Reoccurring Themes In A Very Easy Death

Death is an inevitable end to one’s life that we hear about constantly. In spite of this, it is not a topic discussed heavily by philosophers, one exception being Martin Heidegger for which death is regarded as one of the most universal yet unique for each individual making it authentic. We see the reoccurring theme of authenticity and death in the book A Very Easy Death by Simone De Beauvoir in which she tells us about the not so easy death of her mother due to cancer, and she examines her mother’s life as it is getting closer to its end while sympathizing with her physical and emotional struggles. From her fall in the bathroom through her stay in the nursing home, Beauvoir’s mother has gone through a fair amount of pain. One thing that was

One of the things that bother her is being a inconvenience to the people around her as it contradicts her former proud and strong character since she has, as Beauvoir states, “been taught to pull the laces hard and tight herself (43);” she never asked her husband for money and didn’t like when she was financially dependent on her daughters. Now she is at times naked, has to use a bed pan and gotten her bed soaked by the inexperienced nurses. We would think that because of the contrast between her character and circumstances that it would wear her down psychologically, but we don’t see an indication of that happening. In fact, she was annoyed when a nurse asked her when she was planning to leave since she liked the nursing home. After seeing how easily adapted to her environment, it is not hard to imagine how she would deal with her own death. She was aware of her age, and didn’t fear death, as she was religious and didn’t consider going to hell as a possible outcome. Therefore, we could exclude her “animal dread of death (14)” as fear of non-existing but rather as the strength of her character. This being said, hiding the truth about her condition was unnecessary and only prolonged her