Death's Societal Impact: Richard Cory By Edwin Arlington Robinson

Death’s Societal Impact Social classes are a foundational element of modern society. Society works due to the complex standings that social classes cause. It motivates people to work harder to achieve a higher class and thus makes society more productive as a whole. This desire and want often is propelled by the looming thought of death. Many feel as if the set time they have should be used to try to get to the highest class physically possible for them. Within both “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson and “on caskets” by Nate Marshall, the construct of how people view the importance of the social classes they die in is highlighted. “Richard Cory'' was written in the late 1800’s, while “on caskets” was written in 2015. Despite this

These traditions in part are described through the theme in the poem being death is less of an occasion with lower class individuals. In “on caskets”, even the title shares the significance of death making a subtle yet important nod due to it being all lowercase. This is to show that death is related to one’s social class. In the poem it speaks of people of traditionally lower class individuals. The lack of theater around a poor person’s death is almost immediately highlighted, “...Egyptians had pyramids with peasants buried in the walls they built…some only get a cold cabinet in the morgue until somebody or nobody claims them as a loss” (Marshall 2). This puts focus on the lack of large events surrounding one's death if they were of lower class. The theme shines through by speaking on how peasants were buried in the walls they built. This is due to the place in society, socially, in which they died. A pharaoh would get a grand burial in a large pyramid, however the peasant would not. This all ties back to how people strive to be the pharaoh in the situation. They always want to strive higher so after their death there is more of an importance put on it. Similarly, through literary criticism the marxist nature sounding death as a whole is shown. Deep within society, “...social reality…revealed the void that lies at the heart of modern capitalist culture” (Quinn 1). The idea that due to everyone in life constantly trying to make more money to then be viewed in a new social class, is leading to death to be viewed in a disheartening light. When a person of lower class did people believe there is no need for special occasion, however when a rich person dies there is a larger importance put on their death. In essence, the division in importance of death between social classes has led to the overall disattachment to the importance of death as a