Credibility, Subject, And Tone In Stiff By Mary Roach

Stiff is a book written in 2003 by Mary Roach. It goes into detail on the subject of donated bodies and their uses. Throughout the entire book, the author establishes credibility, subject, and tone. The speaker in Stiff is author Mary Roach. She establishes credibility throughout the book by stating her own experiences with cadavers and using many, many references. In the beginning of the book, she talks about her first experience with a cadaver, “I was thirty-six, and it was eighty-one. It was my mother’s. Notice that I used the possessive ‘My mother’s’ as if to say that the cadaver belonged to my mother, not that the cadaver was my mother” (Roach, 12).
Then at the beginning of each chapter, she gives examples of how she worked with cadavers. …show more content…
The author makes sure to let us know, even though we are dealing with dead bodies, they are not the people they once were. Simply a husk of something that used to exist. By doing this, Roach establishes a calm tone. Even though we are dealing with a disturbing subject, she makes it bearable by explaining it in ways that the human brain can understand. “My mom never was a cadaver; no person ever is. You are a person and then you cease to be a person, and a cadaver takes your place. The cadaver is a hull,” is a great example of this. Stiff by Mary Roach is an amazingly well written book. The author clearly shows her credibility along with strong subject and tone. Although unusual, the book is hilarious and very educational. It was a pleasure to read and analyze.
Looking at the library table camouflaged in multiple rows of summer reading books is by far the hardest part of my year. Each passing summer, more and more interesting books are displayed for my perusal. On this occasion, a particular book immediately caught my eye. A pair of feet, presumably in a morgue, with the title printed on a body …show more content…
I was taking a summer course on forensics and I thought it would be nice to have a book that connected with my class. I also love having knowledge on a variety of topics and I didn’t know much about the use of donated bodies. While reading the book, I made many connections between the book to how cadavers are used in solving murder cases. When criminal investigation students are learning how to inspect a crime scene, often dummies are not realistic enough, so donated cadavers are used. This allows students to correctly view evidence such as blood spatter and weapon trauma. While reading Stiff, I watched several documentaries on cadavers. One was about how scientists used a partial cadaver and pig skin to figure out the murder weapon in the Jon-Benet Ramsey case. The second was a study on how cadavers are used in testing vehicle safety. A crash mannequin cannot react the same way a human body does, so they use whole or partial cadavers to make sure the vehicle is up to standard. After reading this book, I have decided that when I am of age, I will designate that my body be donated to