No One Here Gets Out Alive: Burying Dead the American Way

What Does This Mean

The changes that occurred during the twentieth-century cannot be explained with a single definitive answer. The complexities of twentieth-century America led to significant cultural shifts that affected every aspect of the living. Immigration brought new religious practices from eastern regions such as Vietnam and China where cremation was the preferred method of disposal, continued inflation and cost of living increases also lent themselves to the increase in funeral costs. However, some studies indicate that socio-economic status has little to do with American’s decision making in burying their dead. One study states just the opposite, citing that the poorest American’s often spend lavishly on funerals while the richest spend more on the monument itself.[1]
In the works, The American Way of Death Revisited by journalist Jessica Mitford and historian Gary Laderman's Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-century America, both authors make some excellent assertions and are correct that the cost of dying can be a burden, immigration has had an effect on what types of ritual are acceptable, and finally, the cost to bury the dead does follow trends that suggest the funeral industry is susceptible and receptive to the same circumstances of other businesses in a capitalist society.[2] However, Stephen Prothero arrives closer to the truth in his publication Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America in which he argues that cremation has become about choice and style.[3] To be sure, the funeral industry is far too vast and much to capacious to generalize one contributing factor to the changing burial rites of Americans. Rather, the social, cultural, and psychological changes that took place throughout the twentieth-century have influenced the way Americans inter their dead. Like cremation, so too, can the same thing be determined about American funeral traditions. As American society continues to evolve and diversify culturally and socially, so too, will our institutions such as the funeral industry and the United States military.
To be sure, both the funerary industry and the U.S. military assume the traditional framework by which American’s mourn, memorialize, and reconcile the deaths of their loved ones. However, it is compelling that both were being transformed during the height of social unrest than consumed the 1960s. Collectively, the funeral industry and U.S. military sought new ways in which to comfort the bereaved. By restructuring the process of internment, the U.S. Army brought their methods of disposal in line with the civilian sector. In addition, the enormous loss of human life attributed to the Vietnam War influenced a new reverence for the dead. Ironically, this lack of reverence for the dead that gradually increased during the twentieth-century was largely due to the burial traditions established by the funeral industry. At the same time, civilian burials and the funerary industry were also in a state of flux.[4] Together, it could be said that changes in both the private and public spheres are indicative of the broader social changes that enveloped the period.
While funerals are a reflection of American society much in the same way that monuments reflect a specific period, provided with options, Americans will bury their dead in styles that are reflective of their time. While that may be, fundamentally the industry and military follow the same rites presented in the early reforms of the late nineteenth-century which are based on the social, religious, and psychological traditions of the living. Furthermore, the industry serves a need-based clientele, and because of the service type it provides, there will always be a need. Finally, the focus of the funeral industry and U.S. military remains fixed upon comforting the bereaved. In doing so, both will continue to help survivors mourn, memorialize, and reconcile the deaths of their loved ones publicly and privately.
 
[1] Seth Mallios and David M. Caterino. "Mortality, Money, and Commemoration: Social and Economic Factors in Southern California Grave-Marker Change During the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries." International Journal of Historical Archaeology Int J Histor Archaeol 15, no. 3 (2011): 429-60. doi:10.1007/s10761-011-0152-z.
 
[2] Jessica Mitford, The American Way of Death Revisited (New York: Vintage Books, 1998)., Gary Laderman, Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-century America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).
 
[3] Prothero, Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America, 212.
 
[4] Cliff Smith, "Cemeteries Sense Change In Attitudes Towards Death," San Diego Union, October 31, 1971.
 

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