American Funeral
... The chapter describes some of the feelings Jessica has towards the American funeral industry. Accompanied with the feelings Jessica has about the industry, are the feelings that those of the American funeral industry has towards Jessica. ... There, many thoughts and feelings about the American funeral industry where discussed by fourty-four funeral directors, five presidents of casket companies, some insurance men, along with the president of Dinair Airbrush Systems. ... It apparently seems as though the American funeral industry isn’t making “enough money”, as it was hinted at very subtlety by a number of people. One funeral said that the biggest problem the industry lacks is identity and image. He talks about how high-profile funeral services, which “warm our heart”, are not frequent enough, and therefore it lacks to build customer service. ... It’s hard to justify what the American funeral industry is doing to its customers. Funeral services seem to just be in it for the money. ... Indeed funeral services want to monopolize, increase prices and extract the most out of its customers. ... Chapter 2: The second chapter is entitled “The American Way of Death”, and talks about several aspects of the funeral industry. ... Today there is a new mythology explaining the funeral rite, which has been built up little by little to justify the uncharacteristic customs, which surrounds the disposal of our dead. ... The first is the myth that the procedures you see before you today are those of the “American Tradition”. ... You were able to see a parallel with the simplicity of asceticism, the plain pine box, the laying of the dead by friends and family who also bore the coffin to the grave were all before the 19th century a hallmark of the traditional funeral. The second myth is that the American public is being given only what it wants. One funeral director implies that because we have a high standard of living, we should also have a high standard of dying. ... Once again Jessica Mitford blasts the funeral services, and obviously does not buy into their “propaganda”. However, I feel that the funeral service in this chapter does make a good point. One funeral director said or implied that because we value are life so much, (and death is apart of life) is it a really big deal spend thousands of dollars in honoring our deceased! Chapter 3: The third chapter of Jessica Mitford’s book is entitled “The Funeral Transaction”. ... Collectively, funeral directors feel that by navigating customers towards caskets of higher value, they are administering the first phase of grief therapy. The National Funeral Service Journal says: “The focus of the buyer’s interest must be the casket, vault, clothing, funeral care, etc.-the only tangible evidence of how much has been invested in the funeral-the only real status symbol associated with a funeral service”. ... This is the first aspect of a funeral transaction. The second aspect of the funeral transaction is the buyer’s total ignorance about what to expect when they walk into a funeral parlor. ... In chapter three Jessica Mitford attempts to educate the person planning a funeral about the transaction phase of honoring the deceased. ... Funeral parlors want nothing more than to capitalize on your uneducated knowledge about the funeral industry. ... This chapter discusses the elements, which make up the funeral service. ... The chapter then goes into discussion about the burial vault, which is relatively a newcomer in funeral commodities. ... Now, cemeteries compete with funeral directors for the lucrative vault business. ... She describes the different elements, which make up the funeral service. I think she agrees with all the different aspects that make up the funeral service. I think she just wanted to inform the public about what is available to you when you plan a funeral for a loved one. ... In the beginning of the chapter, Mitford critiques what goes on behind the scenes of a funeral service. Of course we all know that having a funeral can be very costly. ... It is said that it takes 120 hours or nine and half days of labor for ever funeral service. ... These 120 hours of labor account for the basic value of the funeral service. This chapter was dedicated to inform those planning a funeral about what goes on behind the scenes of a funeral service. The embalming process and the man-hours it takes to provide a funeral service are all explained in this chapter. ... Now that we know what goes on behind closed doors, we can now better prepare ourselves when we plan a funeral. ... “Grief therapy” is most commonly used by funeral men to describe the emotional and mental solace, in which they claim, is achieved for the bereaved family as a result of being able to view the embalmed and restored deceased. ... There are many industries, which collaborate to provide families with the appropriate essentials to have a funeral service. The undertaker plays the biggest role; pulling in half the amount of money it costs to have a funeral service. Other services include cemeteries, florists, monument makers, and vault manufactures also play a key in providing a funeral service. ... Just like all other businesses there is steady competition from within the funeral industry. ... Caskets as we all know play a key role in funeral services. ... There is also a big conflict between the cemetery and the funeral director. People often confront funeral directors first, in which they make people spend most of their money, leaving them willing to spend less at the cemetery. After spending all of this money, funeral directors will often attempt to sell cheap graves by the telephone. ... This chapter was devised by Jessica Mitford to discuss how the industries “work together” to provide a family with a funeral service. There are many industries that work together in providing a funeral service. If one failed to exist, it wouldn’t be what we consider today as the traditional American funeral. ... The one most elaborately discussed was the conflict between the cemetery and the funeral director. ... There are however, measures that could be taken by both the funeral director and the cemetery, which would prevent this ongoing problem. ... The cost of having a funeral is very high today. ... Years ago most people opted to have a traditional funeral service. ... 75 percent of the American deceased were cremated; by 1995 the percentage of people being cremated was at 21 percent and was still rising. ... The funeral directors attempt to discourage the funeral buyer from cremation. ... Funeral directors imply that their loved ones will be treated like garbage and furthermore stress the severity of the psychological trauma caused by the process. ... Many in the funeral industry consider it to be a poor way of dealing with the deceased. ... Again, the funeral service seems to want more money and by cremating the dead, they are losing profit. ... The central theme in this chapter is giving the American people what they want. Funeral buyers want the best embalmment and merchandise such as caskets, urns, flowers, etc. Funeral men say that they give the public what it desires. ... Most of the American public probably doesn’t feel this way. However, Mitford does mention one case in which a funeral buyer wanted and demanded the best. ... I think that Mitford believes that most of the American public doesn’t truly know what they want. ... Today, I think more than ever people do know what they want for their funeral service. ... You may think it simply reflects what makes up a fashionable funeral service (caskets, urns, cloths, flowers etc.