The Evolution Of Funeral Practices In Ashe And Grayson Counties

In America, the chasm separating death and life has become so enlarged that the bridges of cognition and understanding which once allowed interaction to flow between the two worlds have collapsed. As a result, the attitudes associated with death, as well as the responses and the rituals affiliated with it, have undergone transformations reflecting the new attitudes and perspectives dictated and absorbed by modern society. To observe the evolution of this new perspective, ranging from images of the grim reaper and skulls and crossed bones to Cadillac hearses and satin lined copper caskets, one simply needs to turn to the American subculture of rural Appalachia.