Author's Argument #3 (Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach)

Précis

In chapter’s nine through twelve of Mary Roach’s non-fiction work Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003), Roach explores more of the various little-known contributions of human cadavers. In chapter nine of the book, she explores the removal of the head from the human body.  Roach figures that it must be possible to communicate with the recently removed head in the first ten or so seconds after removal if one asks the head a question and then directs the head to blink back.  Roach follows this chapter up with one on the fairly ancient concept of “medicinal cannibalism.”  Medicinal cannibalism is fairly similar to the traditional definition of cannibalism except for the fact that the human flesh that is being enjoyed is human remains.  In the eleventh chapter the author looks at alternative funerals.  She furthers her knowledge by visiting the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital to tour the dead animal freezer.  In the final chapter of the book Roach explores what she would like to have done with her cadaver once she dies.  While pondering this decision she reflects upon her entire journey including the various opinions that she was provided with along the way.  All of Roach’s exploration and reflection throughout the book is significant because it makes people able to talk about a subject that was once thought to be taboo.  With her wit and humor this topic suddenly becomes not only a topic to talk about but also one that comes about naturally.

Vocabulary

• Pronouncement- a formal or authoritative statement
• Fortitude- mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty
• Broughams- a four-wheeled, boxlike, closed carriage for two or four persons
• Elixir- a sweetened, aromatic solution of alcohol and water containing, or used as
   a vehicle for, medicinal substances.
• Spittle- saliva or split


Tone

• Reflective
• Serious (compared to previous chapter)
• Informative

Rhetorical Strategies

•  Telegraphic Sentence- “We must return to hanging” (page 200).
•  Personification- “9:00 The donor’s head eagerly drank water or milk, and tugged as if trying to separate itself from the recipients body” (page 208).
•  Enumeration- “Unlike Demikhov’s and Guthrie’s whole head transplants, these brains, lacking faces, and sensory organs, would live a life confined to memory and thought” (page 209).
•  Simile- “There was a brain sliced like a loaf of bread and a head split in two so that you could see the labyrinths of the sinuses and the deep, secret source of the tongue” (Page 288).
•  Rhetorical Question- “Do you know that it is not at all certain when a head is severed from the body by the guillotine that the feelings, personality and ego are instantaneously abolished…” (page 200)?

Discussion Questions

1.  How does one maintain a clear conscience while eating the remains of another individual?
2.  Why is this book so heavy in side notes, footnotes, and dashes within the sentence that emphasize importance points?
3.  Would it be wise to have people that are thinking about having their bodies donated to science read this book?


Important Quotation

“It makes little sense to try and control what happens to your remains when you are no longer around to reap the joys or benefits of that control.  People who make elaborate requests concerning disposition of their bodies are probably people who have trouble with the concept of not existing.” (page 290).

Author's Argument #2 (Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach)

Précis 


In chapter’s five through eight of Mary Roach’s non-fiction work Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003), Roach explores more of the various little-known contributions of human cadavers. In chapter five of the book, she discusses what should be done with the bodies of individuals who were killed in in-air collisions.  She follows this chapter up with another war related topic, the use of human corpses in weapons research.  In the seventh chapter the author discusses the how cadavers were used to investigate the Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth with the image of a man who appears to have suffered physical trauma.  In the eight, and final chapter of the chunk, Roach takes a more reflective approach than she has in the previous chapters.  With the many contributions that she has recently learned of she reconsiders what it is to be dead and explores the idea of a live burial. Roach’s exploration of the contributions of human corpses and her reflection on their contributions is significant because it makes many people able to better appreciate the things that we have today as many of the contributions and practices would not have been made possible without the help of the cadavers.


Vocabulary


• Propagate- to cause (an organism) to multiply by any process of natural 
   reproduction from the parent stock.
• Fuselage- the complete central structure to which the wing, tail surfaces, and 
   engines are attached on an airplane.
• Ostensibly- outwardly appearing as such
• Promulgate- to make known by open declaration
• Stoical- enduring pain and hardship without showing one's feelings or complaining


Tone


• Comic
• Light
• Informative


Rhetorical Strategies


•  Dashes Within a Sentence- “What—or who—had brought Flight 800 down from the sky” 
    (page 114)?
•  Personification- “Leader lines spoke away from the dots on their labels: ‘brown leather 
    shoes,’‘coilpot,’ ‘piece of spine,’ ‘stewardess’” (page 115).
•  Enumeration- “Leader lines spoke away from the dots on their labels: ‘brown leather 
    shoes,’ ‘coilpot,’‘piece of spine,’ ‘stewardess’” (page 115).
•  Simile- “To make a long story short, the catapulted guinea pigs’ lungs looked a lot like 
    the Comet     
    passengers’ lungs” (Page 123).
•  Rhetorical Question- “Who decides when it’s okay to sacrifice human lives to save 
    money” (page 125)?


Discussion Questions


1.  On page 119, when Roach states the broke ribs are minor is she saying that all broken   
     ribs are minor or that in this case the broken ribs are minor?
2.  Why is it that Roach uses Chapter 8 as a somewhat reflective chapter when there are so 
     many other chapters left in the book? 
3.  Will the rest of the Chapters deal with the contributions of human cadavers as most of 
     those preceding chapter 8 have?


Important Quotation


“There is a photograph of Zugibe and one of his volunteers in the aforementioned Sindon article.  Zugibe is dressed in a knee-length white lab coat and is shown adjusting one of the vital sign leads affixed to the man's chest.  The cross reaches almost to the ceiling, towering over Zugibe and his bank of medical monitors.  The volunteer is naked except for a pair of gym shorts and a hearty mustache.  He wears the unconcerned, mildly zoned-out expression of a person waiting at a bus stop.  Neither man appears to have been self-conscious about being photographed this way.  I think that when you get yourself down deep into a project like this, you lose sight of how odd you must appear to the rest of the world” (page 163).