"Animals learn death first at the moment of death; man approaches death with the knowledge it is closer every hour..."

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Jacqueline D'Angelo

English 246 - 02

Prof. Jim Cody

December 20, 2002

"Animals learn death first at the moment of death; man approaches death with the knowledge it is closer every hour..."

-Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea

Death is a theme that is inevitable to come across in day to day life. From the moment we are all born, we are dying. It is an idea that is common amongst all living creatures and because of its widespread cohesion many authors use it as a tool in their writings. Most of them mention death, depict death, and even reenact death, however every time this device is used an attempt is made for a different message to be sent.

Messages of new beginnings, solemn endings, the halt to injustices, sadness, relief, etc. are all portrayed through different techniques while presenting death in literature. Over the past few months collectively as a class we have read many works that have shown death in one way or another. Three of them that stand out the most are A Rose for Emily, Our Town, and I'm Not Rappaport.