Essay

It is sometimes surprising when you meet people who have already planned for their death and burial at the same time. At some point, you may view them as expectant people waiting for death anxiously. Alison Bechdel is faced with the dilemma of following the script in fulfillment of her father’s “Proper burial.” However, the main bone too difficult to crack is the real cause of death. In spite of the father having died from his car crashing into a truck, they are still confused whether it was his will to die. Though they don’t feel pressured to produce the causative agent that terminated his life, they as a family need the truth but who can tell? Alison Bechdel uses some of the past encounters with her father, he was an avid reader, the recent book that he was reading prior to his death was “A Happy Death.” His introverted nature made him be consummated in artifice. Could he have suffered mental congestion from the previous advice of his mother of taking away from his divorce, sexually and maybe preserve the fruits of his overcompensation of faking things to be fine while it wasn’t near fine? Alison is torn in between bowing to the urge to give him a befitting burial as a father with the prevailing notion of him committing suicide. This wind of his having taken his life leaves her with no option to just give him something close to what he expected. The shape of the tombstone was as expected only that it was curved from a different stone.  The title of this book reflects on “Proper Burial” in terms of the prevailing circumstances and not as to what society dictates.