Rebecca Lagares

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1102-017
September 29th, 2015
One of the main things my peers and I discussed was how my paper didnt read at all like
an Inquiry Proposal the first time around. It seemed I had gotten a little too excited and had
actually started writing the paper instead of just trying to explain why I should write the paper.
So one of the main things I did for my second draft was rewrite it in a way that sounded less like
a paper and more like a proposal. That being said, a lot of the other suggestions they gave were
for me to include more citations, which we overall decided wouldnt be necessary since this
wasnt the actual essay (although Ive already been stockpiling books and articles to use as
sources). One comment also made was that I could benefit from putting more of my own voice in
it, which I did by talking more about my own thoughts throughout the process of choosing my
inquiry question. Someone had mentioned possibly trying to form some chronology, but Im not
quite sure how I would go about doing that since chronology isnt very relevant to the topic.
Possibly when elaborating more on creation myths and such I could go from oldest to most
recent? Anyways, its definitely and interesting angle to consider. Lastly, I was told to make my
stance on what exactly Im researching more clear (positive v. negative), and I think with my
rewrite I was able to do that by stating that I simply wanted to research the relationship between
the psychology and various other aspects as opposed to choosing a side.
For me, the hardest part of writing a paper is picking a topic that Im actually interested
in writing about. Once I have that, the words flow freely. When trying to think of a really good

question, nothing quite popped out to me. All of the questions I had thought of in class just
seemed too drab, and I knew I would be miserable spending the rest of the semester trying to
write about them. As I was thinking all of this, I was honestly just envisioning how wonderful it
would be if all college papers could be swept up by some collegiate Grim Reaper and thrown
into a bonfire. And thats when it hit me! Why the Grim Reaper? I knew then that this was a
question I could ask and actually be interested in knowing the answer to. As far as any concerns
I had when first setting out to research my question, I was mildly worried that I wouldnt be able
to find enough relevant research to make this a good paper. However, I quickly learned that this
wouldnt be a problem, as my initial search turned up an unexpected amount of reliable sources.
And the best part was, all of these sources contributed something different to my main question.
Connecting death imagery with religion, with anxiety, with culture, even with gender. It was all
more than Id hoped for and gave me the boost of encouragement I needed to assure myself that
I was on the right track.
Who is Death: An Inquiry Proposal
Since ancient times, humans have told stories of creation and of destruction to make
sense of the world around them. There are innumerable myths and legends all attempting to
explain the mysteries of life and death and, not only that, but modern literature as well as
television brought their own unique twist on the subject, like with Markus Zusaks novel The
Book Thief and the once-popular Showtime dramedy Dead Like Me. It is things like this that
brought my attention to the curious nature of how people view the concept of death. But why do
we do this? This thinking brought me to my inquiry question: Why do we, as human beings, feel
the need to personify death? Although Im sure there are a multitude of unexplainable reasons, I
have picked a few which I would like to further explore. The personification of death serves to

make the concept more understandable, provides a justification for life, and enables us to more
easily face our fears of the unknown. This can be seen in various works both modern and ancient
and gives a small glimpse into how we as humans cope with the arcane and the abstract by
giving it life.
It has long been true that people fear what they do not know or understand. This is
especially relevant when it comes to larger issues such as the state of existence. Upon doing
some research in this area, I discovered that there is quite a bit of work going on surrounding the
topic of death and the psychological and behavioral aspects behind it. There is actually a word
for the scientific study of death, Thanatology, and I found that to be promising as to the amount
of information I could find on the subject. I came across a large amount of creation stories from
various different cultures, I found several different scientific studies done by Rita T. McDonald
and William A. Hilgendorf on the topic of death anxiety and death imagery, and I looked into a
few different religious texts from Paganism to Judeo-Christianity to see how their interpretations
and ideas varied on the concept. I think this creates a sound jumping off point for the rest of my
research, and will enable me to create a well-constructed paper that can include a large variety of
information while still relating back to my initial question.
This is an important question to my classmates because in class we have been dissecting
The Book Thief, a WWII era novel in which death is the narrator and is personified in a
distinctive way that ends up being very central to the theme of the story. However, I also believe
it is vital that my classmates have a larger understanding of the world around them, and being
aware of the psychology of death and how it affects them, or vice versa, is a part of that
understanding. I feel it will enlighten them and possibly inspire them to be more conscious of
how they think and behave.

Before I began, all I knew of my question was some basic imagery and their significance
that I had learned from my mild interest in mythology. For instance, the Greek god of death
Thanatos, who is portrayed as an earnest young man, gives the idea of death as something
inevitable, but not inherently evil. The same goes for ancient Egyptians Anubis. For more
information, I think I need to start by broadening this knowledge of death imagery and beliefs by
studying more texts from different religions. After that, I can then learn how this may contribute
or result from their views on death and how it fits into their philosophy.
Overall, I hope the outcome of my inquiry will be to expand others and my own
knowledge of our notions of death, where they come from, what influences them, and how those
interpretations affect us on a psychological and behavioral level. Understanding these concepts
could very well enlighten us in ways we havent thought of, and possibly change how we
perceive these larger-than-life issues.