Comparison and Contrast on American Funeral and Wedding Essay - 1

Comparison and Contrast on American Funeral and Wedding - Essay Example This paper illustrates that there are no joyous celebrations on the day of the funeral and the much diversity of color that characterizes a wedding day is usually replaced by black as the most dominantly conspicuous color. The American way of celebrating both life and death does not differ much with the way it is done by other societies. To offer an insight into the American culture in terms of funeral and wedding celebrations, two authors in their literary works cover this in an elaborate way. Rebecca Mead in her book, One perfect day, gives an introspective insight into the American society’s wedding. On the other hand, Jessica Mitford also gives an in-depth analysis of the American society’s funeral in her book The American way of Death. In this study, American weddings are discussed first. Nature dictates that weddings are done before funerals. In the book about American weddings, Rebecca gives an interesting and formal perspective to weddings as a one-day celebrati on which has implications on the lives of those involved. America consists of all the three economic classes; the poor, the middle class, and the rich. It should be noted that all the classes have their way of doing things. The way in which one decides to celebrate his or her wedding is largely decided upon by the economic class of the individual. Celebrities give more attention to style and publicity in their weddings. Their weddings are characterized by media and paparazzi coverage. They invite personalities who are of significance taking into account the fact that the prominence of the people in the guest list plays a role in determining the attention the wedding gets. This is a fact that in their case is of more importance than the essence of the wedding itself. Most celebrities fall into the rich and popular category; the way they do their celebrations is replicated all over the upper class of the American society. Business people, in their weddings, invite the rich and powerfu l in the business world and in so doing, they build and strengthen their business contacts. Â  To most of them, such social gatherings are an extension of business and christened, ‘‘business in the lawn.’’