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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What TV show did Mary Jackson appear in?

2. What was the only thing Lynch really wanted at death?

3. In what year did Jack Kevorkian assist in his first suicide?

4. What did Lynch want his family to toss on top of his casket?

5. In what year did John Hillenbrand purchase the Batesville Coffin Company?

Short Essay Questions

1. What perspective did Lynch reach on the night his mother was buried?

2. How did the funeral processions through town change when the Oak Grove bridge collapsed?

3. What did Lynch see as the advantage of being at the midpoint of one's life?

4. What did Lynch want from his funeral, when all was said and done?

5. Why have more and more Americans opted for cremation, according to Lynch?

6. How does Lynch view the current state of debate over abortion?

7. What kind of music did Lynch want at his funeral?

8. How does Lynch describe people's different approaches to living life at the end of Chapter 8 and which approach did Sweeney take?

9. What did Lynch mean when he said that "in even the best of caskets, it never all fits"?

10. Why did authors such as Jessica Mitford attack the funeral industry?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In discussing the divorce of his friend, Henry Nugent, Lynch said divorced men in our society are seen as damaged goods. What did he mean by that? In what ways was the divorce easier on Nugent's ex-wife? How does divorce affect the father's relationship with the children? How did Lynch's divorce differ from many other American divorces?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Uncle Eddie's suicide cleanup business (note: there are actual businesses that focus on cleaning up scenes of violent deaths, including suicides and murders). How did Eddie's business provide society with a valuable service? How did the cleanup after these deaths usually get done before such services? How is it an act of kindness for an outsider to clean up the scene so that loved ones do not have to see it? How does this relate to the general services provided by funeral parlors and undertakers?

Essay Topic 3

Lynch and his brothers embalmed their father's body at his request. What was the significance of this act? Do you think it was painful or satisfying? Why did the father want his sons to do this? Why did the sons agree to it rather than hire another undertaker from outside the family? How did the father benefit from knowing that his sons would be there for him at his death? And how did the sons benefit from this act?

(see the answer keys)

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