Week 8

What does Morris and tombstones contribute to our understanding of

everyday writing?                       

Morris contributes a view that memorials and tombstones are everyday writing. He expresses that memorials are designed to have an intended audience as well as a purpose for being formed. The audience for a tombstone is generally a family member or friends of the deceased that is being honored. The audience is also intended to be in a specific state when they are encountering the memorial, which is most likely, reminiscent or mourning. The purpose behind a tombstone is to commemorate or celebrate the life of a person who is no longer with us. There is no set format for how to set up a tombstone; the family or person who creates a tombstone can decide what to put on said tombstone and how it is arranged. The style of the tombstone itself also says a lot about the person. Some families have a specific style tombstone that is used to represent that family’s history where as a cross can represent religion or another type of tombstone can represent a background that they come from.

            Tombstones as a form of everyday writing may seem like a stretch from some of the other examples we have examined such as letters. However, if you think about the personal aspect of a tombstone and how no tow tombstones are exactly the same, even if the shape of the tombstones look the same the writing on them will be different or at least have a different personal meaning to the text. In that way a tombstone is an everyday writing, there is no set standard or form they are required to meet.