Behind The Formaldehyde Curtain Analysis

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A Glimpse Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain The embalming process is not exactly common knowledge “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” is an essay by Jessica Mitford that revels the morbid details that happen from the moment a corpse arrives at a funeral home until the casket is lowered into the ground. She also provides credible sources to fuel her argument. “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” was originally published in 1967 in a collaborative book called “The American Way of Death”. Mitford explains the embalming procedures thoroughly with a morbid demeanor. Mitford wishes to inform the general public about the embalming process and how she feels about embalming not being necessary. Mitford practices metaphor usage successfully to compare…show more content…
Her impression of the process is that the ones who revel in the work or benefit from it have no problem with embellishing a rotting corpse, and that the people who don't fathom the embalming procedures have no impression what is going on with the body; people are either poking fun at the body, or blissfully ignorant to the frightening work that is put into prepping the body for the period when the "curtain" is drawn and the mortitan’s work is reveled. Mitford's title provides the reader the image that the body is prepared like an actor in a blockbuster movie, and kept tucked away behind a curtain until the concluding ceremonies. This curtain inhibits anyone from understanding the despicable work put into the body before its unveiling in the casket. The usual person will not even assume their deceased to be embalmed, because, as Mitford argues , it is generally assumed that the body will be embalmed. . Mitford tells us the accounts of the embalming process because it is ironic that none of the work is respected by the ones who it was published for. The next of kin of the departed do not usually think about the procedure of embalming, but compensate for it anyway, and have no understanding of what form of effort is put into the dead body positioned in the casket at the funeral home. The portrayals of the task done in preparation for the body are alarmingly soul-scarring. This powerful language
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  • Behind The Formaldehyde Curtain Analysis

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    In Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain Mitford discussed what embalming, the practice of it, the process in detail, and the secrecy behind the practice. Throughout the story Mitford seems to condemn the American funeral process, but she does not directly state this. From the tone of Mitford’s writings we can tell that she does not agree .Mitford possesses a very sarcastic tone and tries to use lots of euphuisms to lighten the mood on her views of the embalming process. Mitford starts out the story

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