Memorialization

Death will come to all. Such is humanity’s greatest threat and unyielding equalizer. The memory of death served as the identity of Great Britain, the supporter of peace for Woodrow Wilson, a scar on Earnest Hemingway's characters, and an obvious addition to mourning in popular culture today. No matter how used, these memories of death remain pertinent to all of humanity, serving to right the wrongs life created.

The remembrance of World War I was crucial to the identity of Great Britain. After the Great War, national unity was key in maintaining England’s status quo. Especially as citizens were beginning to question the validity of such a costly war when the ideals the Allies' soldiers had fought and died for were being challenged throughout Europe. Communist revolutions, strikes, and influenza epidemics were sweeping the continent even as World War I reached its imperfect end. Seeing this, the government strove to have England remember the war as a salvation of the world from autocracy. Soon enough, sacrifice became the key word. The millions of British soldiers who died did not so in vain, the government proclaimed, but to protect one of the many ideals and beliefs that all Englishmen held dear: freedom. In turn, this sacrifice became sacred. To emblazon the soldiers loyalty, monuments were erected in their honor. These were essential in remembering the war as a unifying victory against evil. The monument of the Cenotaph was erected, encompassing the ideal of ascension to a higher plane, mimicking the tomb of Jesus where the physical body was unneeded in the continuing journey. Another national monument, the tomb of the unknown warrior connected to the hearts of all whose sons, husbands, and fathers were unknown soldiers whose bodies were beyond identification. Meanwhile, the War Grave Commission planned and created cemeteries. Gravestones were arranged symmetrically and all were crafted from the same mold, representing the common death of the soldiers for the good of all that was British. This equalized the class disparities of the time, hiding the problems in their own society by using remembrance to lessen the chance of revolt. By assuming victory as salvation, the problems caused by the European secret treaties that incurred millions of deaths, sacrifice became holy in the eyes of British citizens and the war effort a protection of birth rights. Other countries beyond Great Britain used this tactic to maintain order as well.

Woodrow Wilson used death in the war while attempting to convince the United States to join the League of Nations. In his speech, Defense of the League of Nations, Wilson calls fallen American soldiers “crusaders” of democracy; these soldiers had been a necessary sacrifice to make the world safe for democracy and freedom. Wilson knew that no one who wanted a repeat of the Great War. As thus, he proposed the League of Nations as a pathway to peace. Wilson urged America that the slaughters of warfare could be stopped through the use of an organization that acted as a council to all the world's nations, able to peacefully settle international disputes. From the sacrifice of soldiers, the president had promised America that if they simply believed in the League of Nations, war would never happen again. The massive death toll was used as a promise to the next generation, saying that they would never have to fight such a costly war. The words of the president showed the people that it was right to die for democracy, using their deaths as justification for the League of Nations. Soldiers’ deaths meant much to the people of America and her crusade in protecting democracy, but often their needs were forgotten.

Hemingway exemplifies veterans suffering in his works. Soldiers are scarred from warfare; and after World War I, veterans’ mentality wasn’t the highest priority of the people. The Sun Also Rises meets the issue head on. Jake, the narrator, suffers from romantic issues due to a war injury, straining the relationship with the woman he loves. While attempting gaiety through drunkenness, the veteran watches from the sidelines as a man is gouged to death when running with the bulls. Later, with drama billowing around him, Jake tries to disseminate growing tension by turning casually to his war buddy Bill and taking about the day’s bull run. From the injuries, shouting, and chaos that accompanied the fiesta, Jake mentioned with a slight change of topic that a man had died in the bull run, Bill merely replied with an excited interest. In this instance, Vicente Givones’s death was used as a distraction from Jake’s personal problems. Hemingway, a wounded veteran expropriate like Jake, was hardened against death from his role in the war as an ambulance driver. For him, death was a sidetrack and unavoidable conclusion. Here, the deaths of others were used to put off the problems of one’s own life, much as with entertainment in modern times.

Popular culture has easily absorbed myspace, and now mydeadspace has begun the adoption process as well. This site was formed to recognize the members of myspace who had passed on. These abandoned myspaces are left to float in cyberspace, like virtual gravestones. On the site, death is respected and discussed where the faces of the living can be emblazoned on their last creation. This site shows how people tend to view death in contemporary times. Death and people’s opinions of it have become a forum of public debate with use of the internet, despite the countless views regarding it. When viewing the various ways people have died, many can look at their myspace and see if their death justified their life or their life justified their death. As mydeadspace shows, this forum shall continue to grow.

There are many ways to memorialize death. As a nation struggling after World War I, Great Britain maintained their status quo through use of remembering soldier’s as sacrifice. Taking a different approach, Woodrow Wilson claimed the American fallen soldiers were the crusaders of democracy, and their deaths would bring an era of peace with the creation of the League of Nations. Earnest Hemingway, as a veteran American soldier, used death as an inevitable truth that he had learned to deal with, showing with his stories how hardened and twisted soldiers became after war was over. Popular culture has shown with mydeadspace that death is less of remembering and more of debating the end. Through the years many things have changed. But, people have learned to come to terms in their unique ways what will one day happen to each and every us.