The Power of Child Death.

The Power of Child Death

“From a proud tower in the town
Death looks gigantically down.”
-Edgar Allan Poe

This statement says that death stands out boldly in society. When parents go through the terrifying and devastating experience of the loss of a child they tend to feel looked down upon by the people in their town. They act as if they committed a heavy crime. They seem like murderers. In the book Rabbit, Run Rabbit’s wife Janice while intoxicated accidentally drowns her baby. This devastation affected the whole family in different ways. This essay will discuss the different ways people in families react to the loss of a child.

In the book Rabbit, Run Rabbit and Janice suffer due to the loss of their child. Thinking like an outsider in her town Janice says to Rabbit, “I can’t stand to look at anyone except you. I can’t bear to look at the others” (238). She feels like a disgrace to society, as if everyone shames her for accidentally drowning her baby. She tells Rabbit that they can not live at their house anymore. Rabbit acts differently. At the funeral Rabbit listens to the service and finds forgiveness and strength to move on, but then at the burial he clumsy made statements about the child’s death. Rabbit says he played no role in the death of the child, and this shocks others. Horrified by his statements the family enraged him, and Rabbit runs away into the woods. Rabbit realizes that everyone displeases him, and he doesn’t need that. He doesn’t like the directions his life leads him in. Life doesn’t quite work out for him, so he just runs away from it. He can not handle the child’s death.
Before Rabbit ran away from the burial he tries to find forgiveness from God. Some members of society try to help Rabbit during this devastating experience, and Eccles the priest does just that. Eccles tells rabbit that “[they] must work for forgiveness; [they] must earn the right to see that thing behind everything” (240). Eccles believes that having a closer relationship with god will bring the best out of Rabbit. Eccles believes it will help Rabbit move on in life. As an outside source of mediation Eccles tells Rabbit that “marriage is a sacrament, and that this tragedy, terrible as it is, has at last united you and Janice in a sacred way” (240). Eccles tries to help the family recuperate after this loss. The death of his baby makes Rabbit turn to God for a normal life.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Families in today’s society reflect Janice and Rabbit when it comes to child loss. Lots of people in our society try to comfort the parents of a child whose life has passed away. The infant mortality rate has dropped since 1983 from 10.9 deaths per 1,000 babies to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 babies in the year 2000 (Bock). The parents of the diseased children can seek mediation from thousands of programs that exist to help the parents move on in life. The Child Death Help Line offers one on one communication in counseling parents who go through the experience of child death. A user of the Child Death Help Line says, “During child Death Help line conversations I did not feel that I had to edit my conversations or worry what the person listening may be thinking” (CDHL). Programs like this tend to affect the parents so they don’t end up running away like Rabbit did.

Americans deal with the death of children very seriously. The state of Michigan has a “broader death review process that addresses all preventable child deaths from a public health perspective” (CDRP). This program found out that “300 children in the United States have drowned in bathtubs since 1973” (CDRP). As an uncommon death in children, drowning makes the parents look more suspicious of child murder. The child death review program offers help to those parents who find themselves in these devastating situations. These programs try to help the parents move on and live a normal life.
I have never felt more sympathy for someone than when my aunt’s baby passed away. I have never seen someone so affected by a death. My aunt’s baby died due to sudden respiration problems. I talked to my aunt about the situation and I tried to comfort her as best as I could, just like how Eccles tried comforting Rabbit. There were times when she would cry for hours straight, pleading for forgiveness and acceptance from our relatives. She feels at fault for the baby’s death. My aunt started going to church once or twice a week. Just like Rabbit she wanted to find forgiveness from God, which seems like a common reaction to losing a child. Moving on and not letting society get to oneself seems like the best direction to take when losing a child.

Works Cited

Child Death Review Program (CDRP).

February 24, 2003

Bock, Robert. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics

July 8, 1999

Child Death Help Line (CDHL). Bereavement- infant death

September 9, 2002