Journal 6

I feel as though Morris and tombstones contribute a better understanding of how people view everyday writing. I loved how in Morris’ article “Death on Display,” he included the input from Richard Meyer about how tombstones and memorials, "establish patterns of communication (and even dynamic interaction) with those who use or view them.” I think it is so interesting that someones gravestone has the responsibility of kind of commemorating that persons entire life into a few lines on a tombstone. It is also interesting to me how tombstones have the ability to make someone have an emotional reaction, even if they do not know the person whom the tombstone belongs to. I have personally experienced this pathos toward a strangers tombstone when I went to Washington DC’s Arlington National Cemetery. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers was the tombstone that impacted me the most because it contains beautiful writing which honors those soldiers who have fallen but have not been identified. In his article, Morris also brings up how space and place contributes to tombstones and also discusses the important of the placement of a graveyard. The space and place of a tombstone supports the idea that they are examples of everyday writing because rhetorical strategies, such as exigence and kairos, must be used. These strategies are used when thinking of what to write on a tombstone and where one wishes for the tombstone to be placed, so a certain kind of reaction comes from the targeted audience. The setting of the graveyard is such an important factor because this can change how people, who wish to pay respect to those who have died, view the tombstones and how they feel in the graveyard.