3. Adapted Precautions : A Reflection of an Obsessed
Society:
Except in "The Premature Burial", Poe did not reflect the
different precautions adopted by the American society during his era,
preferring to emphasize on the phenomenon rather than on different ways created
to repress the phobia. However, in his tale "The Premature Burial", Poe
documents the different aspects of the phobia by presenting a typical narrator,
suffering from taphephobia. In addition to the different psychological and
physical agonies experienced by the victim, Poe shows the obsessive side of the
narrator and how this phobia present the ultimate terror that can shape one's
life. The narrator of "The Premature Burial" shows how he was controlled by his
own phobia through his attempts to protect himself from
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the horror through wills, taking oaths from his friends to be
buried after being sure that he is really dead. Besides, he obsessively
reconstructs his family vault to become like the model of safety coffins ,which
were spread throughout the country during the 19th C. Within the context of
unreliable medicine and a growing obsession with the premature burial, the 19hC
Americans tried to assure themselves that they will not face the horrors of
grave through different solutions that can be historically divided into four
categories namely; putrefaction, wills, bills and the creation of safety
coffins.
3.1. Putrefaction:
Putrefaction presents the radical solution adopted by Americans
to ensure the actual death and to soften their obsession, by watching the
corpse several days before burial. This radical precaution came after several
instances of well known people were mistakenly pronounced dead and woke up
during the process of embalming. Larry Dossey provides, in his article "The
Undead: Batched Burials, Safety Coffins, and the Fear of Grave", the example of
Cardinal Somaglia, a well respected Italian cardinal, who were mistakenly
considered dead in 1830 and who woke up in the process of embalming, only to
pass away from thoracic incision (350). Choosing putrefaction as a solution to
reduce the frequency of premature burial incidents reflects the growing
seriousness of the phenomenon of taphephobia that develops from a personal,
exclusive obsession to a national fear that invades not only the mass's life
but also preoccupies the minds of the American elite. As an expression of the
general pervading atmosphere that characterized the 19thC American society,
journals, pamphlets and encyclopedias of the era revisit the basic definitions
of death and burial in an attempt to find a scientific solution for the
phenomenon. In 1830, Encyclopedia Americana redefined the term
"burial" in its second volume, mirroring the obsession that consumes the public
interest and serenity. It is mentioned that
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Great care should be taken not to bury the body too soon after
death. The ancient nations endeavored to satisfy themselves, by many
precautions, that death had really taken place. [...] We should wait at least
three days in winter, and two whole days in summer, unless the hot weather
requires a quicker internment. It would be well to introduce the custom of
exposing the corpse to the inspection of a person regularly instructed for this
purpose, who should carefully and repeatedly examine it, and none should be
interred without the certificate of this inspector [...]. (332)
This definition, quoted from an academic, prestigious
encyclopedia, reflects how much the obsession shapes the American life and
academia. The reference to precautions used by old nations presents an attempt
to have credibility and authenticity that the measurements, mentioned later,
and notably putrefaction are assured ways to identify real death. Besides, the
quotation suggests the introduction of new ways that can be adapted by the
American community like death certificate and the presence of an inspector.
This suggests that taphephobia reached its ultimate in 19th C to the extent
that it changed the American traditions of death and burial by presenting new
traditions and ceremonies. This is further justified with the use of adverbs
like "carefully, repeatedly" to emphasize the serious impact of the phobia on
the American mindset. However, this obsession is not depicted only through the
adaptation of putrefaction as one efficient way to prevent premature burial,
but it is also depicted through the different wills through which the death bed
becomes a reflection of the dying man's premonitions about the uncertainty of
his demise.
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