Every day, every hour, a person passes away. What would they say? What would they say if they knew what would happen to their corpses’ after their passing? What would they say if they knew the cost of their funeral? In Jessica Mitford’s “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” the practices of the funeral agency are examined in detail. Mitford raises questions regarding the legality behind the embalmment process and goes into the gory aspects of what goes on in the backrooms of funeral groups nationwide. Additionally, “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” presents a compelling and unnerving argument, against the perpetuation of the commercialism of death, and the funeral industry in North America.
Every year without exception, Americans willingly shovel millions of dollars into the market of embalmment, and presenting the dead. The funeral industry has become a commercial venture, in
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Not one in ten thousand has any idea of what actually takes place.” The process of embalmment is quite gruesome. I could go into detail on the subject, but I would prefer not to, rather I will quote the text in saying: “Embalming is indeed a most extraordinary procedure…if the funeral men are loath to discuss the subject outside of trade, the reader may understandably, be equally loath to go on reading at this point.” From this quote, we can see that the process of embalmment is quite sickening to even think about. Embalmment is a process which is done to prepare corpses for viewing. The things that must be done to prepare the body are quite disgusting, and it is the sickness of the procedure leads readers to ask the questions: is it moral to embalm a body? (and) Will I be embalmed when I die? I personally do not believe that it is immoral to embalm a body, if, and only if the deceased gave permission before there death. Otherwise, embalmment is an immoral thing to