21)

"It's the reason most of us prefer a pork chop to a slice of whole suckling pig. It's the reason we say "pork" and "beef" instead of "pig" and "cow." Dissection and surgical instruction, like meat-eating, require a carefully maintained set of illusions and denial." (21)

"Cosmetic surgery exists, for better or for worse, and it's important, for the sake of those who udnergo it, that the surgeons who do it are able to do it well. Though perhaps there ought to be a box for people to check, or not check on their body donor form: Okay to use for Cosmetic purposes." (24)

"Back then no one donated his body to science. The churchgoing masses believed in a literal, corporal rising from the grave, and dissection was thought of as pretty much spoiling your chances of resurrection: Who's going to open the gates of heaven to some slob with his entrails hanging out and dripping on the carpeting?" (40)

"The far more common tactic was to sneak into a graveyard and dig up someone else's relative to study." (43)

"Mack is telling ne about a ninety-seven-year-old woman who looked sixty after her embalming. "We had to paint in wrinkiles, or the family wouldn't recognize her." (80)
Analytical Paragraph:

The first third of the book covers multiple topics about dealing with cadavers. The first topic discussed (which I did not expect to read about) were about face lifting and plastic surgery on cadavers. This was upsetting to me because I assumed being a 'body donor' meant donating parts of the cadaver to save lives, not to look better. I find that wrong. For the rest of the third of the book, the author describes about the history of cadavers, which I found shocking and disturbing. Multiple stories are introduced, showing how people were driven to dissect and dig up dead bodies from obsessive or greedy emotions. I left off reading about what really happens to our bodies when 'nature takes its course'-I knew that the human body would rot but I still felt uncomfortable about the idea. This connected to the next topic discussed-the process of ambalming. I was actually curious about how effective they were. Embalming is definitly a process showing how much as human beings we become in denial that death is not a pretty site no matter what decisions we make.