The Undertaker’s Rollercoaster Essay Sample

in order to live a "normal" undertaker's life. It is implied in the writing that being an undertaker is his profession.

This is a service provided to the community where the mortician fixes the deceased for entombment. The notion conveyed here is that this work is essential, and typically involves fixing elderly individuals who have lived their lives and died from old age or occasionally younger individuals who have passed away prematurely due to disease or accidents. However, the mortician's day is instead filled with senseless deaths caused by drugs and other gang-related activities.

The occupation keeps getting more difficult as they continue to work with younger individuals. They face the challenge of supporting distressed mothers, empathizing with their pain while maintaining a professional demeanor, because that is their responsibility.

In the end, there is a growing concern about the increasing difficulty of making things. Each day, the rollercoaster ride becomes more challenging. The poem begins with one of the most dramatic examples in the entire poem: "When a bullet enters the brain, the head explodes" (Smith, Patricia 182).

In this statement, the Undertaker wants to communicate to the mother about the current condition of her baby boy. He wants her to comprehend the difficult task that lies ahead. Through this statement, he implies that she should not expect too much.

Smith effectively paints a picture of the scene in which mothers sit anxiously before his desk, their smooth brown hands knotting together as they beg, "Repair my child. Repair my child." He presents a high school photo of the smirking, slightly mustachioed participant, but this image bears no resemblance to the vulnerable boy stored and forgotten in the cold

room downstairs. The reader can easily visualize the scene described.

An immature mother is sitting at the Undertaker's desk, sobbing as she rocks back and forth, contorting her hands, longing to hold her son again, longing to see him as he was in the image. In lines 17-19 and 27-31, the emotion changes from compassion and empathy to a more business-like approach. "So I swallow hard, turn the photo face down and speak numbers instead" (Smith).

Patricia 182). The truth is that the Undertaker is in a business and is not a charity. He appears to isolate himself from the intense emotions that are prevalent in the situation, desperately trying to protect himself from succumbing to the overwhelming sadness and desperation that fills the other side of his desk. The rollercoaster ride persists with no place to stop and disembark. (Lines 34-41)

The Undertaker's thoughts wander as we shift from "getting down to business" to the task of restoring the puzzle of mystery:...bent over my ghastly pieces, pasting, sewing, creating momentum with a brushstroke. I place glass eyes into stiff sockets, then carve eyelids from a forearm and an inner thigh. I fill mangled skulls and paint the skin to suggest warmth and a nearby breath. I reach into sunken hollows to bring forth a tongue and an ear.

Lips are always difficult to bring to life, but the Undertaker understands that it is necessary to put in a great deal of effort to mold this boy into something meaningful. Upon reading lines 42-64, it becomes evident that the Undertaker has undertaken this task numerous times, even though he may not truly desire to do so.

The implication behind the

concept of the Undertaker is that instead of fixing the decaying body of an elderly person who has reached the end of their life, the Undertaker would be preparing the body of a middle-aged person who has died from disease or accident, even though such a death would be particularly challenging to handle. However, this specific death is different. It keeps happening day after day without any reason. Through these lines, you can sense the Undertaker's despair as he experiences this rollercoaster repeatedly, with no hope of it ever ceasing. In lines 68-74, the mood shifts once more as the Undertaker suddenly becomes angry and wants to take the mother to the cold storage to show her the harsh reality of her son's dead body.

Without life, there is no mind. Just a lifeless, broken body lying there, waiting for its final end. Suddenly, I have an urge to bring her into the cold room, open the bag, and pour its dreadful contents onto the shiny steel table. I want her to see him, to touch him.

As she presses her lips against the cheek flap, the adult female must wither, eventually, and move forward. Even though the Undertaker briefly contemplates that such a gesture might put an end to the rapid succession of deaths he has grown accustomed to, he is frustrated to be the only one responsible for dealing with this aspect of the situation. However, he also believes he is the least likely person capable of altering the current circumstances.

The Undertaker expresses his desperation in this unusual writing location. Finally, in lines 74-78, both the Undertaker and the reader startle as the phone vibrates

on its hook. The Undertaker hopes it's his wife, a bill collector, or a mistaken number. However, the silence on the other end is too familiar, indicating another mother in need of a miracle or another friend in trouble. This phone call shocks the Undertaker back to reality.

Once again, we witness the desperation and longing as he yearns for something, anything. However, all he finds is another mother who wants her son to be "fixed". His hope is shattered when the Undertaker realizes the profound silence on the other end, a silence that has become all too familiar to him.

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