Embalming Process In The Brain Analysis

1. The first step of the embalming process is to place the cadaver in a sterile morgue. Then, with tools that look similar to ones you would find in a surgery room, the body is drained of its blood and injected with embalming fluid. After that, the intestates and organs are removed from the body and replaced with cavity fluid. The body then sits for 8 to 10 hours after being embalmed before the embalmer can continue with their work. The embalmer then fills in any sunken areas of the body and applies makeup to the body to make it more presentable. The final step is to dress the body and place it in a casket ready for viewing the next day.
2. According to Mitford, funeral directors do not want to make public the details of embalming because …show more content…
Mitford’s primary purpose for this essay is to inform readers of what they unknowingly agree to have done to the body of a loved one. Before reading her essay, I did not know, in detail, that the embalming process consisted of so many disturbing things like having the mouth sewn so that it looks pleasant or the blood being drained from the body so that decomposition does not set in as rapidly. Mitford analyzed the embalming process in such detail because it is something that is obscure and it happens every day but it is not talked about very often. Her essay makes readers think twice about the embalming process.
6. The title of this essay, Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain, illustrates the unknown process of embalming and lets the reader know that they are going to gain information on a process that is always kept quiet about. Mitford uses the chemical formaldehyde in the title because it draws readers in and it is one of the many compounds injected into a deceased body. The curtain is metaphorical because it represents the secrecy that morticians try to keep about the process of embalming. When put together, the title means that the reader is going to get a behind the scene look at what really happens to the dead when they are in the hands of a …show more content…
Mitford begins her essay with a one sentenced paragraph because the lack of background information makes the reader want to continue to read. I find the first paragraph to be effective because it makes the reader think that the drama would happen before the deceased’s death not when they arrive to the mortuary and also because it sets up what is supposed to be expected for the rest of the essay. Most people do not think of a mortuary as being a drama filled place, but reading passed the first paragraph proves otherwise. The drama unfolds in the essay through the graphic explanation of the embalming process and how a dead body is made to look alive