Stiff. So far so cool.

Chapters 1-3

In Mary Roach’s novel Stiff, she describes the life of a cadaver and narrates the anatomical surgeries, preparations and seminars that she observes. The author uses a series of techniques to get the reader involve in her experiences with cadavers: imagery, allusions, anecdotes, comparisons, dialogue, cause and effect and even history on the subject. The author uses allusions to give a thorough explanation and familiarize the reader with the subject. Roach also uses multiple anecdotes which vary from past anatomists to present surgeons. She also incorporates imagery and comparisons to give the audience an explicit description of the series of events that occur in the book. Her purpose is to convey information about the function and expectations of a cadaver and the history that lays behind the practice on dead bodies.  Roach creates an atmosphere that comforts young anatomists the text serves as an expository piece which revolves around the profession of anatomists and her tone is soothing and humorous which gives the profession less terrifying.

1. Anatomy-dissection of all or part of an animal or plant in order to study its structure.

2. wholly- entirely; totally; altogether

3. dire- causing or involving great fear or suffering; dreadful; terrible: a dire calamity. 

4.Sever-to separate (a part) from the whole, as by cutting or the like.

5. embalm- to treat (a dead body) so as to preserve it, as with chemicals, drugs             

      6. eviscerate- Surgery . to remove the contents of (a body organ).

      7. ghoul- an evil demon, originally of Oriental legend, supposed to feed on human  beings, and especially    to rob graves, prey on corpses, etc.

8. hermetically- so as to be airtight.

Soothing, humorous, friendly

• Allusion: “Do you recall the Margaret Hamilton death scene in The Wizard of Oz? (“I’m melting!”) Putrefaction is more or less a slowed-down version of this” (68).

• Imagery: “Something else is going on. Squirming grains of rice are crowded into the man’s belly button. It’s a rice grain mosh pit” (65).

• Anecdote: “The case centered on a garbage scavengernamed Oscar Rafael Hernandez, who in March 1992 survived an attempt to murder him…Hernandez came to and escaped to tell his tale” (50).

• Euphemism: “Lets not use the word “maggot.” Let’s use a pretty word. Let’s use “Hacienda.”(65).

• Dialogue: “Like how large?” “I don’t know. Large” “Softball large? Watermelon large” “Okay, softball.” (67)

1. How long does it take a cadaver to become completely dead and useless?
2. Does the book follow a specific order? Is it directed by the experiences of the author?
3. How does the amount of cadavers run today? Are they still scarce and difficult to attain?

“To those factors I would add the popularization of science. The gains in the average person’s understanding of biology have, I imagine, worked to dissolve the romance of death and burial—the lingering notion of the cadaver as some beatific being in an otherworldly realm of satin and chorale music, the well-groomed almost-human who simply likes to sleep a lot, underground, in his clothing”(57).