In Mary Roach's science fiction book named "STIFF" (2003), she entertains her audience while also sharing with them the reality that is of our dead bodies, she does an excellent job teaching us about cadavers, and their many functions and talents!
In Chapter 7, Roach describes a French doctor's psycho experiment, this surgeon named Dr. Pierre Barbet crusified cadavers in order to discover how exactly it was that Jesus died. Through concrete imagery of Dr. Barbet's project on the cadavers, Roach is able to share with her audience rare (and creepy) uses for cadavers in order to make her audience laugh or perhaps creep them out!
Roach takes her audience to witness a live cadaver's heart and organ transplant surgery in Chapter 8 (my favorite chapter). In this chapter, she explains what beating-heart cadavers are (which are bodies whose brain is dead only), gives history on live burials, and shares different opinions of where exactly the soul is located on human bodies. Through anecdotes, she is able to share with us many surgeon's and scientist opinions on where the soul is, the brain or heart, or both; anecdotes serve as evidence to the audience.
"Just A Head" is the title of Chapter 9, it is about human brains and whether or not the soul is located there, Roach tells a story about Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin's experiments with the heads of humans and of the two-headed dog (literally). Through definition of quadriplegics, the audience understands what the author writes about, definition assists audience comprehending the topic in this chapter.
In Chapter 10, Roach explains medicinal cannibalism, and tells stories of humans eating humans. By including rhetorical questions, the author forces thoughts to be made by the audience, the author implies her opinions on cannibalism. Chapter 11 is about where cadavers are disposed, how they can become useful in compost bins and contribute to Earth's green and of the history of crematories. By parenthesis, the author is able to imply opinions, state funny remarks or add information to crematories and where dead bodies end up.
Finally in Chapter 12, Roach explains why she volunteers herself to become a cadaver, once her body dies. By writing in narrative form, Roach is able to take her audience wherever she goes, she is able to tell her own stories of her own experiences, she shows her audience what she learns in order to share that new information with us. Roach persuades everyone to donate their bodies, to be cadavers for medicine, for mechanics, for experiments, projects and other fabulous ideas.
Vocab.
1. gruff : (adj.) Brusque or stern in manner or appearance; Hoarse, harsh
2. aforementioned: (adj.) mentioned previously
3. resilient: (adj.) capable of regaining its original shape or position after bending, stretching, compression, or other deformation; elastic
4. haste: (n) Rapidity of action or motion
5. cauterizing: (v) To burn or sear with a cautery
6. cardiopulmonary: (adj.) Of, relating to, or involving both the heart and the lungs
7. putrefaction: (n) Decomposition of organic matter, especially protein, by microorganisms, resulting in production of foul-smelling matter.
8. corroborating: (v)To strengthen or support with other evidence; make more certain.
9. acrid: (adj) Unpleasantly sharp, pungent, or bitter to the taste or smell.
10. proxy: (n) (pl) A person authorized to act for another; an agent or substitute
11. amid: (prep) Surrounded by; in the middle of.
12. unequivocal: (adj) not ambiguous; plain
13. harangued : (n) A long pompous speech, especially one delivered before a gathering
14. postoperative: (adj) (Medicine) of, relating to, or occurring in the period following a surgical operation
15. morgue: (n) A place in which the bodies of persons found dead are kept until identified and claimed or until arrangements for burial have been made.
16. gurney: (n) A metal stretcher with wheeled legs, used for transporting patients.
17. spittle: (n) a clear liquid secreted into the mouth by the salivary glands and mucous glands of the mouth; moistens the mouth and starts the digestion of starches
18. abscess: (n) A localized collection of pus in part of the body, formed by tissue disintegration and surrounded by an inflamed area.
19. rheumatism: (n) Any of several pathological conditions of the muscles, tendons, joints, bones, or nerves, characterized by discomfort and disability.
20. emetic: (adj) An agent that causes vomiting.
21. jugular: (adj) Of, relating to, or located in the region of the neck or throat.
22. maladjusted: (adj) Poorly adjusted
23. delirium: (n) (pl)A temporary state of mental confusion and fluctuating consciousness resulting from high fever, intoxication, shock, or other causes. It is characterized by anxiety, disorientation, hallucinations, delusions, and incoherent speech.
24. incinerators : (n)One that incinerates, especially an apparatus, such as a furnace, for burning waste.
25. pulverized: (v) To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust; To demolish.
26. lacerated: (v) To rip, cut, or tear.
27. affinity: (n) (pl) A natural attraction, liking, or feeling of kinship
28. concocted: (v) To prepare by mixing ingredients, as in cooking.
29. entity: (n) (pl)Something that exists as a particular and discrete unit
30. dilapidated: (adj) falling to pieces or in a state of disrepair; shabby
Tone: Euphemistic, bizarre, eccentric
Rhetorical Strategies:
1. Personification /Imagery: " Gurneys that ferry the living through hospital corridors move forward in an aura of purpose and push, flanked by caregivers with long strides and set faces, steadying IVs, pumping ambu bags, barreling into double doors." (167)
2. Antithesis: " There was the woman who got the heart of a gay robber who was shot in the back, and suddenly began dressing in a more feminine manner and getting 'shooting pains' in her back." (190)
3. Rhetorical Questions: " Did they themselves eat and enjoy the dumplings? Did they think all human cadavers should be recycled this way?" (239)
4. Hyperbole: " In both this instance and that of the three million urine-quaffing Chinese, I didn't know whether the reports were true, or instances of bald-faced Chinese-bashing." (234)
5. Simile: " We stand with one foot and shoulder forward, arranged in facing columns, like doo-wop backup singers in unusually drab costumes." (276)
Questions to Consider:
1. What might be the author's intentions in writing about the history of crematories?
2. Do you think the author's humor is meant to persuade the audience to donate them selves as cadavers?
3. What effect may this book have on people who are afraid to donate their bodies- becoming cadavers?
Memorable Quote:
" It is astounding to me, and achingly sad, that with eight thousand people on the waiting list for donated hearts and livers and kidneys, with sixteen a day dying there on that list, that more than half of the position H's family was in will say no, will choose to burn those organs or let them rot. " (195)
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