While the concepts of death are identical around the world – that death is irreversible, final, casual, and inevitable – it’s apparent that there are many differences in the various themes related to death and dying. These various themes are abundant in number, but the ones particular to the movie P.S I Love You include the following: the principles of a good death, end-of-life decisions, last rites, facing death – coping styles, and the big topic of grief. The movie P.S I Love You focuses on the journey of a woman, Holly, who lost her husband of 35 due to a brain tumor, and the difficulties that she must overcome as a result of his death. The first theme that was relevant in the movie was the principles of a good death. These principles
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While it was learned that there is no right way to cope, there are however many ways that people cope, and can often cope in a number of different styles. One of the major and most well-known coping styles is Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s Stage Based Coping; this coping style involves all of the following actions/emotions: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. (DeSpelder and Strickland, 2015) While Kubler-Ross said that no two people would experience the same order and same length of time for each stage, it’s clear that those are the general paths, with acceptance typically being the last and final stage. In the movie P.S I Love You, Holly goes through a majority of these stages, and at various times too. For example, she actually experiences depression post Gerry’s funeral, in which she locks herself in her apartment and has hallucinations of him as if he’s still there. During this time she’s not cleaning the messes she makes, not taking care of herself, and constantly singing sad songs about love. She experiences anger in many situations, one of the most prevalent with her mother. Her mother believes that the letters are only hindering her chances of moving on that she face to “…face things on your own,” and “…deal with it.” Upon hearing that Holly lashes out to her mother, furious with the fact that her husband died so young and …show more content…
While grief can be defined by many, DeSpelder and Strickland define it as the reaction to loss, and that there are many aspects of grief including mental, emotional, physical, behavioral, and spiritual. Mental aspects of grief include the typical confusion, disbelief, anxiety, depression, as well as paranormal experiences, like hallucinations. (DeSpelder and Strickland, 2015) As discussed earlier, Holly experiences this right off the bat, after coming home from his funeral and the weeks leading up to Gerry’s first letter. Even so, throughout the entire movie she still senses his presence around her while she is learning to live once again. Emotional aspects of grief are easily guessable, which entail feelings of sadness, longing, loneliness, frustration and anger (DeSpelder and Strickland, 2015), all of which are felt by Holly; notably anger and frustration, in one example, in which she yells at God for taking away her husband at such a young age. Physical aspects of grief include frequent sighing, sleep disruptions, changes in appetite, and chills/tremors. (DeSpelder and Strickland, 2015) Although it is difficult to say that Holly did not in fact experience any of these symptoms, none of these were displayed in the movie. Behavioral aspects of grief include crying, searching for the deceased, incessant talk about the deceased and circumstances of death, restlessness,
While it was learned that there is no right way to cope, there are however many ways that people cope, and can often cope in a number of different styles. One of the major and most well-known coping styles is Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s Stage Based Coping; this coping style involves all of the following actions/emotions: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. (DeSpelder and Strickland, 2015) While Kubler-Ross said that no two people would experience the same order and same length of time for each stage, it’s clear that those are the general paths, with acceptance typically being the last and final stage. In the movie P.S I Love You, Holly goes through a majority of these stages, and at various times too. For example, she actually experiences depression post Gerry’s funeral, in which she locks herself in her apartment and has hallucinations of him as if he’s still there. During this time she’s not cleaning the messes she makes, not taking care of herself, and constantly singing sad songs about love. She experiences anger in many situations, one of the most prevalent with her mother. Her mother believes that the letters are only hindering her chances of moving on that she face to “…face things on your own,” and “…deal with it.” Upon hearing that Holly lashes out to her mother, furious with the fact that her husband died so young and …show more content…
While grief can be defined by many, DeSpelder and Strickland define it as the reaction to loss, and that there are many aspects of grief including mental, emotional, physical, behavioral, and spiritual. Mental aspects of grief include the typical confusion, disbelief, anxiety, depression, as well as paranormal experiences, like hallucinations. (DeSpelder and Strickland, 2015) As discussed earlier, Holly experiences this right off the bat, after coming home from his funeral and the weeks leading up to Gerry’s first letter. Even so, throughout the entire movie she still senses his presence around her while she is learning to live once again. Emotional aspects of grief are easily guessable, which entail feelings of sadness, longing, loneliness, frustration and anger (DeSpelder and Strickland, 2015), all of which are felt by Holly; notably anger and frustration, in one example, in which she yells at God for taking away her husband at such a young age. Physical aspects of grief include frequent sighing, sleep disruptions, changes in appetite, and chills/tremors. (DeSpelder and Strickland, 2015) Although it is difficult to say that Holly did not in fact experience any of these symptoms, none of these were displayed in the movie. Behavioral aspects of grief include crying, searching for the deceased, incessant talk about the deceased and circumstances of death, restlessness,