Journal #6

I was in the same boat as Jami when tombstones were being considered everyday writing. I did not believe they fit the criteria but I can see, now, that they do follow the criteria we discussed in class. The article goes into a roundabout discussion of how tombstones and graveyards actually hold a lot of information about the people who lived there.  The individuality of each gravestone is a great example of how they can be considered everyday writing.  Gravestones are meant also to be the bridge between the living world and the deceased. In that I mean that they serve to capture what the creator of the stone, whether that’s the deceased’s family or the deceased person him/herself, wants to capture about his or her life.  Therefore they have an audience and a purpose.  They also have a rhetor. This person is the person who decides what to put on the gravestone and therefore what to capture about the deceased persons life. Often times it has to do with their accomplishments as a family member or friend or occupation.  The gravestone serves as a message to anyone who knew the person or happens upon it while in a cemetery.   The reading also talked about how the type of gravestone and the messages it delivers.  The larger flashy one can be interpreted as someone who wants to be remembered while the lower profile gravestones show more acceptance of death.