TOW #8—“Smoke Gets in your Eyes” by Caitlyn Doughty

TOW #8—“Smoke Gets in your Eyes” by Caitlyn Doughty

                In Caitlyn Doughty’s book “Smoke Gets in your Eyes” she discussed the treatment of our dead. Doughty became a mortician after college and continues her work today. In the last half of the book, she further discusses the different cultures and traditions in regards to dealing with the dead. She often states that she finds our system to be quite detached and believes that families should have a larger part when deciding and carrying out the actions they should take in dealing with family members who have passed away. In order to do this, she utilizes a colloquial tone to make death familiar and allusions to relate death to everyday life.

                Death is often and foreign and terrifying idea to the general public. Doughty wants to reverse this belief and show that death deserves a more intimate approach. To do this, she writes with a colloquial tone. She often uses sarcasm, makes jokes, or uses interesting language to lighten the tone of her seemingly-dark memoir. For example, she says “Dead. Finito” (Doughty 176). By using a colloquial tone like this, Doughty makes death seem like a lighter idea instead of a dark and formal process. She introduces and explores the idea as if it does not deserve heightened and strong language; as if it should be a problem discussed by not only intellectuals, but of every person, regardless of intelligence, race, gender, etc. Overall, this decreases the amount of fear people have towards death and helps to show that death should be a more intimate process for their loved ones.

                Later, Doughty compared a grieving family to well-known Jane Austen novels (Doughty 179). She also mentions other books, movies, and even celebrities in her memoir. These people, books, and movies, are generally well known by the general public and have been at some time a household name or object. She compares death to a familiar idea in everyday lives, which gives the idea of death a more personal approach. Like her colloquial tone, this helps to break down the fear and emotional walls surrounding death and welcomes death into their homes. This, paired with her colloquial tone, inspires families to take a more personal approach when deciding what to do with passed loved ones.