Last Request | Themes

Last Request Themes

Macabre Humor

Brouwer uses macabre humor in "Last Request" not only as a device to grab and keep the reader's attention but also as a set-up for the more somber—and separate—theme of the human will to live in spite of the world's problems. One's asking for his body, after death, to be placed in a pyramid is strange enough, but to want the pyramid constructed out of cardboard, duct tape, and school glue takes strange to a new level. The request is truly morbid and weird, but it is also funny. And as the speaker moves through his list of do's and don'ts for proper behavior at his odd funeral, the items become progressively more ghoulish, as well as more humorous. He does not mind if the wind blows the flimsy pyramid from his naked body, but he wants to be sure no one is eating hamburgers or playing horseshoes. He is...
(read more)