Funeral Foods Essay
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In the short essay titled “Funeral Food”, the author Jill Browne employs many aspects of skillful writing into her story to make it appeal to the reader. But the two main aspects that I believe have the most effect on the reader is the humorous approach she takes in the way she writes which can appeal to a wide audience. The community aspect and ease of relation to the reader are also factors that give this story strength. In my case, I can relate to the community aspect of “Funeral Food” by my personal experience spending time in the south (New Orleans) and witnessing first-hand the hospitality and generosity on the people of that region.
The Main factor that makes this story effective in my opinion is the community aspect and the authors perception on the people in the community. In the story, the author mentions on several occasions the hospitality and generosity of the people in the south, “when theres a death in a southern town, everybody who has ever known anyone in the family has to take food to the home of the bereaved its practically the law”. During my trip to New Orleans two year ago I was very lost on confused wandering the French quarter with my parents but soon noticed that there were always people willing to help us make the trip very enjoyable. An example of the peoples generosity was when my parents and I went to breakfast next to our hotel and we saw a sign on the restaurant door saying that it wasnt open until later but the owner saw us outside standing in the rain and invited us in for breakfast with him and his workers. The community aspect of Funeral Food made a connection with me because of my experiences with the “southern Hospitality” and the notion of “everyone knows everyone”.
The second factor that Jill Browne uses to great effect in this story and in many of her other writings is the humor aspect of the story. The author uses humor to take away from the usual depressing mood of a funeral and turn it something more relatable. The approach she uses is that sometimes funerals dont always have to be miserable they are be lightened up with the food. The idea of funeral food may seem a little strange to some readers but I can relate to her humor because in my family we have a tradition of throwing a big party to celebrate the life of the deceased, with mountains of great funeral food of course. And as in the story, everyone who had any relations with the grieving family (ex. Co-worker, neighbor, friend, long distance relative) has to contribute to the event even if that means just providing food. This aspect of funeral food works well for the simple reason of people want an escape from the emotional and physical street of a funeral, so they oftentimes turn to the bountiful food waiting for them to converse with the other mourners and find momentary peace and quiet from all the noise.
In conclusion the story Jill