Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. In “On the Challenges of Writing About Death” on LitHub novelist Annie Lyons writes how irresistible it is for authors to write about death: “Like long-lost relatives turning up out of the blue or locked doors leading to who knows where, death has been catnip for writers since the beginning of time.” Lyons goes onto say that, in dealing with her own mother’s death, she realized we “owe it to ourselves and those we love to face death, not with fear, but with hope and honesty.” Think of the last few books and/or movies you’ve read or watched that deal with the death of a major character in the work. How did it affect the characters? How did it affect the general arc of the story? More broadly, why do authors write so much about death?

Teaching Suggestion: Brace students for dealing with lengthy discussions – occasionally graphic – about the subject of death. Ease them into being comfortable talking about the subject by having them think about death and the way it functions as a literary device.

• “Death and Dying in Literature,” published in Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, investigates why authors write about death through a psychiatric lens.
• Seminal author Joyce Carol Oates, along with Meghan O’Rourke, authored “Why We Write About Grief” in the New York Times to explore how they wrote about their own grieving processes in the face of death.

2. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines “taboo” as “a cultural or religious custom that does not allow people to do, use, or talk about a particular thing.” In Western culture, openly talking about death is considered taboo. Why do you think this is so? Do you agree or disagree with having death as a taboo subject?

Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to think about the reasons certain subjects are taboo. In sociological terms, taboos help define cultural norms, and as such, they help members of a society figure out what is acceptable vs. deviant behavior. In that way, taboos can help create a sense of belonging and solidify bonds within communities.

• “The Taboo of Death” in Psychology Today expands upon the psychological underpinnings of death as taboo.
• “These 6 Cultures Celebrate Death Instead of Ignore It” by Sherrie Johnson highlights cultures that do not treat death as a taboo subject.