“Embalming in the U.S.A” by Jessica Mitford

In the essay “Embalming in the USA” by Jessica Mitford was very shocking, disgusting, but very well detailed and it surely created a picture in my head. I recall that one day I saw an episode of a show there and it was something like this essay in where they show you what they did to a body after they died. I mean I would never be able to be apart of something so hard to do; I mean I am scared to touch a dead person, so imagine doing all these things to them it is sort of weird. I never knew the process of embalming was so long and it took so many hours now I understand why we have to pay so much in a funeral home. Also, in a way weird it is kind of body art when they do make-up on these dead bodies because they got to get them to a normal color, fix their lips, hands, body angel and everything else. I think it is awesome how a person who has a swollen neck, black ear, or any type of non normal can be fixed with the help of some make-up. I mean we will always like to say good bye to the people we love by seeing them pretty and feeling them as if they were sleeping rather then seeing them all sick and swollen. The part that, for me, was the most disgusting part was when they take out their blood and replaces it by embalming fluid. It is really shocking how much they have to do to a dead body to be able to see them for the last time like they use to look. I can’t believe that back in the days they use to do this process at home and your family had to be there to see.

In my opinion the author did a great job in explaining this process and also is showing that embalming is not a simple process and that’s why it cost so much. This was a perfect essay to explain how to do a process essay and also to learn more about American and not take for granted the advances that each day brings in our life. In addition, when we think of death we normally think of old people, but it is important to know that death can happen unexpectedly to anyone at any age. For example, this essay has a sad and shocking ending because the whole essay I thought Mr. Jones was an old man but in the end it lets us know that it was a small kid by placing a teddy bear in this hands in the funeral box.