Week 8 Journal

In death on display tombstones and other relics honoring the dead are considered to be everyday writing. Morris makes references to how the objects put in place to honor the dead reflect a lot about the person’s ethos. I agree with the extent that a person who sees the grave might be able to determine how rich and powerful the deceased person in question was, but not much more information can be determined than that by the average person. Morris also brings up the cultural aspect involved in burial and how tombstones and memorials can reveal a lot about a culture. Social distinctions can be made from the type of burial ground as Morris mentions that there are several different kinds.

                I personally disagree with the idea that tombstones, memorials, and other kinds of tributes to the deceased are forms of everyday writing. The perception that all gravestones are unique is incorrect. Think of all the graves dug for US soldiers that are simply decorated with a white cross and the fallen patriot’s name. The generality in cemetery designs (from what I’ve seen in the US) is quite apparent when they are compared with one another. The most unique burial sites would indisputably be the great pyramids in Egypt, but they would have to be considered far from everyday.

                I don’t believe the tombstones and memorials made for the dead encompass the rhetorical qualities that we as a class determined examples of everyday writing should have. I believe the actual act of the person dying to have a greater effect on people and create change. Just because the tributes to the dead relate to the event of the person dying does not give them association to the everydayness that the act of dying achieves.