How Death and Life Are Entwined in The Corpse Washer - Essay Sample

Introduction

The narrator of The Corpse Washer, Jawad, is the son of: "a Mghaysil', a body-washer," who performs the ritual washing and shrouding of corpses before burial in Baghdad. The novel is a free account of Jawad's life in changing Iraq over the decades -- also reflected in the father's (and then, for a while, his) job. When Jawad was young: "death back then was timid and more measured than today"; in the post-Saddam years of the American occupation the bodies -- and violent and unnatural deaths -- pile up much more quickly. The beautiful ritual becomes much more demanding and messy exercise.

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Both Jawad's older brother and then Jawad are introduced to the corpse-washing profession, which has been in the family for generations. Jawad's older brother was an outstanding student and went on to study medicine, but he died in the Iran-Iraq war. Jawad's interests lay elsewhere, and he went on to study art, disappointing his father, who had hoped he would follow in his footsteps. Eventually, after his father's death, Jawad is pulled back into the old family job (though his heart is never quite in it, as he finds himself tormented by what he has to deal with).

At the beginning of the novel, Jawad would view death and life as two different aspects but as the story progresses he becomes hopeless, and he realizes that indeed death and life coexist and they are interconnected. Jawad views life and death as interlinked in a variety of ways including the reality of death to have similar qualities with life such as the view of death as a postman. Moreover, Jawad adopts a pervasive aspect of humanity, a perspective that makes him view the dead as fellow human beings. Similarly, Jawad understands death and life as operating very close to each other because an individual can lose their lives at any time. Importantly, Jawad mindset shifts in a way that removes the boundaries between strange and real-world encounters.

Death seems to be a constant motif in Jawad's life, and it is through personal experiences with death that Jawad moves from the separatist viewpoint about life and death to view death and life as entwined. The truths that Jawad develops about death are through experiential learning. Exposure to different realities is vital to gaining a dipper meaning about them (Easterby-Smith & Cunliffe, 2017). Similarly, Jawad gets accustomed to events of death. During his early life, Jawad would watch his father clean the corpses. At first, he claims that 'I was astonished by my father ability to return to the normal life so easily each time after he washed as if nothing had happened' (Antoon, 2013). From his initial viewpoint, Jawad thought that his father would leave death behind every time he finished washing a corpse. During his initial encounters, Jawad thought that death exited when the body rests on the grave. He understood the coffin would close death making it cease to exist and closing the casket mean that life would return to its place. When Jawad is accustomed to demise, he realizes that both life and death are internal, they exist at the same time and are intertwined. Importantly, death and life are present everywhere at each particular time.

The interconnection between life and death is evident from Jawad view of death to have similar capabilities with life. Jawad view of death and life as entwined starts when he begins personifying death. Breath is vital for human beings to engage in activities and Jawad perceives death as involving itself with businesses that are done by human beings. Importantly, Jawad brings death to life thus showing death coexistence with life (Nilsson, 2018). Jawad comes to accept death as a postman, 'I can hear death saying: 'I am what I am and haven't changed at all/I am but a postman' Antoon, 2013). Moreover, Jawad argues that the role of death as a postman is to post letters every day. After receiving the death letters, Jawad opens them carefully, he washes them, and he removes the stamps put on them by death.

From John view of death to perform activities similar to those done by human beings, there is evidence of a linkage between life and death since he views the two to have the capability to share responsibilities. The role of the postman, death, is to post a letter to Jawad. Then Jawad role is to wash them. Later, death intervenes 'dries and perfumes them' (Antoon, 2013). After which Jawad receive them for wrapping and sending them to the final destination that is the grave.

Jawad would have come to understand the interconnection between life and death after watching death permeate in his own life. Jawad had the hopes of becoming an artist, and through death taking the life of his father and brother, it penetrates in his own experiences by robbing him of his destiny, or arguably 'what should have been' (Antoon, 2013). The significant role of death in Jawad life is a symbol of the intervention of departure in determining his destiny (Corr & Doka, 2018). Death penetrates in people's lives with the slightest chance. Therefore, the two must be entwined and very close to each other such as one replaces the other immediately.

As the novel progresses, Jawad starts understanding death to have an active role in every living individual just as life does. In the present world, the reflection on death makes individuals to desire to live purposeful lives (Corr & Doka, 2018). Death shapes Jawad destiny from his birth and throughout adulthood, and it determines the lives of many other people during Jawad life by making them have sorrow over the demise of their loved ones. Jawad life is a representation of the experiences of every Iraqi man during the conflict. Death was overworking throughout Jawad's life and the more its participation, the more it defined his life. Things would have taken a different path in Jawad's life suppose death was not overworking. Death determined Jawad roles during his childhood where he would accompany his father in the profession of washing corpses. Jawad aspired to work in a more noble job of an artist. However, the heightened scale of death activities including taking away his father denies Jawad the opportunity of achieving personal goals. At least, death deprives Jawad any possible means to express himself as well as the audience that would be interested in appreciating his work. Eventually, death directs him to assist him in the mission of sending people to the grave through his participation as a corpse washer.

Towards the end of the novel, Jawad adopts a pervasive understanding of humanity that shows his variation in the knowledge of life and death and especially perceiving the two as interconnected. Too many people died while Jawad was a Corpse Washer with the estimated number of fatalities amounting to 100,000 during the American Invasion in 2003 (Rutledge, 2017). As the end of the novel approaches, Jawad develops a sense of weariness that makes him lose hope. As a result, Jawad develops a sense of acceptance of the role of death and importantly, he views the dead as fellow human beings. Jawad affirms that he would earlier on view bodies like corpses waiting for cleaning. However, with time, he confirms that the dead always returns to life, and such thoughts introduce a difference in his viewpoint 'I had earlier on the thought that life and death were two separate with clearly marked boundaries/ But now I know that they are conjoined, sculpting together' (Antoon, 2013). Jawad unique understanding of death is an evidence of his attempts to overcome the sectarian divisions between life and death.

Similar to other citizens Jawad manages to apply two conflicting mental tendencies involving utter hopelessness and a sense of humanity. The coexistence of weariness and a genuine sense of compassion make Jawad uphold dynamism in every situation, and it makes him ready to understand death as it unfolds itself (Viereck, 2017). When death reveals itself to be working in close association with life, Jawad is swift in following the new revelations. It also makes Jawad willing to change his stern beliefs about the different aspects of life. Eventually, the existence of these two mental states makes him, and other citizens come to acceptance of humanity to be pervasive. The tension is evident while Jawad comes to accept his son Shite identity. Jawad comes to understand death in a new light, and he solves his extremist beliefs with time. For instance, although Jawad does not desire to inherit his father profession, he never develops bitterness towards it (Antoon, 2013). Instead, he does his best to appreciate the beauty of the traditions that determined his youth. The same way, he understood death as having a significant role. Jawad understands death to in loving detail.

Jawad understands death to be in constant conflict with human beings from the time of birth. Jawad blurs the boundaries between dreams and reality by viewing ideas to be just like normal life experiences (Vallat et al., 2017). This approach to life makes him engage death through dialogues, and he manages to understand death depending on the extent to which death intervenes in people lives and the tendency of death to win conflicts over life. Jawad argues that 'death is not content with what it takes from me in my waking hours, it insists on haunting me even in my sleep' (Antoon, 2016). Jawad is a slave to death during the day. Jawad offers services to death eternal guests by preparing them to sleep in his lap. He comes to think that death might be punishing him for the attempt to escape its clutches.

Jawad comes to understand death to have the capability of changing with time just like life experiences are not similar all the time. He argues that in the past 'death was timid and more measured than today' (Antoon, 2016). In a monologue, Jawad reveals that his father would mock him for the silly thoughts he has about death. Primarily, he complains about death by claiming that death intervenes in his life to punish him. He argues that his father would view Jawad's character as 'unbecoming to a man' (Antoon, 2016). Therefore, Jawad establishes thoughts in his mind to console himself and argues that after all dear has changed to become crueller than it was during his father era.

Jawad acknowledges the existence of life-death continuum. A belief that makes him aware that life is inherently interlinked to death. Since he attests many people die, he comes to believe that individuals can embrace the reality that something dies at any minute and all human lives are on their journey towards a conclusion (Kralova & Walter, 2018). Antoon seeks to challenge the notions of death by placing Jawad as entwined in the phenomena of death throughout his life. Jawad, an artist, understands his country as an 'exhibition of dust.' Importantly, he views himself as hovering in the mystical terrain of his country, one that is between life and death. Through his profession as a corpse's washer and his background as an artist, he comes to get a deep understanding of dying visually. Importantly, Jawad views his job to be an act of preparation of the dead to the afterlife. Therefore, he visualizes the linkage between death and life transparently since death is vital for the transition from the living to the afterlife.

Jawad understanding of the interlinkage between life and death arises while he begins to understand himself as a living dead. He argues that 'I am like the pomegranate tree, but all my branches have been cut, broken, and buried with the dead' (Antoon, 2013). The new understanding of himself arises from the continued alienating encounters that separate him from experiencing liveliness. Jawad profession alienates, and his inability to sustain loving relationships equally alienates him. Still, the la...