6. STIFF ~ SIX & SEVEN – THE CADAVER WHO JOINED THE ARMY and HOLY CADAVER – (November 25th – December 2nd) ~ (131–164) ~ No-Spoilers, please

[Martin]

"dignity of the deceased"

That's an interesting concept. I'm not sure how much dignity the living are accorded, much less the deceased.

I mean are the tools of love pitched in the throne of excrement so we can be dignified?

There's this wonderful scene in Dream of Scipio where the Roman soldier goes to his teacher Sophia to profess his love. She takes him out back and asks him to look into her midden. Do you love that, she asks, because it's part of me and if you love me you love my excrement.

Is there dignity in other human failings? We start the process of decomposing, or dying as it is called here, in the womb. Most only recognize dying when the inevitable hijacks the equation and the end is undeniable.

Once the body, that betrayer of any pretense to dignity, is sloughed, what need does the deceased have on the illusion of dignity?

Iain Pears

[Peter]

I'd much rather have research done on dead humans than on living animals.

[Whitney]

I'm surprised how much controversy there seems to be about research done on cadavers that have been donated for research. I agree with Peter, better the research is done on cadavers than living animals.

[Whitney]

I am enjoying it! I had some other things that kept me busy, but I finally have time to catch up with it. I'm glad we are reading this book, I had never heard of it before.