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David Fan

Prof. Jennifer Davis-Berman

SWK 331

February 4, 2013

Roundtrip to Deadsville

1. Discuss the idea of the self-fulfilling prophesy and the role that this concept had in

Matson’s book.

Matson, had this self-fulfilling prophesy, a quest as he calls it, in which he has a built up anxiety

of this whole concept of “death” because to him, this mysterious thing is slowly creeping up him

and his life that he didn’t know anything about. He goes through counseling, massage, exercise,

and inspirational reading to help along taking anti-depressants with meeting with a pastor in

which came to have a nervous breakdown.

This view that Matson had was scary, something that he wasn’t willing to accept into his life yet

due to the unknown. He has experienced the wild and crazy life that he had of skydiving,

motorcycles, and many other sports but never took into the concept of death which caused him to

slowly lose his nerve, “like a tire with a slow leak” as he mentions. This anxiety led him to find a

solution, this was to build his own coffin, to learn more about death and how society treats this

conceptual idea of death. These conceptual ideas fuel him into meeting many people associated

with the death industry in the book. As a result he meets a coffin maker, a undertaker, a

graveyard guide, a lawyer, an astrologer, an anatomist, a screenwriter, an organist, a cremator, a

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gravedigger, and many more. From meeting these people, he has become to know and

understand the concept of death, death in the viewpoint of others, and how they themselves deal

with death and manage with it in the death industry.

2. Matson references Jessica Mitford’s critique of the funeral business in the book.

Summarize Mitford’s perspectives. What is Matson’s view of the funeral industry and the

various people who work in this industry? Give specific examples to support your

response.

Jessica Miford’s critique of the funeral business in the book appears when Matson meets with the

graveyard guide. In his curiosity of the low percentage of new graves in the town cemetery, he

encounters the publication of Jessica Miford’s The American Way of Death in which she claims

to have “been gouging bereaved customers for decades.” Before the publication of this article, a

funeral was among the top three purchases within America. In the article she demonstrated how

the funeral industry was obscenely overpriced and unnecessary as she took the part of a grieving

survivor and seeing how the funeral industry tried to “rip her off” including input from

physicians who backed her up on prices of embalming arrangements. She also mentions scare

tactics in the funeral industry by frightening people with showing them low-quality coffins to

scheme them into buying the more expensive coffins.

Matson views many of the people that he met in the funeral industry as noble wise-men or even

heroes because of the things that they had to endure, despite Miford’s argument and perspective

of the funeral industry. One specific example is his visit with the coffin maker, where the coffin

maker just likes crafting wood and tools as a woodworker. All his woodworking business began

from taking over his father’s workshop in the sideline. Although the coffin maker himself is

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afraid of the thought of death he faces the reaper head firm and head on. This person’s

heroicness, his braveness through his experiences and even strong will comes through when he

talks about the death of his oldest son. He is strong willed because he built coffins for a few of

his friends and also for his eldest son.

3. In reading this book, did you learn anything new about the funeral industry? Discuss

what new information or insight that you gained.

After reading this book I learned many new things about the funeral industry because I have

never really looked at the funeral industry or even what would happen at the time of my death.

Some include the lives of others such as the coffin maker and graveyard maker. I haven’t thought

about how coffins are created, how much a general funeral costs, or even preparing my own

grave. I’ve gained much insight from this book, possibly far more than I am willing to admit but

I’ve learned that the funeral industry is tough to encounter with due to the perceptions and

concepts that it brings to mind, and the societal views of death in different areas deeply influence

how they handle and honor/dishonor death. I’ll admit that death is still a mysterious thing, but

getting to know more and more about it brings somewhat of an ease of the unknown, where not

knowing anything before-hand deeply hinders how I would handle and face my own fears of

death. Also getting to know how other people view and handle death is comforting such that

when I eventually face a death, I can know that I will not be the only one who feels the same

because of society, the perception of death brings about a sense of dark loneliness due from the

idea of missing someone. I can admit however that I am still not prepared for death and possibly

will never be, especially when it involves someone that I truly care about, I’m not sure how I

would react in such a situation. However there are some things that I don’t even know if I wish

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to want to know such as the amount of gas that it takes to cremate a person (on average about 30

gallons).

4. A recurring theme in this book is that the entire death industry is for the living. Explain

this idea and give two examples from the book that support it.

This idea that the death industry is for the living is to cherish these loved ones and to remind

them that they have walked this earth. When Matson meets the undertaker, he says that “… I like

to get the whole family involved. A lot of this is about making sure the survivors are satisfied.

There’s an old saying, Funerals are for the living.” I believe that this is entirely true; in fact if

this weren’t true there would be no need to send out a body with honor due to all the preparation

and man power that is needed to setup a funeral. There would be no need for coffins or stones to

dedicate these people with if this was not true! However this is to comfort the living, to know

that this person has lived but is no longer with the living. This whole ordeal of a funeral is to

bring about closing to those in which are closest to the person, to never forget them and to have

proof that this person has lived. The stone carver points this out as well. When Matson meets the

stone carver, he shows him the hard work and lives that are put into stone carving. How the

elegance of symbolism in embedded with stone such as headstone carved into a vine and roses

symbolizing eternal love. In the early century stone carving was difficult as well due to the dust

produced when carving the stone especially before the invention of an exhaust where stone

makers would come back covered in chalk from stone. However, the stone carver says that

despite the dangers of stone carving, it was his passion, his will to keep going that saved him and

got him through his divorce. He believed that the stones are for the living.