Death and Dying

Although all people die, everyone's dying process is unique.

Many people think of

dying as merely a physical process, but dying is an experience of the whole person
and is influenced by a combination of physical, psychological, social, cultural, and
spiritual factors. There are as many ways to die as there are to live, so in order to
better understand how people who are dying experience the process, researchers
and clinicians have developed different models or theories that attempt to account
for how people cope with dying.
Denial is the "No, not me!" stage where the person is in shock or denial and cannot
believe that they are going to die. Denial is self-protective and gives the person
time to adjust psychologically to the news that he or she is going to die. Anger is
the "Why me?" stage and may involve, in addition to anger, resentment, rage, and
envy at God, doctors, nurses, family members, or anyone who is not dying.
Bargaining is the "Yes me, but. . ." stage and often involves bargaining with God and
attempts to postpone the inevitable ("Yes, I am going to die, but if only I could live
long enough to see my child graduate," etc.). Depression involves mourning for
current and past losses (reactive depression) and anticipated losses (preparatory
depression and grief). Finally, acceptance emerges. Acceptance is not a happy
stage, but rather is characterized by an absence of feeling, a giving up or
resignation, or even a sense of peace that occurs as the person realizes that death
is imminent and cannot be avoided. Although not a stage of dying, hope is an
important aspect of all five stages and can persist throughout all of them.
When a person is dying from a terminal illness and death is very near, within hours
or days, the phase of active dying occurs. Physical changes that signal the phase of
active dying include changes in breathing, incontinence (loss of bowel and bladder
control), sweating, nausea and/or vomiting, decrease in appetite and thirst, loss of
ability to swallow, change in skin color, increased periods of sleep, decreased
consciousness, disorientation or confusion, restlessness or agitation, social
withdrawal, and decreased ability to communicate.
Dying threatens one's emotional equilibrium, and intense, grief-related emotions
can feel overwhelming. Fear, anxiety, sadness, depression, anger, hostility,
helplessness, powerlessness, depression, guilt, and shame are some of the most
common emotional reactions experienced by people who are dying. All of these
emotions are normal, serve a purpose, and need to be allowed expression.
Denial is a common coping strategy that helps people to find internal strength and
external support before confronting the implications of their diagnosis, prognosis,
and impending death. Denial should not be judged as good or bad, but rather
should be evaluated in terms of its helpfulness or interference in facilitating coping.
Anger and hostility are natural responses to having everything in one's life
threatened and ultimately taken away. Common sources of anger are a sense of
failure, poor communication, abandonment, pain, and the turn of events that will
result in one's death. Anger can also be a "cover" for more vulnerable emotions
such as fear, anxiety, hurt, helplessness, and disappointment.

Fear and anxiety can feel incapacitating to people who are dying. Some of the most
common fears associated with the dying process include pain,
abandonment/loneliness, indignity, the unknown, loss of control, separation from
loved ones, meaninglessness, being a burden to others, the process of dying, and
the afterlife. All of these fears can lead to both physical (e.g., tension and
restlessness) and psychological (e.g., worry, apprehension) symptoms of anxiety
Depression is a natural response to the perception of imminent loss among the
dying, and while mild depression is natural and adaptive, severe depression, which
is rarer among the dying, can rob them of their remaining quality of life. Depression
is often difficult to distinguish from preparatory grief, the normal dying process, and
reaction to poorly controlled physical symptoms.
For most dying persons, spirituality and/or religion provide support in coping with
dying. Spirituality involves a sense of connection to the universe and a higher power
and the way that one makes sense out of life and death. Religion is an organized
system of worship that gives structure to one's spiritual beliefs and relationship with
a higher power. One or both may serve people while they cope with their dying
process.
The family is affected to what had Anna did. Her overprotective mother, Sara, who
leads an almost obsessive campaign to keep Kate alive, regardless of what it takes,
is indignant at Anna's decision and even strikes her across the face when she
receives the notice of intended prosecution.
The death of one family member is very unacceptable but the emotion must be
over come and continue life because it's the rule of nature, no one is permanent in
this world.
In this world there are choices, there are options. Anna has the choice if she will
pursue suing her parents or agree to their decisions. If she continues, it will ruin her
family relationship and if she stop, the death of Kate will come rapidly. But Anna is
in between the two legal considerations, she has the right of her own body and she
has her obligation to her sister.
The decision of Sara is just a part of being a loving mother that will do anything just for her
children to be safe but because of this emotion and focus to Kate she already forgot her
obligation to her family that's why in the story Kate apologizes to her Father that she stole his
very own partner in life, to her mother that gave her best for her, to Jesse that instead the
attention will be his because he's the one who really needs it, and to Anna, her little sister, the
one that she must be caring not who's caring for her. What happened to her family is prioritize
according to the wish of Kate.
The message of the film could be best explain by the paradigm Symbolic
Interactionism. We can clearly see in the movie that people act toward things
based on the meaning of those things have for them; and these meanings are
derived from social interaction and modified through interpretation. People interact
with each other by "interpreting or defining each other's actions instead of merely
reacting to each other's actions.
My interpretation of the title, A Lesson Before Dying, is not a long or in depth

one. To learn before you die. What you are to learn, however, is quite different. What
I feel is that the lesson is to prepare to die, to be ready for it all to end.
What lesson could you learn to be ready to die? What would prepare anyone for
such a thing? In this instance I see it as realizing that my death, if I were Jefferson,
is a wrongful one. How then would I be prepared for it, if I knew my death was
unjustified?
What more would it be if I choose to learn nothing before I die. I will die regardless
of what I learn or how I deal with it. What if I am to simply die? Then I would simply
die. I would have learned nothing from my death. I am a man of pride and that
would not be acceptable for me. I require much more of my self then that. I would
have to come to a conclusion. I would bite my tongue and move forward knowing
what fate awaited me.
I would come to know myself and die with dignity. To know that I am a man who
responded as I did, given the situation, and that nothing could change that now.
Neither I, nor Jefferson, would be comfortable with this. I, as well as he, would learn
to live with that. Then, ultimately, die with it. We would either learn or we would
simply die.

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Although all people die, everyone's dying process is unique.

Many people think of

My interpretation of the title, A Lesson Before Dying, is not a long or in depth

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